The idea is somewhat similar to LyX, but somewhat different as
well. The GOALS file in the distribution has all the details. Briefly, my
thinking is to provide a GUI interface for those things where seeing the
music (and eventually getting quick playback of bits of it) is helpful --
when one's deciding what notes to put where when composing or arranging,
mainly -- but to avoid burdening the interface with things that are better
handled in the underlying mudela (e.g., putting multiple voices on a
staff; performance directions, perhaps; giving Lilypond layout hints;
etc.)
Though, of course, this isn't something absolutely set in stone
for the entire life of the project.
Anyway, the fact that Denemo isn't aiming to shield the user from
mudela leads me to think it might be _better_ to use mudela as the GUI's
native file format than if it did have that aim. It would allow music
entry to alternate between GUI-editing and hand-editing. Otherwise,
users'll have to throw out hand-edits if they want to edit their piece in
the GUI again.
It might complicate things a bit, though...
Matt Hiller
