Re: \relative proposal: putting absolute pitches anywhere within \relative block using @-sign

[Marc Hohl]

Am 13.03.2013 20:24, schrieb address@hidden:
> This is a breakaway thread from the one with the subject "Proposed new available and 
> recommended behavior of \relative"
>
> I am *OPPOSED* to the proposal to change \relative syntax, as the proposal now 
> stands.  I think it is confusing to new users to have the first pitch in a 
> \relative block be absolute and the rest be relative.
>
> But I have another idea.  I'm not sure if people will like it right away 
> because it means changing/adding MORE syntax, but I think it will be MORE 
> useful and more *intuitive*!
>
>
>
> Here's the idea.
>
> 1. Define absolute octave syntax with the @-sign (let it be a mnemonic for 
> _A_bsolute) to be the syntax for temporarily specifying an ABSOLUTE PITCH 
> within a \relative block, such that the next pitch, if it doesn't use the 
> @-sign also, is relative to the absolute pitch.
>
> 2. Keep \relative X { ... } working the same way as it is (DON'T make 
> convert-ly change it around).
>
> 3. Make \relative { X ... } work such the first pitch after the brace is 
> expected to be an absolute pitch syntax with the single equal sign.  If it is 
> not, a warning is printed and the pitch is interpreted as relative to c' (the 
> current behavior, except for the warning, right?).
>
> Why a new syntax?  I frequently find that if I jump to the end of a big, long 
> \relative { ... }, then frequently I don't remember which octave I'm in.  
> Octave check is not a solution, because if I guess the part that comes before 
> the = sign wrong, I'll keep getting warnings until I fix it.  What is wanted is 
> a way to temporarily jump into absolute note entry mode.  An @-sign comes 
> immediately after the note name, and is followed by any apostrophes or commas 
> as necessary to specify the absolute octave.

IMHO it would be more readable to define an \absolute command for that
specific purpose:

Instead of { c4 c' c@'' c@, } you'd have
\relative { c4 c' \absolute { c'' c' } }
or even
\relative { c4 c' \absolute { c'' } c, }

This seems to be more readable, especially if you use it at the
beginning or the end of a block.

On the other hand, you could split your big, long \relative { ... }
into smaller \relative blocks, and *if* the first entry is seen as
absolute, you don't need any \absolute or @ within the block at all.

Just my 2 ct

Marc