3.7.12 Dynamics

Absolute dynamic marks are specified using a command after a note c4\ff. The available dynamic marks are \ppp, \pp, \p, \mp, \mf, \f, \ff, \fff, \fff, \fp, \sf, \sff, \sp, \spp, \sfz, and \rfz

     c'\ppp c\pp c \p c\mp c\mf c\f c\ff c\fff
     c2\sf c\rfz

A crescendo mark is started with \< and terminated with \!. A decrescendo is started with \> and also terminated with \!. Because these marks are bound to notes, if you must use spacer notes if multiple marks during one note are needed

     c''\< c''\! d''\> e''\!
     << f''1 { s4 s4\< s4\! \> s4\! } >>

This may give rise to very short hairpins. Use minimum-length in Voice (lilypond-internals).Hairpin (lilypond-internals) to lengthen them, for example

      \override Staff.Hairpin #'minimum-length = #5

You can also use a text saying cresc. instead of hairpins. Here is an example how to do it

     \setTextCresc
     c \< d e f\!
     \setHairpinCresc
     e\> d c b\!

You can also supply your own texts

     \context Voice {
       \set crescendoText = \markup { \italic "cresc. poco" }
       \set crescendoSpanner = #'dashed-line
       a'2\< a a a\!\mf
     }

Predefined commands

\dynamicUp, \dynamicDown, \dynamicBoth.

See also

Program reference: CrescendoEvent (lilypond-internals), DecrescendoEvent (lilypond-internals), and AbsoluteDynamicEvent (lilypond-internals).

Dynamics DynamicText (lilypond-internals) and Hairpin (lilypond-internals) objects. Vertical positioning of these symbols is handled by the DynamicLineSpanner (lilypond-internals) object.

This page is for LilyPond-2.2.6 (stable-branch). Report errors to <bug-lilypond@gnu.org>.