Re: Displaying bar numbers for repeats

[David Wright]

On Sun 28 Aug 2022 at 10:25:28 (+0100), Wols Lists wrote:
> On 28/08/2022 04:46, David Wright wrote:
> > On Sun 28 Aug 2022 at 10:33:30 (+1000), Andrew Bernard wrote:
> > > I suppose there is a way to do this but the concept is strange. I have
> > > never seen any edition do this. Why? Speaking as an organist if I came
> > > across this I would have to spend time working out what in earth the
> > > bracketed number means. What does it add to the score in any practical
> > > sense?
> > 
> > If I'm playing/singing from a copy with unfolded repeats, and we
> > want to start at measure 42, somewhere in the middle of your 2nd-time
> > repeat, you wouldn't find any number close to 42 in your copy without
> > this or a similar notation.
> > 
> > I'd consider it mainstream. Turn to the opening of Sussex Carol in
> > 100 Carols for Choirs (OUP) for an example that countless people will
> > have on their shelves.
> > 
> Hmm...
> 
> Sounds like something lilypond should have, BUT. Like so many things,
> it may be mainstream for you, I think I've encountered it once.

I used that word not because I think you should be familiar with it,
but because a notation used by Oxford University Press, a mainstream
publishing house, was described as a strange concept.

We all move in our different spheres: I have some student feedback
from an eminent British choral arranger who was mystified as to
why the bar number skipped forward on the line after a 2nd-time bar;
the audacity of counting the measures in the music itself, rather than
as they happen to be printed in the folded score.

> We
> need an OPTIONAL unfold bar numbers setting :-) (I regularly complain
> about Gould - a lot of music I typeset was printed before she was
> born.)
> 
> Even worse, we might need to make it optional per repeat!
> 
> I think the worst I've come across in this regard is we had two
> different typesettings of the same piece - some copies had unfolded
> repeats, some copies had bar numbers, some copies had rehearsal marks
> ... practice was a complete mess until we worked out what on earth was
> going on :-)

I suppose even adding bar numbers to scores was a strange concept for
some, back whenever copyists/publishers first obliged us.

Cheers,
David.