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Editorial annotations

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Adding fingerings to a score

Fingering instructions can be entered using a simple syntax.

\relative c'' {
  c4-1 d-2 f-4 e-3
}

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Allowing fingerings to be printed inside the staff

By default, vertically oriented fingerings are positioned outside the staff. However, this behavior can be canceled. Note: you must use a chord construct <>, even if it is only a single note.

\relative c' {
  <c-1 e-2 g-3 b-5>2
  \override Fingering #'staff-padding = #'()
  <c-1 e-2 g-3 b-5>4 <g'-0>
}

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Alternative bar numbering

Two alternative methods for bar numbering can be set, especially for when using repeated music.

\relative c'{
  \set Score.alternativeNumberingStyle = #'numbers
  \repeat volta 3 { c4 d e f | }
    \alternative {
      { c4 d e f | c2 d \break }
      { f4 g a b | f4 g a b | f2 a | \break }
      { c4 d e f | c2 d }
    }
  c1 \break
  \set Score.alternativeNumberingStyle = #'numbers-with-letters
  \repeat volta 3 { c,4 d e f | }
    \alternative {
      { c4 d e f | c2 d \break }
      { f4 g a b | f4 g a b | f2 a | \break }
      { c4 d e f | c2 d }
    }
  c1
}

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Analysis brackets above the staff

Simple horizontal analysis brackets are added below the staff by default. The following example shows a way to place them above the staff instead.

\layout {
  \context {
    \Voice
    \consists "Horizontal_bracket_engraver"
  }
}
\relative c'' {
  \once \override HorizontalBracket #'direction = #UP
  c2\startGroup
  d2\stopGroup
}

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Applying note head styles depending on the step of the scale

The shapeNoteStyles property can be used to define various note head styles for each step of the scale (as set by the key signature or the tonic property). This property requires a set of symbols, which can be purely arbitrary (geometrical expressions such as triangle, cross, and xcircle are allowed) or based on old American engraving tradition (some latin note names are also allowed).

That said, to imitate old American song books, there are several predefined note head styles available through shortcut commands such as \aikenHeads or \sacredHarpHeads.

This example shows different ways to obtain shape note heads, and demonstrates the ability to transpose a melody without losing the correspondence between harmonic functions and note head styles.

fragment = {
  \key c \major
  c2 d
  e2 f
  g2 a
  b2 c
}

\new Staff {
  \transpose c d
  \relative c' {
    \set shapeNoteStyles = #'#(do re mi fa
                               #f la ti)
    \fragment
  }

  \break

  \relative c' {
    \set shapeNoteStyles = #'#(cross triangle fa #f
                               mensural xcircle diamond)
    \fragment
  }
}

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Avoiding collisions with chord fingerings

Fingerings and string numbers applied to individual notes will automatically avoid beams and stems, but this is not true by default for fingerings and string numbers applied to the individual notes of chords. The following example shows how this default behavior can be overridden.

\relative c' {
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(up)
  \set stringNumberOrientations = #'(up)
  \set strokeFingerOrientations = #'(up)

  % Default behavior
  r8
  <f c'-5>8
  <f c'\5>8
  <f c'-\rightHandFinger #2 >8

  % Corrected to avoid collisions
  r8
  \override Fingering #'add-stem-support = ##t
  <f c'-5>8
  \override StringNumber #'add-stem-support = ##t
  <f c'\5>8
  \override StrokeFinger #'add-stem-support = ##t
  <f c'-\rightHandFinger #2 >8
}

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Blanking staff lines using the \whiteout command

The \whiteout command underlays a markup with a white box. Since staff lines are in a lower layer than most other grobs, this white box will not overlap any other grob.

\layout { ragged-right = ##f }
\relative c' {
  \override TextScript #'extra-offset = #'(2 . 4)
  c2-\markup { \whiteout \pad-markup #0.5 "middle C" } c
}

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Changing a single note’s size in a chord

Individual note heads in a chord can be modified with the \tweak command inside a chord, by altering the font-size property.

Inside the chord (within the brackets < >), before the note to be altered, place the \tweak command, followed by #'font-size and define the proper size like #-2 (a tiny note head).

\relative c' {
  <\tweak #'font-size #+2 c e g c \tweak #'font-size #-2 e>1^\markup { A tiny e }_\markup { A big c }
}

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Changing the appearance of a slur from solid to dotted or dashed

The appearance of slurs may be changed from solid to dotted or dashed.

\relative c' {
  c4( d e c)
  \slurDotted
  c4( d e c)
  \slurSolid
  c4( d e c)
  \slurDashed
  c4( d e c)
  \slurSolid
  c4( d e c)
}

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Coloring notes depending on their pitch

It is possible to color note heads depending on their pitch and/or their names: the function used in this example even makes it possible to distinguish enharmonics.

%Association list of pitches to colors.
#(define color-mapping
   (list
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 0 NATURAL) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 0 SHARP) (x11-color 'green))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 1 FLAT) (x11-color 'green))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 2 NATURAL) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 2 SHARP) (x11-color 'green))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 3 FLAT) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 3 NATURAL) (x11-color 'green))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 4 SHARP) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 5 NATURAL) (x11-color 'green))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 5 FLAT) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 6 SHARP) (x11-color 'red))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 1 NATURAL) (x11-color 'blue))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 3 SHARP) (x11-color 'blue))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 4 FLAT) (x11-color 'blue))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 5 SHARP) (x11-color 'blue))
    (cons (ly:make-pitch 0 6 FLAT) (x11-color 'blue))))

%Compare pitch and alteration (not octave).
#(define (pitch-equals? p1 p2)
   (and
    (= (ly:pitch-alteration p1) (ly:pitch-alteration p2))
    (= (ly:pitch-notename p1) (ly:pitch-notename p2))))

#(define (pitch-to-color pitch)
   (let ((color (assoc pitch color-mapping pitch-equals?)))
     (if color
         (cdr color))))

#(define (color-notehead grob)
   (pitch-to-color
    (ly:event-property (event-cause grob) 'pitch)))

\score {
  \new Staff \relative c' {
    \override NoteHead #'color = #color-notehead
    c8 b d dis ees f g aes
  }
}

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Controlling the placement of chord fingerings

The placement of fingering numbers can be controlled precisely. For fingering orientation to apply, you must use a chord construct <> even if it is a single note.

\relative c' {
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
  <c-1 e-3 a-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down)
  <c-1 e-3 a-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down right up)
  <c-1 e-3 a-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(up)
  <c-1 e-3 a-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
  <c-1>2
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down)
  <e-3>2
}

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Creating a delayed turn

Creating a delayed turn, where the lower note of the turn uses the accidental, requires several overrides. The outside-staff-priority property must be set to #f, as otherwise this would take precedence over the avoid-slur property. The value of halign is used to position the turn horizontally.

\relative c'' {
  \once \override TextScript #'avoid-slur = #'inside
  \once \override TextScript #'outside-staff-priority = ##f
  c2(^\markup \tiny \override #'(baseline-skip . 1) {
    \halign #-4
    \center-column {
      \sharp
      \musicglyph #"scripts.turn"
    }
  }
  d4.) c8
}

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Creating blank staves

To create blank staves, generate empty measures then remove the Bar_number_engraver from the Score context, and the Time_signature_engraver, Clef_engraver and Bar_engraver from the Staff context.

#(set-global-staff-size 20)

\score {
  {
    \repeat unfold 12 { s1 \break }
  }
  \layout {
    indent = 0\in
    \context {
      \Staff
      \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
      \remove "Clef_engraver"
      \remove "Bar_engraver"
    }
    \context {
      \Score
      \remove "Bar_number_engraver"
    }
  }
}

\paper {
  #(set-paper-size "letter")
  ragged-last-bottom = ##f
  line-width = 7.5\in
  left-margin = 0.5\in
  bottom-margin = 0.25\in
  top-margin = 0.25\in
}

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Creating double-digit fingerings

By default you cannot make double-digit fingering notation (i.e. numbers larger than 9). This is a hard coded limitation.

This snippet shows two methods of creating fingerings larger than 9.

ten =
#(make-music 'FingeringEvent
             'digit 10)

fifty =
#(make-music 'FingeringEvent
             'digit 50)

finger =
#(define-music-function (parser location digit) (integer?)
   (make-music 'FingeringEvent
               'digit digit))

#(define (calc-finger-without-warning grob)
   (let* ((event (event-cause grob))
	  (digit (ly:event-property event 'digit)))
     (number->string digit 10)))

\relative c' {
  % optional override to remove warnings for fingerings larger than 5
  \override Fingering #'text = #calc-finger-without-warning
  c1\ten
  c1\fifty
  c1-\finger #36
  c1-\finger #29
}

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Default direction of stems on the center line of the staff

The default direction of stems on the center line of the staff is set by the Stem property neutral-direction.

\relative c'' {
  a4 b c b
  \override Stem #'neutral-direction = #up
  a4 b c b
  \override Stem #'neutral-direction = #down
  a4 b c b
}

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Drawing boxes around grobs

The print-function can be overridden to draw a box around an arbitrary grob.

\relative c'' {
  \override TextScript #'stencil =
    #(make-stencil-boxer 0.1 0.3 ly:text-interface::print)
  c'4^"foo"

  \override Stem #'stencil =
    #(make-stencil-boxer 0.05 0.25 ly:stem::print)
  \override Score.RehearsalMark  #'stencil =
    #(make-stencil-boxer 0.15 0.3 ly:text-interface::print)
  b8

  \revert Stem #'stencil

  \revert Flag #'stencil
  c4. c4
  \mark "F"
  c1
}

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Drawing circles around note heads

Here is how to circle a note.

circle =
\once \override NoteHead #'stencil = #(lambda (grob)
    (let* ((note (ly:note-head::print grob))
           (combo-stencil (ly:stencil-add
               note
               (circle-stencil note 0.1 0.8))))
          (ly:make-stencil (ly:stencil-expr combo-stencil)
            (ly:stencil-extent note X)
            (ly:stencil-extent note Y))))

{ \circle c' }

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Drawing circles around various objects

The \circle markup command draws circles around various objects, for example fingering indications. For other objects, specific tweaks may be required: this example demonstrates two strategies for rehearsal marks and measure numbers.

\relative c' {
  c1
  \set Score.markFormatter =
    #(lambda (mark context)
             (make-circle-markup (format-mark-numbers mark context)))
  \mark \default

  c2 d^\markup {
    \override #'(thickness . 3) {
      \circle \finger 2
    }
  }
  \override Score.BarNumber #'break-visibility = #all-visible
  \override Score.BarNumber #'stencil =
    #(make-stencil-circler 0.1 0.25 ly:text-interface::print)
}

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Embedding native PostScript in a \markup block

PostScript code can be directly inserted inside a \markup block.

% PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.

\relative c'' {
  a4-\markup { \postscript #"3 4 moveto 5 3 rlineto stroke" }
  -\markup { \postscript #"[ 0 1 ] 0 setdash 3 5 moveto 5 -3 rlineto stroke " }

  b4-\markup { \postscript #"3 4 moveto 0 0 1 2 8 4 20 3.5 rcurveto stroke" }
  s2
  a'1
}

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Grid lines: changing their appearance

The appearance of grid lines can be changed by overriding some of their properties.

\score {
  \new ChoirStaff <<
    \new Staff {
      \relative c'' {
        \stemUp
        c'4. d8 e8 f g4
      }
    }
    \new Staff {
      \relative c {
        % this moves them up one staff space from the default position
        \override Score.GridLine #'extra-offset = #'(0.0 . 1.0)
        \stemDown
        \clef bass
        \once \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #5.0
        c4
        \once \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #1.0
        g'4
        \once \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #3.0
        f4
        \once \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #5.0
        e4
      }
    }
  >>
  \layout {
    \context {
      \Staff
      % set up grids
      \consists "Grid_point_engraver"
      % set the grid interval to one quarter note
      gridInterval = #(ly:make-moment 1 4)
    }
    \context {
      \Score
      \consists "Grid_line_span_engraver"
      % this moves them to the right half a staff space
      \override NoteColumn #'X-offset = #-0.5
    }
  }
}

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Grid lines: emphasizing rhythms and notes synchronization

Regular vertical lines can be drawn between staves to show note synchronization; however, in case of monophonic music, you may want to make the second stave invisible, and make the lines shorter like in this snippet.

\score {
  \new ChoirStaff {
    \relative c'' <<
      \new Staff {
        \time 12/8
        \stemUp
        c4. d8 e8 f g4 f8 e8. d16 c8
      }
      \new Staff {
        % hides staff and notes so that only the grid lines are visible
        \hideNotes
        \override Staff.BarLine #'transparent = ##t
        \override Staff.StaffSymbol #'line-count = #0
        \override Staff.TimeSignature #'transparent = ##t
        \override Staff.Clef #'transparent = ##t

        % dummy notes to force regular note spacing
        \once  \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #4.0
        c8 c c
        \once  \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #3.0
        c8 c c
        \once  \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #4.0
        c8 c c
        \once  \override Score.GridLine #'thickness = #3.0
        c8 c c
      }
    >>
  }
  \layout {
    \context {
      \Score
      \consists "Grid_line_span_engraver"
      % center grid lines horizontally below note heads
      \override NoteColumn #'X-offset = #-0.5
    }
    \context {
      \Staff
      \consists "Grid_point_engraver"
      gridInterval = #(ly:make-moment 1 8)
      % set line length and positioning:
      % two staff spaces above center line on hidden staff
      % to four spaces below center line on visible staff
      \override GridPoint #'Y-extent = #'(2 . -4)
    }
    ragged-right = ##t
  }
}

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How to print two rehearsal marks above and below the same barline (method 1)

This method prints two ’rehearsal marks’, one on top of the other. It shifts the lower rehearsal mark below the staff and then adds padding above it in order to place the upper rehearsal mark above the staff.

By adjusting the extra-offset and baseline-skip values you can increase or decrease the overall space between the rehearsal mark and the staff.

Because nearly every type of glyph or string can be made to behave like a rehearsal mark it is possible to centre those above and below a bar line.

Adding the appropriate ’break visibility’ as shown in snippet 1 will allow you to position two marks at the end of a line as well.

Note: Method 1 is less complex than Method 2 but does not really allow for fine tuning of placement of one of the rehearsal marks without affecting the other. It may also give some problems with vertical spacing, since using extra-offset does not change the bounding box of the mark from its original value.

\relative c'{
    c d e f |
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'extra-offset = #'(0 . -8.5)
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'baseline-skip = #9
    \mark \markup \center-column { \circle 1 \box A }
    g f e d |
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'extra-offset = #'(0 . -8.5)
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'baseline-skip = #9
    \mark \markup \center-column { \flat { \bold \small \italic Fine. } }
    g f e d |
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'extra-offset = #'(0 . -8.5)
    \once \override Score.RehearsalMark #'baseline-skip = #9
    \override Score.RehearsalMark #'break-visibility = #begin-of-line-invisible
    \mark \markup \center-column { \musicglyph #"scripts.ufermata" \box z }
}

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How to print two rehearsal marks above and below the same barline (method 2)

This method prints two ’rehearsal marks’ - one above the stave and one below, by creating two voices, adding the Rehearsal Mark engraver to each voice - without this no rehearsal mark is printed - and then placing each rehearsal mark UP and DOWN in each voice respectively.

This method (as opposed to method 1) is more complex, but allows for more flexibility, should it be needed to tweak each rehearsal mark independently of the other.

\score {
  \relative c'
  <<
    \new Staff {
      <<
        \new Voice \with {
          \consists Mark_engraver
          \consists "Staff_collecting_engraver"
        }
        { c4 d e f
          \mark \markup { \box A }
          c4 d e f
        }
        \new Voice \with {
          \consists Mark_engraver
          \consists "Staff_collecting_engraver"
          \override RehearsalMark #'direction = #DOWN
        }
        { s4 s s s
          \mark \markup { \circle 1 }
          s4 s s s
        }
      >>
    }
  >>
  \layout {
    \context {
      \Score
      \remove "Mark_engraver"
      \remove "Staff_collecting_engraver"
    }
  }
}

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Making some staff lines thicker than the others

For pedagogical purposes, a staff line can be thickened (e.g., the middle line, or to emphasize the line of the G clef). This can be achieved by adding extra lines very close to the line that should be emphasized, using the line-positions property of the StaffSymbol object.

{
  \override Staff.StaffSymbol #'line-positions = #'(-4 -2 -0.2 0 0.2 2 4)
  d'4 e' f' g'
}

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Marking notes of spoken parts with a cross on the stem

This example shows how to put crosses on stems. Mark the beginning of a spoken section with the \speakOn keyword, and end it with the \speakOff keyword.

speakOn = {
  \override Stem #'stencil =
    #(lambda (grob)
       (let* ((x-parent (ly:grob-parent grob X))
              (is-rest? (ly:grob? (ly:grob-object x-parent 'rest))))
         (if is-rest?
             empty-stencil
             (ly:stencil-combine-at-edge
              (ly:stem::print grob)
              Y
              (- (ly:grob-property grob 'direction))
              (grob-interpret-markup grob
                                     (markup #:center-align #:fontsize -4
                                             #:musicglyph "noteheads.s2cross"))
              -2.3))))
}

speakOff = {
  \revert Stem #'stencil
  \revert Flag #'stencil
}

\score {
  \new Staff {
    \relative c'' {
      a4 b a c
      \speakOn
      g4 f r g
      b4 r d e
      \speakOff
      c4 a g f
    }
  }
}

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Measure counter

This snippet provides a workaround for emitting measure counters using transparent percent repeats.

<<
  \context Voice = "foo" {
    \clef bass
    c4 r g r
    c4 r g r
    c4 r g r
    c4 r g r
  }
  \context Voice = "foo" {
    \set countPercentRepeats = ##t
    \override PercentRepeat #'transparent = ##t
    \override PercentRepeatCounter #'staff-padding = #1
    \repeat percent 4 { s1 }
  }
>>

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Positioning fingering indications precisely

Generally the options available for positioning the fingering of chords work well by default, but if one of the indications needs to positioned more precisely the following tweak may be used. This is particularly useful for correcting the positioning when intervals of a second are involved.

\relative c' {
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(left)
  <c-1 d-2 a'-5>4
  <c-1 d-\tweak #'extra-offset #'(0 . 0.7)-2 a'-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down)
  <c-1 d-2 a'-5>4
  <c-1 d-\tweak #'extra-offset #'(-1.2 . 0)-2 a'-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(down right up)
  <c-1 d-2 a'-5>4
  <c-1 d-\tweak #'extra-offset #'(-1 . 1.2)-2 a'-5>4
  \set fingeringOrientations = #'(up)
  <c-1 d-2 a'-5>4
  <c-1 d-\tweak #'extra-offset #'(-1.2 . 0)-2 a'-5>4
}

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Positioning text markups inside slurs

Text markups need to have the outside-staff-priority property set to false in order to be printed inside slurs.

\relative c'' {
  \override TextScript #'avoid-slur = #'inside
  \override TextScript #'outside-staff-priority = ##f
  c2(^\markup { \halign #-10 \natural } d4.) c8
}

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Printing text from right to left

It is possible to print text from right to left in a markup object, as demonstrated here.

{
  b1^\markup {
    \line { i n g i r u m i m u s n o c t e }
  }
  f'_\markup {
    \override #'(text-direction . -1)
    \line { i n g i r u m i m u s n o c t e }
  }
}

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String number extender lines

Make an extender line for string number indications, showing that a series of notes is supposed to be played all on the same string.

stringNumberSpanner =
#(define-music-function (parser location StringNumber) (string?)
  #{
    \override TextSpanner #'style = #'solid
    \override TextSpanner #'font-size = #-5
    \override TextSpanner #'(bound-details left stencil-align-dir-y) = #CENTER
    \override TextSpanner #'(bound-details left text) = \markup { \circle \number #StringNumber }
  #})


\relative c {
  \clef "treble_8"
  \stringNumberSpanner "5"
  \textSpannerDown
  a8\startTextSpan
  b c d e f\stopTextSpan
  \stringNumberSpanner "4"
  g\startTextSpan a
  bes4 a g2\stopTextSpan
}

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Using PostScript to generate special note head shapes

When a note head with a special shape cannot easily be generated with graphic markup, PostScript code can be used to generate the shape. This example shows how a parallelogram-shaped note head is generated.

parallelogram =
  #(ly:make-stencil (list 'embedded-ps
    "gsave
      currentpoint translate
      newpath
      0 0.25 moveto
      1.3125 0.75 lineto
      1.3125 -0.25 lineto
      0 -0.75 lineto
      closepath
      fill
      grestore" )
    (cons 0 1.3125)
    (cons -.75 .75))

myNoteHeads = \override NoteHead #'stencil = \parallelogram
normalNoteHeads = \revert NoteHead #'stencil

\relative c'' {
  \myNoteHeads
  g4 d'
  \normalNoteHeads
  <f, \tweak #'stencil \parallelogram b e>4 d
}

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Using the whiteout property

Any graphical object can be printed over a white background to mask parts of objects that lie beneath. This can be useful to improve the appearance of collisions in complex situations when repositioning objects is impractical. It is necessary to explicitly set the layer property to control which objects are masked by the white background.

In this example the collision of the tie with the time signature is improved by masking out the part of the tie that crosses the time signature by setting the whiteout property of TimeSignature. To do this TimeSignature is moved to a layer above Tie, which is left in the default layer of 1, and StaffSymbol is moved to a layer above TimeSignature so it is not masked.

{
  \override Score.StaffSymbol #'layer = #4
  \override Staff.TimeSignature #'layer = #3
  b'2 b'~
  \once \override Staff.TimeSignature #'whiteout = ##t
  \time 3/4
  b' r4
}

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