Re: flag and notehead collision with certain chords

[Simon Albrecht]

On 14.10.2016 20:11, Gilberto Agostinho wrote:
> Hi Simon,
>
> I think part of the problem is that the amount of collision is not even
> constant for the cases above. Compare the very bottom system on the image I
> posted, note how the flag barely touches the bottom note a' but completely
> collides with the bottom e'.

Of course it isn’t constant, because stem length isn’t constant, and 
shouldn’t be. The ‘easiest’ description I can think of is that in 
classical engraving there is a kind of ‘gravity’ towards the center of 
the staff, which among other things makes stem length depend on staff 
position (of the note head(s)). Why? To save vertical space, to achieve 
a less jagged contour, and indeed I believe it eases reading.

> > At least you’d have to give very good evidence and convince a large
> > majority that it would be better to avoid this at the expense of longer
> > stems.
> Or of shorter flags. Elaine Gould writes on p. 16 of her /Behind Bars/:
> "[s]o that tails do not touch the noteheads of down-stemmed notes, some
> editions shorten the tails while others lengthen the stems."

‘Tails’? Really? I’ve never heard that word in engraving context.

> You can notice how inconsistent the distance between noteheads and flags is
> in the top system of this example below:

Of course it is inconsistent and must be:

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\version "2.19.47"
\relative {
  \voiceTwo
  \autoBeamOff
  \time 7/8
  b8 c d e f g a
  b c d e f g a
  b c d e f g a
  b
}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
(output attached)

Best, Simon

flags-vs-noteheads.preview.png
Description: PNG image