Re: an "odd" accidental problem...

[Aaron Hill]

On 2018-07-27 03:49, B~M wrote:
> I have what I think is an odd problem with accidentals.
>
> The piece I am working on is a Viola etude in E minor.
> In the original score the composer needs an E natural and this is 
> achieved
> by a concatenated combination of a natural sign and a flat sign.
> The note in question is an F, which is sharp in the key signature, so 
> the
> natural symbol presumably
> cancels the F#  to F and the flat symbol (alongside the natural symbol)
> then indicates
> F flat or E natural.
>
> Is there please a way to typeset this in Lilypond ?
> This is the only time I've seen such notation, so Im guessing its rare 
> ?

Usually, the presence of the flat would automatically cancel out any 
potential sharp, so the inclusion of a preceding natural is overly 
cautious.

You can of course customize the stencil of a note's accidental to have 
it render as a "natural flat" as such:

%%%%
  \version "2.19.82"
  { \clef bass \key e \minor
    \tweak Accidental.stencil
      #(lambda (grob)(grob-interpret-markup grob
        #{ \markup \combine
           \translate #'(-1.5 . 0)
           \musicglyph "accidentals.natural"
           \musicglyph "accidentals.flat"
        #}))
    fes! }
%%%%

Experiment with other translation values if you need different spacing.  
For instance, -0.5 overlaps the right edge of the natural with the left 
edge of the flat.

-- Aaron Hill