2.9.6 Working with ancient music – scenarios and solutions

Working with ancient music frequently involves particular tasks which differ considerably from the modern notation for which LilyPond is designed. In the rest of this section, a number of typical scenarios are outlined, with suggestions of solutions. These involve:

• how to make incipits (i.e., prefatory material to indicate what the original has looked like) to modern transcriptions of mensural music;
• how to achieve the Mensurstriche layout frequently used for modern transcriptions of polyphonic music;
• how to transcribe Gregorian chant in modern notation;
• how to generate both ancient and modern notation from the same source.