Lilypond Help Needed (Again)
  • Happy new year, everyone! I know there are many Lilypond users on the forum. Someone can probably do what I need in a matter of a couple of minutes, but it could take me hours to figure it out on my own. I need to edit the following file:
    http://www.uma.es/victoria/varios/ly/Palestrina-Missa_Brevis-6-Agnus_Dei.ly

    What I'm trying to do is print only the top cantus part from m. 47 to the end. Shouldn't be so difficult, right?

    I've tried deleting what I think are the right things to delete, but I wind up with six systems of blank measures followed by six systems of notes beginning with measure no. 1, an isolate measure after that, and the text with measure numbers after that. I'm trying to learn this program but I think simply cutting and pasting would be more efficient for me at this point. Can any pros help?
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Good luck! I'm eagerly looking forward to hearing as well, having had problems transposing which I'm told are possibly due to Nacho's code being a different version than that used by the interface at www.weblily.net.
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    I have tried that out a bit; Nacho's code is in a very old version (2.4 was the current version in 2005), so converting with convert-ly did not work really well. I tried a bit of cut&paste and got a more or less working file, but the text was definitely not under the syllables where it should have been. I thought that might have been due to a typo, but that was apparently not the case; presumably the format for lyrics changed in the last 12 years? In case it is of use to anyone, I attach the Lilypond-file and the PDF.
  • Thanks for trying! Interestingly, I was unable to get the original file to generate a PDF. Since he makes the midi files available too, formatting it and adding the words in Sibelius was a piece of cake.
  • dboothe
    Posts: 31
    Here is a revised version of Protasius' modified Lilypond file and PDF from it.

    First I removed the explicit bar lines and relied on Lilypond's automatic bar function. It's easier to work with the .ly files and also to troubleshoot.

    Next, I removed the explicit spacing in the lyrics, which were there for the melismas. Again I relied on Lilypond's automatic function using slurs. Ditto the reasons above

    Third, I used Lilypond's relative pitch function in order to eliminate most of the ocaviation marks. Ditto reasons above.

    All these things can work the way the original file was written, but it's very difficult to wade through the .ly file and to troubleshoot - counting everything to make it come out even, finding a mistake, which may not always be where you'd think it is, etc. I prefer to let Lilypond do a lot of the tedious work.

    Finally, I spruced it up with some spacing and, line breaks, extenders on some melismas, etc.

    All these things make a more "modern" looking score, which may not be what you want. But, in my opinion, it is also easier to read.

    Hope the helps.

    Thanked by 1madorganist
  • Thanks, dboothe. Nice work! One of these days I'll actually get around to reading Lilypond tutorials.