Pointing Macros

Here are a few more Word macros that you liturgical scholars may like to snap up, provided (1) you use Windows XP and MS Word 2003; (2) you own a copy of the Melody Fonts (Melody A, Melody B, Melody C), which (alas) are no longer serviced by the tech-savvy monks of St. Meinrad's Abbey in Indiana; (3) you have set up a paragraph style (titled, say, "Music") in which the font is Melody A, based on no style, with Normal as the style of the following paragraph, while the font in your Normal style is Times New Roman; and (4) you follow the initial steps in my previous post on Word macros, so that you have the appropriately named, blank, keyboard-activated macros ready to fill in with code. Then it's just a matter of typing the codes shown in the image below into the visual basic editor above the "End Sub" line of each respective macro.The upper row of macros is especially handy if you want to use breves (those whole notes squished between short line segments) to designate the "reciting note" of a particular phrase. I have included the low D and E ones even though I have no particular application for them, just in case they are of use to you: See how nice I am?

The "versicle" and "response" macros simply save you having to remember, and constantly repeat, the key strokes for two very special characters that liturgical typesetters use to distinguish between the minister's and the congregation's lines. The second line of code in each of these two macros is important because it restores the font to Times New Roman, whatever font it may pull these special characters from. If you're not a TNR fan, feel free to substitute your favorite "Normal" font instead.

Now go and have a good time pointing chant tones! That's what I have planned for my Friday night, anyway...