LilyPond Notation Reference: 2.1.1 Common notation for vocal music

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2.1.1 Common notation for vocal music

This section discusses issues common to most types of vocal music.

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References for vocal music

This section indicates where to find details of notation issues that may arise in any type of vocal music.

Most styles of vocal music use written text as lyrics. An introduction to this notation is to be found in Setting simple songs.
Vocal music is likely to require the use of markup mode, either for lyrics or for other text elements (characters’ names, etc.) This syntax is described in Text markup introduction.
Ambitus may be added at the beginning of vocal staves, as explained in Ambitus.
Dynamic markings by default are placed below the staff, but in choral music they are usually placed above the staff in order to avoid the lyrics, as explained in Score layouts for choral.

Entering lyrics

Lyrics are entered in a special input mode, which can be introduced by the keyword \lyricmode, or by using \addlyrics or \lyricsto. In this special input mode, the input d is not parsed as the pitch D, but rather as a one-letter syllable of text. In other words, syllables are entered like notes but with pitches replaced by text.

For example:

\lyricmode { Three4 blind mice,2 three4 blind mice2 }

There are two main methods for specifying the horizontal placement of the syllables, either by specifying the duration of each syllable explicitly, as in the example above, or by leaving the lyrics to be aligned automatically to a melody or other voice of music, using \addlyrics or \lyricsto. The former method is described below in Manual syllable durations. The latter method is described in Automatic syllable durations.

A word or syllable of lyrics begins with an alphabetic character (plus some other characters, see below) and is terminated by any white space or a digit. Later characters in the syllable can be any character that is not a digit or white space.

Because any character that is not a digit or white space is regarded as part of the syllable, a word is valid even if it ends with }, which often leads to the following mistake:

\lyricmode { lah lah lah}

In this example, the } is included in the final syllable, so the opening brace is not balanced and the input file will probably not compile. Instead, braces should always be surrounded with white space:

\lyricmode { lah lah lah }

Similarly, in lyric mode, a period will be included in the alphabetic sequence that it follows. As a consequence, spaces must be inserted around the period in \override commands. Do not write

\override Score.LyricText #'font-shape = #'italic

but instead use

\override Score . LyricText #'font-shape = #'italic

Punctuation, lyrics with accented characters, characters from non-English languages, or special characters (such as the heart symbol or slanted quotes), may simply be inserted directly into the input file, providing it is saved with UTF-8 encoding. For more information, see Text encoding.

\relative c'' { d8 c16 a bes8 f e' d c4 }
\addlyrics { „Schad’ um das schö -- ne grü -- ne Band, }

Normal quotes may be used in lyrics, but they have to be preceded with a backslash character and the whole syllable has to be enclosed between additional quotes. For example,

\relative c' { \time 3/4 e4 e4. e8 d4 e d c2. }
\addlyrics { "\"I" am so lone -- "ly,\"" said she }

The full definition of a word start in lyrics mode is somewhat more complex. A word in lyrics mode is one that begins with an alphabetic character, _, ?, !, :, ', the control characters ^A through ^F, ^Q through ^W, ^Y, ^^, any 8-bit character with an ASCII code over 127, or a two-character combination of a backslash followed by one of `, ', ", or ^.

Aligning lyrics to a melody

Lyrics are printed by interpreting them in the context called Lyrics, see Contexts explained.

\new Lyrics \lyricmode { … }

Lyrics can be aligned with melodies in two main ways:

Lyrics can be aligned automatically, with the durations of the syllables being taken from another voice of music or (in special circumstances) an associated melody, using \addlyrics, \lyricsto, or by setting the associatedVoice property. For more details, see Automatic syllable durations.
```
<<
  \new Staff <<
    \time 2/4
    \new Voice = "one" \relative c'' {
      \voiceOne
      c4 b8. a16 g4. r8 a4 ( b ) c2
    }
    \new Voice = "two" \relative c' {
      \voiceTwo
       s2 s4. f8 e4 d c2
    }
  >>

% takes durations and alignment from notes in "one"
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "one" {
    Life is __ _ love, live __ life.
  }

% takes durations and alignment from notes in "one" initially
% then switches to "two"
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "one" {
    No more let
    \set associatedVoice = "two"  % must be set one syllable early
    sins and sor -- rows grow.
  }
>>
```
The first stanza shows the normal way of entering lyrics.

The second stanza shows how the voice from which the lyric durations are taken can be changed. This is useful if the words to different stanzas fit the notes in different ways and all the durations are available in Voice contexts. For more details, see Stanzas.
Lyrics can be aligned independently of the duration of any notes if the durations of the syllables are specified explicitly, and entered with \lyricmode.
```
<<
  \new Voice = "one" \relative c'' {
    \time 2/4
    c4 b8. a16 g4. f8 e4 d c2
  }

% uses previous explicit duration of 2;
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    Joy to the earth!
  }

% explicit durations, set to a different rhythm
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    Life4 is love,2. live4 life.2
  }
>>
```
The first stanza is not aligned with the notes because the durations were not specified, and the previous value of 2 is used for each word.

The second stanza shows how the words can be aligned quite independently from the notes. This is useful if the words to different stanzas fit the notes in different ways and the required durations are not available in a music context. For more details see Manual syllable durations. This technique is also useful when setting dialogue over music; for examples showing this, see Dialogue over music.

When entered in this way the words are left-aligned to the notes by default, but may be center-aligned to the notes of a melody by specifying an associated voice, if one exists. For details, see Manual syllable durations.

Automatic syllable durations

Lyrics can be automatically aligned to the notes of a melody in three ways:

by specifying the named Voice context containing the melody with \lyricsto,
by introducing the lyrics with \addlyrics and placing them immediately after the Voice context containing the melody,
by setting the associatedVoice property, the alignment of the lyrics may be switched to a different named Voice context at any musical moment.

In all three methods hyphens can be drawn between the syllables of a word and extender lines can be drawn beyond the end of a word. For details, see Extenders and hyphens.

The Voice context containing the melody to which the lyrics are being aligned must not have “died”, or the lyrics after that point will be lost. This can happen if there are periods when that voice has nothing to do. For methods of keeping contexts alive, see Keeping contexts alive.

Using `\lyricsto`

Lyrics can be aligned under a melody automatically by specifying the named Voice context containing the melody with \lyricsto:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    a4 a a a
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    These are the words
  }
>>

This aligns the lyrics to the notes of the named Voice context, which must already exist. Therefore normally the Voice context is specified first, followed by the Lyrics context. The lyrics themselves follow the \lyricsto command. The \lyricsto command invokes lyric mode automatically, so the \lyricmode keyword may be omitted. By default, the lyrics are placed underneath the notes. For other placements, see Placing lyrics vertically.

Using `\addlyrics`

The \addlyrics command is just a convenient shortcut that can sometimes be used instead of having to set up the lyrics through a more complicated LilyPond structure.

{ MUSIC }
\addlyrics { LYRICS }

is the same as

\new Voice = "blah" { MUSIC }
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "blah" { LYRICS }

Here is an example,

{
  \time 3/4
  \relative c' { c2 e4 g2. }
  \addlyrics { play the game }
}

More stanzas can be added by adding more \addlyrics sections:

{
  \time 3/4
  \relative c' { c2 e4 g2. }
  \addlyrics { play the game }
  \addlyrics { speel het spel }
  \addlyrics { joue le jeu }
}

The command \addlyrics cannot handle polyphonic settings. For these cases one should use \lyricsto.

Using associatedVoice

The melody to which the lyrics are being aligned can be changed by setting the associatedVoice property,

\set associatedVoice = #"lala"

The value of the property (here: "lala") should be the name of a Voice context. For technical reasons, the \set command must be placed one syllable before the one to which the change in voice is to apply.

Here is an example demonstrating its use:

<<
  \new Staff <<
    \time 2/4
    \new Voice = "one" \relative c'' {
      \voiceOne
      c4 b8. a16 g4. r8 a4 ( b ) c2
    }
    \new Voice = "two" \relative c' {
      \voiceTwo
       s2 s4. f8 e8 d4. c2
    }
  >>
% takes durations and alignment from notes in "one" initially
% then switches to "two"
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "one" {
    No more let
    \set associatedVoice = "two"  % must be set one syllable early
    sins and sor -- rows grow.
  }
>>

Manual syllable durations

In some complex vocal music, it may be desirable to place lyrics completely independently of notes. In this case do not use \lyricsto or \addlyrics and do not set associatedVoice. Syllables are entered like notes – but with pitches replaced by text – and the duration of each syllable is entered explicitly after the syllable.

By default, syllables will be left-aligned to the corresponding musical moment. Hyphenated lines may be drawn between syllables as usual, but extender lines cannot be drawn when there is no associated voice.

Here are two examples:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    c2 e4 g2 f
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    play1 the4 game4
  }
>>

<<
  \new Staff {
    \relative c'' {
      c2 c2
      d1
    }
  }
  \new Lyrics {
    \lyricmode {
      I2 like4. my8 cat!1
    }
  }
  \new Staff {
    \relative c' {
      c8 c c c c c c c
      c8 c c c c c c c
    }
  }
>>

This technique is useful when writing dialogue over music, see Dialogue over music.

To center-align syllables on the notes at the corresponding musical moments, set associatedVoice to the name of the Voice context containing those notes. When associatedVoice is set, both double hyphens and double underscores can be used to draw hyphenated lines and extenders under melismata correctly.

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    c2 e4 g f g
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    \set associatedVoice = #"melody"
    play2 the4 game2. __
  }
>>

Multiple syllables to one note

In order to assign more than one syllable to a single note with spaces between the syllables, you can surround the phrase with quotes or use a _ character. Alternatively, you can use code the tilde symbol (~) to get a lyric tie. The lyric tie is implemented with the Unicode character U+203F, so be sure to have a font (like DejaVuLGC) installed that includes this glyph.

{
  \time 3/4
  \relative c' { c2 e4 g2 e4 }
  \addlyrics { gran- de_a- mi- go }
  \addlyrics { pu- "ro y ho-" nes- to }
  \addlyrics { pu- ro~y~ho- nes- to }
}

Multiple notes to one syllable

Sometimes, particularly in Medieval music, several notes are to be sung on one syllable; such vocalises are called melismata, or melismas. The syllable to a melisma is usually left-aligned with the first note of the melisma.

When a melisma occurs on a syllable other that the last one in a word, that syllable is usually joined to the following one with a hyphenated line. This is indicated by placing a double hyphen, --, immediately after the syllable.

Alternatively, when a melisma occurs on the last or only syllable in a word an extender line is usually drawn from the end of the syllable to the last note of the melisma. This is indicated by placing a double underscore, __, immediately after the word.

There are five ways in which melismata can be indicated:

Melismata are created automatically over notes which are tied together:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    f4 g2 ~ |
    g4 e2 ~ |
    e8
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- ri -- e __
  }
>>

Melismata can be created automatically from the music by placing slurs over the notes of each melisma. This is the usual way of entering lyrics:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    f4 g8 ( f e f )
    e8 ( d e2 )
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- ri -- e __
  }
>>

Notes are considered a melisma if they are manually beamed, providing automatic beaming is switched off. See Setting automatic beam behavior.
```
<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    \autoBeamOff
    f4 g8[ f e f]
    e2.
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- ri -- e
  }
>>
```
Clearly this is not suited to melismata over notes which are longer than eighth notes.
An unslurred group of notes will be treated as a melisma if they are bracketed between \melisma and \melismaEnd.
```
<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    f4 g8
    \melisma
    f e f
    \melismaEnd
    e2.
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- ri -- e
  }
>>
```
Note that this method cannot be used to indicate two melismata if the first one is immediately followed by another.
A melisma can be defined entirely in the lyrics by entering a single underscore character, _, for every extra note that has to be added to the melisma.
```
<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    f4 g8 f e f
    e8 d e2
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- ri -- _ _ _ e __ _ _
  }
>>
```

It is possible to have ties, slurs and manual beams in the melody without their indicating melismata. To do this, set melismaBusyProperties and indicate the melismata with single underscores in the lyrics, one underscore for each extra note:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" {
    \time 3/4
    \set melismaBusyProperties = #'()
    c4 d ( e )
    g8 [ f ] f4( e)
    d e ~ e
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" {
    Ky -- _ _ _ _ ri -- _ _ e __ _
  }
>>

Other settings for melismaBusyProperties can be used to include or exclude ties, slurs, and beams from the automatic detection of melismata; see melismaBusyProperties in Tunable context properties.

Predefined commands

\autoBeamOff, \autoBeamOn, \melisma, \melismaEnd.

Known issues and warnings

Extender lines under melismata are not created automatically; they must be inserted manually with a double underscore.

[ << Specialist notation ]	[Top][Contents][Index][ ? ]			[ General input and output >> ]
[ < Multiple notes to one syllable ]		[ Up : Common notation for vocal music ]	[ Extenders and hyphens > ]

Skipping notes

Making a lyric line run slower than the melody can be achieved by inserting \skips into the lyrics. For every \skip, the text will be delayed by another note. The \skip command must be followed by a valid duration, but this is ignored when \skip is used in lyrics which derive their durations from the notes in an associated melody through \addlyrics or \lyricsto.

\relative c' { c c g' }
\addlyrics {
  twin -- \skip 4
  kle
}

[ << Specialist notation ]	[Top][Contents][Index][ ? ]			[ General input and output >> ]
[ < Skipping notes ]		[ Up : Common notation for vocal music ]	[ Techniques specific to lyrics > ]

Extenders and hyphens

In the last syllable of a word, melismata are sometimes indicated with a long horizontal line starting in the melisma syllable, and ending in the next one. Such a line is called an extender line, and it is entered as ‘ __ ’ (note the spaces before and after the two underscore characters).

Note: Melismata are indicated in the score with extender lines, which are entered as one double underscore; but short melismata can also be entered by skipping individual notes, which are entered as single underscore characters; these do not make an extender line to be typeset by default.

Centered hyphens are entered as ‘ -- ’ between syllables of a same word (note the spaces before and after the two hyphen characters). The hyphen will be centered between the syllables, and its length will be adjusted depending on the space between the syllables.

In tightly engraved music, hyphens can be removed. Whether this happens can be controlled with the minimum-distance (minimum distance between two syllables) and the minimum-length (threshold below which hyphens are removed) properties of LyricHyphen.

2.1.1 Common notation for vocal music

References for vocal music

See also

Entering lyrics

See also

Aligning lyrics to a melody

See also

Automatic syllable durations

Using `\lyricsto`

Using `\addlyrics`

Using associatedVoice

See also

Manual syllable durations

See also

Multiple syllables to one note

See also

Multiple notes to one syllable

Predefined commands

See also

Known issues and warnings

Skipping notes

Extenders and hyphens

See also

LilyPond — Notation Reference

2.1.1 Common notation for vocal music

References for vocal music

See also

Entering lyrics

See also

Aligning lyrics to a melody

See also

Automatic syllable durations

Using \lyricsto

Using \addlyrics

Using associatedVoice

See also

Manual syllable durations

See also

Multiple syllables to one note

See also

Multiple notes to one syllable

Predefined commands

See also

Known issues and warnings

Skipping notes

Extenders and hyphens

See also

LilyPond — Notation Reference

Using `\lyricsto`

Using `\addlyrics`