Re: [tablatures] Baroque lute tablature

["Patrick Schmidt" <p.l.schmidt@xxxxxx>]

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:11:06 -0000
> Von: "Trevor Daniels" <t.daniels@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> An: tablatures@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Betreff: [tablatures] Baroque lute tablature

> Carl et al
> 
> I was inspired by the appearance of the Baroque lute tablature
> produced by Fronimo and the interest shown in adding this capability
> to LilyPond by several users, including Dana Emery, Laura Conrad,
> Marc Hohl and others recently.  I've been considering how this
> functionality might be added to LilyPond.  As a reminder, examples
> of this tablature can be seen at 
> http://www.mateus-lutes.com/tablature/.
> 
> I've attached a pdf showing what can be achieved by modifying the
> input stream to insert markups to render the durations above the
> tab context and the bass courses below the tab context, but 
> otherwise
> using just standard LilyPond input syntax, as shown below.  This is
> the first two systems from the mateus-lutes site referenced above.
Looks very impressive!
> 
> The Scheme for doing this is rather messy - it was just a lash-up
> to see what was possible by applying a function to the input 
> stream -
> but as this is not the way it should be implemented I'm not 
> attaching
> it.
> 
> Here's what I've learned:
> 
> a) Most of the glyphs needed to output Baroque lute tablature
> would need to be designed.  The glyphs used for the fret indications
> and bass courses I 'borrowed' from the Fronimo site - these would 
> need
> to be redesigned for LilyPond as the Fronimmo licence does not 
> permit
> commercial use.  The glyphs used for the durations are taken from 
> the
> standard LilyPond font set, but are not so beautiful as the Fronimo
> durations; they could with advantage be redesigned but are OK for a
> starter.  There are also a few more glyphs like the section 
> separator
> and end-of-piece indicator that would need to be designed.
> 
> b) Markups above and below a standard tab seems quite satisfactory
> to indicate durations and bass courses, and are easy to implement.
> 
> c) Right hand fingerings and string indications can be easily 
> rendered
> in Baroque style, although the precise placement of the right hand
> fingerings will need more control.
> 
> d) I haven't yet looked into adding the decorations (the comma, the
> small curve and line under notes) mainly because I'm not sure what
> they represent musically.

comma:  means appogiatura from above (Pull off, "accent") if it appears to the right of a letter. I believe it can also take the form of ")" or "^"

small curve under notes: means appogiatura from below (Hammer on, Mersenne calls it "accent plaintif")

line *above* notes: means appogiatura from a semitone below ("half-fall")
> 
> e) But the big lesson is that transcribing from tab to tab via
> notemode is totally impractical.  I and many lutenists do not
> know what pitch a particular fingering generates.  A tabmode entry
> form will be essential.  This has some obvious difficulties,
> the main one being the lack of information about how accidentals
> should be represented when outputted in a standard staff.  Not
> sure what to do about this.
I'm not sure if I understand the problem. Wouldn't it be rather clear how to represent accidentals if users were to add a \key-command in tabmode like \key d \minor and the tuning of the strings (in combination with some LilyPond-definitions for each key of the most probable accidentals that should be outputted in standard staff, e.g. in d minor: c sharp instead of d flat)? 
> 
> OK, I've rambled on long enough.  What I want to know is whether
> I should continue with this.
yes, please!
  I'm confident we can produce 
> acceptable
> output from standard notemode input, but I'm equally confident
> this would be of little use to lutenists without tabmode input.
> I'm also confident tabmode input can be provided without too much
> difficulty for Baroque lute, using letters to represent frets, but
> how should accidental indications be made, and would this be of any
> use to other forms of fretted instruments?
> 
I haven't seen any accidental indications in tablature so far, either.
> So a few thoughts and comments from others would be very helpful.
> 
> Trevor
> 
> ps, here's the input I used for the attached file
> 
> notes = {
>   % Usual string tuning for 13-course Baroque lute
>   \set stringTunings = #'(17 14 9 5 2 -3 -5 -7 -8 -10 -12 -13 -15)
>   \relative c'' {
>     \time 3/4
>     \key d \minor
>     \partial 4.
>     <a-\RF #1 >8 <g-1-\RF #5 > a |
>     <f d-\RF #5 >4. <f-\RF #1 >8 < g-2 e-1 >4 |
>     <a f f-3\5-\RF #5 >4_( <a f-\RF #1 > d8) <g,-1-\RF #5 > |
>     <cis-4 a-3\4-\RF #5 >4 <a,\6>8 <g'-1-\RF #1 > <f> <e-1-\RF #1 > 
> |
>     <d' a d,,>4 <e-2-\RF #2 >8
>     \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details left Y) = #2.3
>     \once \override Glissando #'(bound-details right Y) = #1.3
>     \once \override Glissando #'extra-offset = #'(-0.5 . 0)
>     <f-\RF #1 >16
>     \glissando <e-2-\RF #1 > <f-\RF #2 >8 <d,-\RF #5 > |
>     \break
>     <a-\RF #5 >4 <c'-4-\RF #1 >8 <e,-2-\RF #5 > <f-3\5-\RF #5 >_( 
> <c'-4-\RF #1 >) |
>     <bes-1 d, g,>4. <e,-2-\RF #1 >8 <a f f,>4 |
>     <g-2-\RF #1 c,,>4 <f-2-\RF #2 >8 <e-1-\RF #1 >16 <f-\RF #2 > 
> <e-1-\RF #1 >8 <c-3> |
>     <f d-\RF #5 >8 <g-2-\RF #1 > <a-\RF #2 > <c,-3> <bes-1>_( 
> <g'-2-\RF #1 >) |
>     <a a,>8 <bes-1-\RF #1 > <c-4-\RF #2 > <f,-\RF #1 > <bes-1 g,> 
> <e,-2-\RF #1 > |
>   }
> 

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