Re: Default accidental style for PianoStaff

[David Kastrup]

Knute Snortum <ksnortum@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello community,
>
> I think I've found an inconsistency between the 2.22 documentation and
> LilyPond's actual behavior.  If you go to the Automatic Accidental
> page...
>
> https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.22/Documentation/notation/displaying-pitches#automatic-accidentals
>
> ...and scroll down the "piano" section, you will see this sentence:
>
> "This accidental style applies to the current GrandStaff or PianoStaff
> by default."
>
> But that's not the case.  Here is a fairly minimal working example:
>
> %%%
> \version "2.22.1"
> \language "english"
>
> rightHand = \relative {
>   \time 2/4
>   | g8 [ c af df ]
>   | a8 [ d bf ef ]
> }
> leftHand = \relative {
>   \time 2/4
>   \clef bass
>   | <g, g,>8 [ <c c,> <af af,> <df df,> ]
>   | <a a,>8 [ <d d,> <bf bf,> <ef ef,> ]
> }
>
> \new PianoStaff <<
>   \new Staff \rightHand
>   \new Staff \leftHand
>>>
>
> \new PianoStaff <<
>   \accidentalStyle piano
>   \new Staff \rightHand
>   \new Staff \leftHand
>>>
> %%%
>
> On the first staff, the A and D in the second measure do not have a
> cautionary natural sign but in the second, it does.  This shows that
> the default accidental style is not "piano".  Am I missing anything?

Yes.  The default accidental style is not piano.  But if you specify
\accidentalStyle piano, it will apply to the current
PianoStaff/GrandStaff context as opposed to other accidental styles
which only apply to the current Staff.

Cf.

%%%
\version "2.22.1"
\language "english"

rightHand = \relative {
  \time 2/4
  | g8 [ c af df ]
  | a8 [ d bf ef ]
}
leftHand = \relative {
  \time 2/4
  \clef bass
  | <g, g,>8 [ <c c,> <af af,> <df df,> ]
  | <a a,>8 [ <d d,> <bf bf,> <ef ef,> ]
}

\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff \rightHand
  \new Staff \leftHand
>>

\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff { \accidentalStyle piano \rightHand }
  \new Staff \leftHand
>>

\new PianoStaff <<
  \new Staff { \accidentalStyle dodecaphonic \rightHand }
  \new Staff \leftHand
>>

%%%



-- 
David Kastrup