>> I've also been contemplating solving the need for random text such as >> "last time" under an ending bracket. This obviously needs quotes, and >> has syntax problems after a bar line. What I think would work is to >> say that you must use the '[' in this case, and you can then write >> |: CEC DED |1-3 EGE FAF :|2,4 EFG FED :|["last time" EFG ABc :| >> ...The description then would say that the actual ending syntax is: >> ["text" >> This would be followed by saying that the quotes may be omitted if >> the text contains only the characters "0123456789,-", and the bracket >> may be omitted immediately after a (single) bar line '|'. In the >> usual cases, the bracket and quotes will be omitted; the full ending >> syntax is expected to be rare. > Can someone explain the problem with quotes after a bar line, please?
The problem is that a chord or arbitrary text annotation could also go there. Even a purely graphical ABC implementation might well want to use a different typeface for such playing-order information, so it needs some way to distinguish it. > Wouldn't it be best to avoid unmatched bracket symbols? "[" isn't used as a bracket here; it's used to mark a repeat number, and has to be so used if the variant bit doesn't start at the beginning of the bar. I use it all the time, even when the variant starts at the barline, as I find it simpler to have only one syntax for this, it's more clearly visible than the more concise form, and it makes editing simpler if I want to move the start of the repeat. > The following works perfectly well with ABC2Win: > CEC DED |1-3 EGE FAF :|2,4 EFG FED :|"last time" EFG ABc| Does ABC2Win *play* that in the order you want? I can't see many humans being able to sightread that piece of notation anyway. As I understand it, it expands out into CEC DED | EGE FAF | CEC DED | EGE FAF | EFG FED | CEC DED | EGE FAF | CEC DED | EFG FED | CEC DED | EFG ABc | and there's no marker at the end to say where the "last time" bit stops. Any band I've been in would have needed to call a meeting to agree on an interpretation. It would be possible to represent that (no more readably) using the "P:" construct: in the header: P:AB ABC AB AC AD in the body: [P:A] CEC DED | [P:B] EGE FAF | [P:C] EFG FED | [P:D] EFG ABc | =================== <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> =================== To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
