On 2025-10-18 20:54, Kieren MacMillan wrote:
Hi Mats,
here is a fuller example of what I've come up with - it actually works unless
there is a line break in the first alternative, then the text overlap with the
lie above the alternative
Even when there isn’t a break in the first alternative, the volta bracket
overlaps the second pass text (at least when I compile it here).
Maybe that's a difference between 2.24 and 2.25?
Below, I’ve included your snippet (using \repeat unfold constructs to compress
the notes and lyrics for better MWE readability!), as well as another option
that doesn’t cause collisions/overlaps with the volta brackets. (Note: I used
\omit LyricText instead of skips, because I find it more intuitive to read.)
Interesting, your reformatting helped me understand what's going on with the \repeat
unfold and \skip in the manual: the idea is to create an extra voice with just the second
verse and skip everyting up to it - much like the global voice I use for distributing
rehearsal marks and stuff - except that here it is syllables and not bars that should be
skipped. It also explains why the "internal" Lyrics example in the manual works
when there are no alternatives.
However, I can't help thinking that this (splitting a voice into two and
ignoring parts) seems clumsy and potentially brittle - in the real world case
there is quite a lot of lyrics before the repeat. Using variables for the
lyrics alleviates the brittleness somewhat, but it still feels clumsy, not at
all like the \repeat volta/\alternative elegance.
Ideally it would be nice if you could just do something like
<<
{ verse 1 }
{ verse 2 }
>>
anywhere in lyrics - it would mimic what you do with notes - but that's
obviously not how it works ...
I will probably take the easy way out and insert a \break before the
alternatives (and deal with the overlap you see when moving to 2.26, or
possibly 2.25, if it's still there then).
Thanks anyway for the clarification!
Mats
