Modelling questions and details lute tablature

[reinierdevalk]

What?

This issue lists various questions and details regarding the modelling of lute tablature that are still to be addressed.

Questions and details

• Mensuration symbols (see phalese-1546_20-no_2 for an example of a slashed C). How do we do these:
  • Using a <mensur> element as a child of the <staffDef> (current approach).
    • The slashed C can be made using the attribute @slash.
  • Making it an attribute of the <staffDef> - but how?
    • Using @meter.count, @meter.unit (and, if necessary, @meter.sym)?
• Dots. Do we need to specify the vertical position of the right hand (fingering) dot (see, e.g., milano-1546_6-no_8)?
  • DL: Is @vo meaningful here?
  • TC: Well, there are examples of dots being written above a tablature letter/number; I don't think there is a universal understanding of the meaning of this. (It could mean staccato in certain cases.) And dots can be used as ornament signs or playing indications. So my overall feeling is that we should include this as a possibility. Default would be a dot under the letter/number to indicate r.h. first finger (= strike the course/string 'upward' = [usually] weaker beat).
  • DL: I don't think we can do this ambiguity in MEI - the editor probably has to get off the fence rather than encode a neutral 'dot'. If it's articulation, there's <artic>, if it's a fingering, then it's <fing>, etc. There is no generic dot. I think there's a compass point positioning for some things, but I can't remember what. Certainly it's used in mensural. That might be usable here.
  • RdV: Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant the RH index finger/note-on-the-weaker-beat dot. That's <fing>, obviously - and I guess that makes that they will always be placed below the note by the renderer? I am not sure if there even are cases where this type of dot is not placed directly below the note. Probably...
• We need to include a @notationtype='tab.lute.spanish' for ‘Spanish’ tablature (Milan 1536, El maestro), which is currently missing.
  • DL: We should make an example at some point, but in principle, the only difference should be notation type.
  • TC: This is effectively what is used in modern guitar tablature - and flamenco 'cifras'.
• German tab: how do we deal with compound symbols, such as the letters or numbers with a line above them (see gerle-1552_1-no_4) which are currently done (incorrectly) with @symbol.mod='strikethrough'?
• How to indicate a tenuto sign preceding the glyph (see gerle-1552_1-no_4, m. 4 (2x) and 6)? Does it need some sort of position indicator as well? Currently, it is done using a new custom <tenuto> element that contains the attributes @startid, @position, and @style.