Re: Transposing pitches in the lilypond file itself?

[Wols Lists]

On 12/01/2022 04:26, Alasdair McAndrew wrote:
> I'm not quite sure how to search online for this, hence my asking here. 
> I'm doing a little bit of arranging of some baroque pieces for specific 
> instruments, which usually requires some transposition.  I can transpose 
> within the lilypond file so that the output score has the correct 
> (transposed) notes, but what I really want is to have the transposed 
> notes in the lilypond file itself.  This means I can print out the score 
> without needing to transpose anything.  So basically I want to change an 
> input from, say
> \transpose c,f {c d e f}
>
> to simply
>
> {f g a bf}
>
> In other words, I want the transposition in the file itself, not just in 
> the typeset output.  Is there a way of doing this - maybe with an 
> external command (I'm using Linux)?
> Thank you very much,

Playing the trombone as I do, I have music in both treble clef (Bb), and 
bass clef (concert). So I *AlWAYS* wrap my input in a transpose.

With a bass clef part I do

notes = \transpose c' c' { c d e f g a b c' }

and with treble I do

notes = \transpose c' bf { c d e f g a b c' }

That way, I know (a) that "notes" is ALWAYS concert pitch, and (B) 
whether my original music was in bass or treble clef (that can be 
important :-)

Then, when I'm outputting, in my score block I do

\score {
  \clef treble (
    \transpose bf c' { \notes }
  }
}

or

\score {
  \clef bass (
    \transpose c' c' { \notes }
  }
}

So actually I'm ALWAYS doing TWO transpositions, but because notes is 
always concert pitch it is easy to keep track of what's going on. And if 
I want the output to be the same as the input I know all I do is reverse 
the original transposition. Not quite what you're asking for, but 
hopefully a better solution to your problem. Not least because you can 
proof the output and know you haven't messed up the transposition.

Cheers,
Wol