One hangup for me is lilypond's handling of lyrics. I don't care as much how
they're entered as how they're output. Right now, it looks like syllables are
aligned so that the left edge of the longest syllable (in polyphonic choral
music) is aligned with the center of the note it's matched with, and in every
other part, the syllables are center aligned with that one long syllable. The
result is that shorter syllables are placed quite a distance from their
corresponding note. The way it should look (see Barenreuter's Passion scores,
for instance) is that all syllables are centered on the centerline of the
noteheads, and the noteheads adjusted accordingly. One should be able to draw a
single vertical line that would neatly bisect every note and every syllable at a
given beat. Syllables should not extend to the left of a barline; rather, the
notes should adjust to the right.