Ordinary bars a coded using the macro normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\barre (this is a French word2.10). This macro provides an optional (discretionary) line or page break2.11. It also provides some glue in order to expand the text over an evenly filled line.
However, since the number of bars in a score line is generally
small, it may be convenient to allow glue not only on each sides of
bars. This can be done using the macro
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\temps (the
French word for beat). This macro has two effects:
Whatever the care you exercize in adjusting the size of the
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\elemskip, you are still likely to find some broken ties (which
indicate excessive glue disassembling the gliding tie
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\hrules) or
some unexpected (and unwanted) line breaks or some Over[aw]full
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\hboxes. A useful means of estimating the remaining space to be
filled with glue consists in declaring
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\raggedlinestrue : after
that, an
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\hfil will be inserted by MusicTEX before each computed
(when using
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\autolines) or forced line break. Thus, all the musical
text will be packed on the left of the line and you will clearly see the
amount of remaining space. Then, it will be up to you do decide changing some
spacing parameters.
Important: do not use
normalshapemediumseriesnormalshapemediumseries\temps when
beams are pending, otherwise their spatial synchronization would fail.
In other words, ties and slurs can jump over glue (because horizontal rules
may overlap and thus have some elasticity) but beams (as well as any oblique
lines) cannot.