Template talk:Voicing

Making third parameter optional

I'd like to suggest an improvement to this template in order to simplify its use: to make optional the use of the third parameter. This can be accomplished with the following addition to the code (in red):

Number of voices: {{{1}}}vv Voicing: [[:Category:{{{2}}}|{{{3|{{{2}}}}}}]] [[Category:{{{2}}}]]

This way we could use just {{Voicing|4|SATB}} instead of {{Voicing|4|SATB|SATB}}, and still have the option of specifying a third parameter when it ought to be different from the second one.

I'm also working on a way to show 1v instead of 1vv when there's just one voice, but haven't come to a simple solution yet ;) -- Carlos^Talk 17:01, 9 April 2008 (PDT)

Hi Carlos. I have just implemented your suggestion (I would have done it eventually, since I'm making a major review of templates). One of the major disadvantages of the present template is that it does not handle other frequently encountered situations: (1) the presence of soli, (2) alternate voicings (eg. when different transpositions of a score are given), (3) a mix of the previous two items, (4) various other descriptive words such as "optional". It's a sticky wicket, and the template is probably left as intended for the canonical situation. I'll fix the "v" versus "vv" thing, although previously searches for number of voices made use of the "vv" standard. This, however, is a moot point, since the Wiki search engine ignores search keys of 3 or fewer characters. And that is why I reorganized the Voicing categories by number of voices. -- Chuck_talk Giffen_♫ 01:44, 10 April 2008 (PDT)