Re: Style for Editorial Rests

Dear Gabriel,

If you're more concerned about readability of the score for performance, 
I would recommend going the route of leaving the score completely plain 
with editorial changes and writing the list of original readings at the 
end (the "critical notes" section).

It can be hard to keep track of editorial changes while you're editing 
the score, but with scheme code it is possible to keep track of these 
changes "in-line" and have Lilypond keep track of them for you.

-William

On 6/22/26 4:09 PM, Gabriel Ellsworth wrote:
> Thanks, Kieren!
> 
> 
> Kieren MacMillan wrote:
> 
>     For anything “editorial”, I always prefer square brackets. (That’s
>     also the convention/standard seen in several critical editions/series.)
> 
> 
> Do you happen to have a good example from a critical edition at your 
> fingertips? Or does anyone else reading this message know of a good example?
> 
> 
> I found Using brackets instead of parentheses for \parenthesize - 
> LilyPond wiki <https://wiki.lilypond.community/wiki/ 
> Using_brackets_instead_of_parentheses_for_%5Cparenthesize>and used that 
> code to mock up the following:
> 
> 
> image.png
> 
> My concern with this approach is that busy professional singers might 
> see the square brackets whilst sight-reading and think, “What does that 
> mean? Am I actually supposed to observe that quarter rest or not? Do the 
> beats in this measure add up to a whole note or not?” The distraction 
> could cause reading errors and lost rehearsal time.
>