partcombine for choir and piano?

[Noeck]

Hi,

reading about \partcombine recently stirs up some questions. I always
considered it a tool for orchestra scores (violins of flutes). But
perhaps it's not limited to that.


My questions (and some short reasoning):

1. Does \partcombine make sense for combining *soprano and alto* into
one staff or should I use voices? I see pros (+) and cons (-):

 - The fact that I would prefer the 'apart' style everywhere makes me
   think that it's perhaps not what \partcombine is intended for.
 = From a quick test, \partcombineApart is equivalent to two voices.
   Are there exceptions?
 + The positioning of dynamics is better for partcombine.
   Why are all dynamics below the staff for the voices-setup by default?


2. Does \partcombine make sense for *piano music* with different voices
starting here and there?

 - Probably not as the 2...n voices are never used independently, so
   I'd be better off writing voices explicitly as necessary.


Best,
Joram