In my more-than-minimal example, the b16 from the first voice gets
merged with the b8. from the second voice. When I tried to create a
minimum (non-working) example, the two didn't merge. But, what I want
below is for the b8. from the first voice to merge with the b8. from
the second voice.
In other words, it should look like b16 b8. g16 with the b8. in the
middle having stems going both directions. Looking at examples that
were over my head, I attempted \override \once \force-hshift in
various places, but didn't accomplish anything.
Kevin,
If you want the heads to merge, they need to be at the same time step.
I think you are misinterpreting the original music. The original music has two downstemmed notes (b natural sixteenth plus b natural eighth) at the same time as one upstemmed note (b dotted eighth).
To get the output in the image, just do this:
\version "2.20.0"
\language "english"
\layout {
\autoBeamOff
}
global = {
\key ef \major
\time 4/4
}
melody = {
\relative {
\global
<<
{ \voiceOne b'8. }
\new Voice
{ \voiceTwo b16 b8 }
>>
\oneVoice
a8 b8 c4 r8 d8
}
}
\score {
\new Staff { \melody }
}
HOpe this helps,
Carl