#937 Support for right-to-left music

[Anonymous]

Originally created by: *anonymous

Originally created by: pnorcks@gmail.com

We have received a request from Father Gilmary to implement right-to-left
music.  For background information, see

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2009-02/msg00634.html

Right-to-left music would help facilitate reading right-to-left scripts in
lyrics, for example.

Attached is an image of the beginning of Father Gilmary's example, with
Syriac scripts that are set right-to-left for every syllable.

The second image is an Inkscape mockup of one possibility for right-to-left
music with right-to-left script direction.

[Google Importer]

Originally posted by: mmaord...@gmail.com

Thanks, Patrick, for posting this. I have to add that RTL scripted languages don't
hyphenate. This, of course, will be a problem for syllables in lyrics. Attached is
some code that Jonathan Kew wrote to hack a Kashida "stretching" that is common to
Arabic, Syriac, Farsi, etc, which don't hyphenate. The file can be run with the
current version of XeTeX/XeLaTeX.

Briefly, the Kashida code stretches the *scripted words* instead of the space between
words (TeX calls it "glue") --- and the glyph used to stretch words is called
"tatwil", I think (on MS Windows' Syriac keyboard, it's shift+J). That would be the
way to typeset the lyrics in syllables. I hope later to send an image of music done
this way.

TIA.

fr. michael gilmary, mma

[Google Importer]

Originally posted by: pnorcks@gmail.com

This is all extremely interesting.  Thanks for posting.  I would be very interested
in seeing real-life examples of right-to-left music.

Owner: ---

[Google Importer]

Originally posted by: pnorcks@gmail.com

For others interested in this, here are some follow-up posts from Father Gilmary:

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-user/2009-12/msg00354.html

[Google Importer]

Originally posted by: mmaord...@gmail.com

Hi:

I've got an image of some Syriac text with music --- and the use of the kashida instead of hyphens for syllables.