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w3c / mnx

Music Notation CG next-generation music markup proposal.
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What's the purpose of `clefs` array in the beginning of the measures array? #341

Closed GeorgeTailor closed 6 months ago

GeorgeTailor commented 6 months ago

I'm having a hard time understanding the logic behind such structure.

Can clef sign change in the middle of the score? Can a single part have multiple clef signs? If yes, why then it is not reflected in the example of organ? This seems like a good example of such thing. But this leads to another question: how would mnx encode which measures belong to which clef and how to separate them? This doesn't seem to be possible at the moment.

If a clef sign can be only one at the beginning of the part and there can be only one clef sign for a part why it's not under part object on the same level as measures and is not an object instead of an array?

adrianholovaty commented 6 months ago

Hello — please see the example document called "Clef changes": https://w3c.github.io/mnx/docs/mnx-reference/examples/clef-changes/

That "clefs" array is a list of clefs with their rhythmic positions — positioned clef objects.

Yes, it is indeed possible for the clef to change in the middle of a score, even in the middle of a measure. Our lives would be much easier if this weren't the case.

We haven't yet specified how to encode clefs for multi-stave instruments, such as a piano grand staff. MusicXML does this via the "number" attribute on the clef object, and I imagine MNX will do something similar.

(I'm going to convert this to a GitHub discussion thread, since it's more of a question as opposed to a specific to-do.)