On Thu 04 Jan 2001 at 03:03PM +0000, Phil Taylor wrote:
> >On Thu 04 Jan 2001 at 09:48AM +0000, Phil Taylor wrote:
> >>
> >> It was probably something like this which prompted Jean-
> >> Francois to suggest that a P: field should reset the voice
> >> number to 1. In viewer programs the P: field is simply a
> >> label to be written above the first voice, but in player
> >> programs it's a flow control device used to determine the
> >> order in which parts are played, so resetting the voice
> >> number to 1 is a very bad idea here.
> >
> >Actually, it is what abc2midi does. abc2midi has had a V: field
> >for a long time (and I think it was the first program to have
> >it). The abc2midi documentation describes some of the intricacies
> >of the fields interact. For example, a P: field in multi-voice
> >abc provides a good point for checking that all voices have
> >the same playing time.
>
> Ouch! What happens when you have a P: field in the middle of
> a line of music? Do all voices still have to have a P: field
> at the same time point?
There is only one P: field to mark the end of one part and the
start of the next for all voices. If you put it in the middle
of a line of music, it makes your notation more difficult to
understand, but it behaves in exactly the same way (i.e. globally).
> >> However, perhaps we do need a way of indicating that a field
> >> placed in any voice should be applied to all voices at that
> >> time point. This requires a slightly different way of writing
> >> fields, possibly something like:
> >
> >The problem with this idea is that it then becomes possible to
> >re-set the key in one voice from an instruction in the middle of
> >another voice and it will be very difficult for the human reader
> >to work out what is going on.
> >
>
> The idea is that such fields exist outside of the individual
> voices, so you would normally put one on a line by itself, following
> a block of complete voices and applying to all voices in the
> following block. Is that the way in which abc2midi interprets
> the P: field?
Yes, P: is always considered global to all voices, while K: L: and
M: are local to the current voice if they appear in the body of the
tune.
James Allwright
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