Adds documentation for optional octavation clef syntax

Adds documentation for optional octavation clef syntax

[Trevor Daniels, 2012-11-07 21:53:30]

LGTM

Trevor

[janek, 2012-11-08 08:22:48]

Marc,

again i have some objections on wording.  Let me assure you that i don't intend
to pick on you!  Your patches receive so much of my attention because
(a) i understand them (not always the case with David's patches for example) 
(b) they're usually just the correct size to make a good review.

thanks for your work! :)

PS i dedicate all my code reviews to Graham Percival, especially the
documentation ones.

http://codereview.appspot.com/6830043/diff/1/Documentation/notation/pitches.i...
File Documentation/notation/pitches.itely (right):

http://codereview.appspot.com/6830043/diff/1/Documentation/notation/pitches.i...
Documentation/notation/pitches.itely:1156: Optional octavation can be obtained
by enclosing the numeric
I don't quite understand this "optional" thing. (maybe i don't understand this
notation correctly at all?)

I suppose that a parenthesized clef octavation doesn't mean that the octavation
is optional (that is, it doesn't mean "you may choose to play it in this octave
or another, whatever pleases you most").  I suppose that a parenthesized clef
octavation means that it's just a reminder, or that the octavation number is
editorial.  

For example, when i see a tenor part with \clef "treble_[8]", i would interpret
this as "the original edition had the tenor part written in \clef "treble", but
obviously the composer didn't mean it to be sung in sopranos octave, so here's a
bracketed octavation to assure the reader that this part is not some crazy
composer weirdness".

If that's correct, i think the description should be reworded, avoiding the word
"optional" altogether.

Janek

[janek, 2012-11-08 08:25:38]

PS please add the issue number and committish of the patch introducing this
feature to the commit message of this doc patch.

[janek, 2012-11-09 10:12:38]

Hi Marc,

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Marc Hohl <marc@hohlart.de> wrote:
>
> Am 08.11.2012 09:22, schrieb janek.lilypond@gmail.com:
>> I suppose that a parenthesized clef octavation doesn't mean that the
>> octavation is optional (that is, it doesn't mean "you may choose to play
>> it in this octave or another, whatever pleases you most").  I suppose
>> that a parenthesized clef octavation means that it's just a reminder, or
>> that the octavation number is editorial.
>
> I used them in my pieces before in exactly the way you describe above.
> For a flute, I used \clef "G^(8)" to indicate that the player may play it
> one
> octave above (preferred in combination with concert flute) or as written
> (when played with recorder).

Interesting.  Of course the notation you describe makes sense, but i
would definitely avoid it because it seems to ambiguous to me.
By the way, is it just me or are brackets (as opposed to parentheses)
commonly used for indicating editorial elements?  If so, i think that
a bracketed octavation would mean a "reminder".  That would make it
easy to confuse the two meanings.

Anyway, i recommend rewording the description to make it
interpretation-independent, i.e. something like "to put brackets or
parentheses around octavation, just use brackets/parentheses in the
code" without explaining what that could mean musically.

best,
Janek

[janek, 2012-11-10 14:13:23]

On Fri, Nov 9, 2012 at 11:16 AM, David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org> wrote:
> Janek Warchoł <janek.lilypond@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Marc Hohl <marc@hohlart.de> wrote:
>>> For a flute, I used \clef "G^(8)" to indicate that the player may play it
>>> one
>>> octave above (preferred in combination with concert flute) or as written
>>> (when played with recorder).
>>
>> Interesting.  Of course the notation you describe makes sense, but i
>> would definitely avoid it because it seems to ambiguous to me.
>> By the way, is it just me or are brackets (as opposed to parentheses)
>> commonly used for indicating editorial elements?  If so, i think that
>> a bracketed octavation would mean a "reminder".  That would make it
>> easy to confuse the two meanings.
>>
>> Anyway, i recommend rewording the description to make it
>> interpretation-independent, i.e. something like "to put brackets or
>> parentheses around octavation, just use brackets/parentheses in the
>> code" without explaining what that could mean musically.
>
> I don't see that we can get around defining what it should mean
> musically when we allow for absolute pitch entry and generate Midi.

Well, i think that the explanation which Marc had put there ("The pitches are
displayed as if the numeric argument were given without parentheses/brackets.")
should suffice.
So, LGTM.
Janek

[Graham Percival, 2012-11-11 12:46:20]

LGTM