Aligning lyrics to a melody

Lyrics are interpreted in \lyricmode and printed in a Lyrics context, see Contexts explained.

\new Lyrics \lyricmode { … }

Two variants of \lyricmode additionally set an associated context used to synchronize the lyric syllables to music. The more convenient \addlyrics immediately follows the musical content of the Voice context with which it should be synchronized, implicitly creating a Lyrics context of its own. The more versatile \lyricsto requires both specifying the associated Voice context by name and explicitly creating a containing Lyrics context. For details see Automatic syllable durations.

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 {
        \voiceOne
        c''4 b8. a16 g4. r8 a4 ( b ) c2
      }
      \new Voice = "two" \relative {
        \voiceTwo
         s2 s4. f'8 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 {
      \time 2/4
      c''4 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.

See also

Learning Manual: Aligning lyrics to a melody.

Notation Reference: Contexts explained, Automatic syllable durations, Stanzas, Manual syllable durations, Dialogue over music, Manual syllable durations.

Internals Reference: Lyrics.

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LilyPond Notation Reference v2.25.15 (development-branch).