musixlyr -- a MusiXTeX Extension Package for Lyrics Handling
Version 2.1c
(C) Rainer Dunker 1996-2003
musixlyr is a set of TeX macros to be used with Taupin MusiXTeX
(version T.52 or later) for typesetting vocal music. Its purpose is
to compensate two drawbacks of MusiXTeX's lyrics handling:
o Typesetting lyrics with the ``native'' MusiXTeX commands \zcharnote,
\zsong etc. tends to be quite inefficient, particularly if the
lyrics have to be changed or corrected. The idea underlying
musixlyr is to separate lyrics coding from music coding and let TeX
weave them together with as little manual interference as
possible. As a result you can enter and edit lyrics (nearly) as
easily as normal text.
o MusiXTeX has no built-in mechanism for centering hyphens between
syllables and for handling hyphenation at long melismas. This is
implemented in musixlyr following the example of engraved music.
New in version 2.1:
o \appendlyrics: Appends additional lyrics to existing lyrics line
without discarding the remainder of the current lyrics
o A couple of bugs fixed
New in version 2.0:
o Support for lyrics on multi-staff instruments
o Melisma declaration as part of the lyrics definition,
i.e. within \setlyrics
o Improved scheme for vertical lyrics positioning
o Using PMX: Automatic detection of upper/lower voice context in
a two-voice staff; explicitly addressing lyrics commands to
auxiliary lyrics with \auxlyr is no longer required
o Context-dependent lyrics settings that do not need to be
adressed to absolute instrument/staff numbers, making lyrics
assignment robust against PMX part extraction
o No more TeX register allocations per verse
(i.e. musixlyr uses only a small, fixed number of registers)
o Facility for posting "extra" lyrics anywhere on a staff,
even where no notes are present at all
o Slightly more robust processing of undefined verses
See the included file mxlyrdoc.dvi about how to make use of musixlyr.
This DVI file has been created using MusiXTeX T.103. If you have
another version installed, the music examples of the manual may be
corrupted due to font incompatibilities. Nevertheless, the rest of
the manual will remain readable so that you will be able to install
musixlyr and recompile the mxlyrdoc.tex file in order to get
everything right.
All kinds of comments, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome!
Author: Rainer Dunker
Wachtelweg 31
85591 Vaterstetten
Germany
E-mail: rainer.dunker@web.de
