Re: Bar numbers on lines beginning with a partial measure

[Jean Abou Samra]

> Le 6 févr. 2022 à 10:16, Aaron Hill <lilypond@hillvisions.com> a écrit :
> 
> I have for quite some time just relied on the default behavior where bar 
> numbers are printed only for the first measure in each line (save the very 
> first measure).  This works reasonably well as my musicians are able to 
> locate measures by number fairly quickly.  However, there is an issue when I 
> opt to split measures over a line break.  (This practice is quite common in 
> hymnals, though I find it equally effective for modern music to avoid having 
> pickup/trailing notes/lyrics straddling a line break.)  When the first 
> measure on a line is a partial measure, no bar number is shown.  This means 
> some lines in my lead sheets have no bar number for reference.  In some 
> cases, I end up with no automatic bar numbers at all.
> 
> (Some code for context/reference...)
> 
> %%%%
> midMeasureBreak = { \bar "" \break }
> forceBarNumber =
> \once \override Score.BarNumber
>  .break-visibility = #all-visible
> 
> { R1*4 \break
>  R1*4 r2 r4 \midMeasureBreak r4
>  R1*4 r2 r4 \midMeasureBreak r4
>  \forceBarNumber
>  R1*4 \bar "|." }
> %%%%
> 
> As can be see above, I can manually override the bar number visibility, but 
> it is not very elegant.  If I opt to reflow music, I would have to revisit 
> the bar numbers to make sure only the ones I want are there.  It would be 
> very nice if LilyPond could treat the first full measure as the effective 
> first measure on the line w.r.t. break visibility settings.
> 
> Has anyone else encountered this and come up with a solution?  If not, I will 
> dig around the existing engraver logic and see about submitting a patch 
> should folks find the updated behavior desirable.


Are you aware of the options to print a parenthesized bar number at the start 
of the line if it's the continuation of a measure? See 
input/regression/bar-number-visibility-* (sadly missing documentation at the 
moment). I don't have an opinion on whether that is better practice or not than 
what you suggest. It is, at any rate, what Gould recommends (Behind Bars p. 
490).

Best,
Jean