Re: lilypond-user Digest, Vol 167, Issue 48

[David Wright]

On Fri 14 Oct 2016 at 17:14:45 (-0700), Flaming Hakama by Elaine wrote:
> > 5.) Is there any good "tutorial" about proper use of "D.S. al Fine"
> > and weird usages of those Segno signs? I've seen some, but wouldn't
> > mind seeing some nice reference just to make sure that I properly
> > understand the correct usage in all weird cases.
> 
> I'm not sure what a weird usage of D.S. would be.
> What do you have in mind?
> 
> In terms of complexity, I've seen pieces that have more than one D.S.
> and/or coda, in which case you double up the symbol (D.S.S.)
> 
> This link covers the standard usages:
> http://learnmusictheory.net/PDFs/pdffiles/01-01-08-RepeatSigns.pdf
> 
> I'm not sure that "weird" usages would be covered in any tutorial.  Maybe
> in a more comprehensive reference?  Does Gould have anything to say about
> it?
> 
> I've also started using the \barline "S" rather than the traditional segno
> sign.  In rehearsals, this has led to a new saying, "squiggle is the new
> D.S.", which is quaint if somewhat inaccurate (squiggle is the new segno).
> 
> I find the "S" barline easier to see visually on the page, and easier to
> deal with within lilypond since it is part of the musical flow and doesn't
> compete for space above the staff.
> 
> Especially if you are using the traditional segno symbol as marks, and also
> for using the coda symbol, then you will run into issue around line breaks
> and multiple rehearsal marks.  In those situations, this snippet helps:
> http://lsr.di.unimi.it/LSR/Snippet?id=977
> 
> I have consolidated my working notes for long repeats at
> http://flaminghakama.com/lilypond-lilypond-lilypond
> 
> One final opinion about repeats: if the roadmap gets too complicated, it
> will be difficult for musicians to read it.  Unless you have serious space
> constraints (reading from marching band lyres), it saves rehearsal time and
> everyone's brainpower to simply write out things that are similar but not
> identical, rather than trying to save ink and make things dense with
> quasi-repeats and lots of annotations.

+1

A published example: compare Tippett's "O by and by" in "A child of
our time" with the 8-part arrangement. The latter's D.S. al Fine is
very confusing because it envelops a normal long repeat. So confusing,
in fact, that Schott felt the need to write "last time only" in its
2nd-time bar.

Cheers,
David.