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From:   Simons, Don[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Wednesday, May 05, 1999 03:47
To:     [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:        Continuo realizations in MusiXTeX

When typesetting a continuo realization (a right-hand part for a keyboard
player based on the figured bass) it is traditional to use a smaller staff
and smaller print, to indicate that these notes were not written by the
composer.  However it is still desirable to group the bass line and the
realization together as a 2-staff instrument, set off with a curly bracket
to the left.  I have not been able to figure out a way to do this.
\setsize n  only works on an entire instrument; I can't make it work on one
staff of a 2-staff instrument.  So unless there is a trick I'm missing, I
would like to request that this capability be added to MusiXTeX.  

In the meanwhile, why can't I get by with making the realization a separate
one-line instrument?  

1.  I cannot figure out how to get a curly bracket around 2 separate 1-line
instruments.

Here's a possible solution:

% Code for multiple left curly brackets:
%
% usage:
%        \curlybrackets{<instrument1lower><instrument1upper>
%                       <instrument2lower><instrument2upper>
%                       ...
%                       <instrument_n_lower><instrument_n_upper>}
%

\makeatletter

\let\origin@lwrit@staffs\writ@staffs
\def\writ@staffs{%
  \origin@lwrit@staffs
  \ifx\br@cks\empty\else\expandafter\@bracks\br@cks\ende\fi}

\let\br@cks\empty
\def\curlybrackets#1{\def\br@cks{#1}}

\def\@bracks#1#2#3\ende{%
    \noinstrum@nt=#1\s@l@ctinstr\b@zi\altitude
    \noinstrum@nt=#2\s@l@ctinstr\b@zii\altitude
    \advance\b@zii-\b@zi
    \advance\b@zii-\Interligne
    \C@Inter
    \advance\b@zii\stem@skip
    \n@v\b@zii \sp@pt\tw@ \advance\n@v\@cxxviii
    \divide\b@zii\tw@
    \advance\b@zi\b@zii
    \raise\b@zi\rlap{\kern -\instrum@in@group\mxsps\char\n@v\kern\instrum@in@group}%
    \ifx\empty#3\else\@bracks#3\ende\fi}

\makeatother

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