Re: Isolated/bare durations

On Wed 29 Jul 2026 at 04:26:34 (+0000), Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> Can you suggest fixes that I could add to the NR (and/or the LM)?

For the NR, I think that it would only be necessary to modify

 "Isolated durations – durations without a pitch – that occur
  within a music sequence will take their pitch from the
  preceding note or chord."

by adding "Note that a duration following a pitch, but separated
from it by whitespace, is not an isolated duration."

That's in NR §2.1.1 at about the third musical example.

I'm not sure it's necessary to make the same point about rests
and skips in the NR. (There is a warning at the end of the
skips section.)

In the LM, skips aren't mentioned (though there's an instance
in Appendix A), so I haven't mentioned them here. Compiling
(2.24 or 2.26) the source below should produce a mockup of
what might work. (I've just hacked together the layout using
markup commands.) Just suggestions—do with it what you will.

%%%%%%%%

\markup { [ at the end of Durations section ] }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { When notes have the same pitch as the previous ones, }
\markup { it may be convenient to write isolated durations. }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\markup { \typewriter "
\relative { a'4. 8 4. 8 8 4. 4. 8 }
"}
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\relative {
  a'4. 8 4. 8 8 4. 4. 8
}

\markup { Be aware, however, that a pitch and its duration \italic can be }
\markup { separated by whitespace (‘g 4’ is set as a single note). }
\markup { That may create undesirable visual ambiguities in }
\markup { your source file. }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\markup { \typewriter "
\relative { a'4 4 4 4 g 4 4 4 4 }
"}
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\relative {
  a'4 4 4 4 g 4 4 4 4
}

\markup { [ Rests section follows here ] }

\markup { … }

\markup { [ at the end of Rests section ] }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { Be aware that an ‘r’ and its duration \italic can be separated by }
\markup { whitespace. However, subsequent isolated durations will }
\markup { set notes with the previous pitch, not rests. }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\markup { \typewriter "
\relative { a'4 4 r4 r g 4 4 r 4 4 }
"}
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }
\markup { " " }

\relative {
  a'4 4 r4 r g 4 4 r 4 4
}

\markup { [ Time signature section follows here ] }

%%%%%%%%

Cheers,
David.