Starling (?) wrote - >It might be better to have the duration of the chord >equal to the shortest duration within the chord. That way >[L:1/4][A4G2E2] is implicitly equal to a half note, just as in >keyboard music the shortest note in the chord is considered the length >before the next note begins.
Whoops! Back to the dawing board. I think the assumption in the earlier part of this discussion was that melody note length = chord length so under the "first-listed note" rule, this was both the melody note and defined the chord length. Basic rule of data design - don't pack two bits of information into one bit of data. One of them has to go. Since there is already a lot of abc out there that won't be obeying any of these rules, (eg abc2win's ascending order) I don't think "first listed note = melody note" can be relied on so I'd go for "first listed note = chord length". The above example could be written [L:1/4][G2A4E2]. I think it needs to be recognised that the [...] construct isn't going to cover all possibilities. Anything more complex will need separate voices, possibly combined on one staff. Bryan Creer To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
