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Grouping staves

Various contexts exist to group single staves together in order to form multi-staff systems. Each grouping context sets the style of the system start delimiter and the behavior of bar lines.

If no context is specified, the default properties will be used: the group is started with a vertical line, and the bar lines are not connected.

<<
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
>>

In the StaffGroup context, the group is started with a bracket and bar lines are drawn through all the staves.

\new StaffGroup <<
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
>>

In a ChoirStaff, the group starts with a bracket, but bar lines are not connected.

\new ChoirStaff <<
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
>>

In a GrandStaff, the group begins with a brace, and bar lines are connected between the staves.

\new GrandStaff <<
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
>>

The PianoStaff is identical to a GrandStaff, except that it supports printing the instrument name directly. For details, see Instrument names.

\new PianoStaff \with { instrumentName = "Piano" }
<<
  \new Staff \relative { c''1 c }
  \new Staff \relative { \clef bass c1 c }
>>

The OneStaff is a staff group that places separate contexts in the same vertical alignment. This example shows three staves sharing the same space. Here, the Time_signature_engraver has been moved from the staves to the OneStaff context to prevent it from being repeated for each staff.

\layout {
  \context {
    \OneStaff
    \consists Time_signature_engraver
  }
  \context {
    \Staff
    \remove Time_signature_engraver
  }
  \context {
    \DrumStaff
    \remove Time_signature_engraver
  }
}

\new OneStaff {
  \new Staff {
    c'4 4 d'4 4 e'2 d'
  }
  \drums {
    hihat4 hh bassdrum bd
  }
  \new Staff {
    c'4 4 d'4 4 e'2 d'
  }
}

Each staff group context sets the property systemStartDelimiter to one of the following values: SystemStartBar, SystemStartBrace, or SystemStartBracket. A fourth delimiter, SystemStartSquare, is also available, but it must be explicitly specified.

New staff group contexts may be defined. For details, see Defining new contexts.

Selected Snippets

Use square bracket at the start of a staff group

The system start delimiter SystemStartSquare can be used by setting it explicitly in a StaffGroup or ChoirStaff context.

\score {
  \new StaffGroup { <<
  \set StaffGroup.systemStartDelimiter = #'SystemStartSquare
    \new Staff { c'4 d' e' f' }
    \new Staff { c'4 d' e' f' }
  >> }
}

Display bracket with only one staff in a system

If there is only one staff in one of the staff types ChoirStaff or StaffGroup, by default the bracket and the starting bar line will not be displayed. This can be changed by overriding collapse-height to set its value to be less than the number of staff lines in the staff.

Note that in contexts such as PianoStaff and GrandStaff where the systems begin with a brace instead of a bracket, another property has to be set, as shown on the second system in the example.

\score {
  \new StaffGroup <<
    % Must be lower than the actual number of staff lines
    \override StaffGroup.SystemStartBracket.collapse-height = 4
    \override Score.SystemStartBar.collapse-height = 4
    \new Staff {
      c'1
    }
  >>
}
\score {
  \new PianoStaff <<
    \override PianoStaff.SystemStartBrace.collapse-height = 4
    \override Score.SystemStartBar.collapse-height = 4
    \new Staff {
      c'1
    }
  >>
}

\paper { tagline = ##f }

Mensurstriche layout (bar lines between the staves)

Mensurstriche, bar lines between but not through staves, can be printed by setting measureBarType to "-span|" and using a grouping context that allows span bars, such as StaffGroup.

\layout {
  \context {
    \Staff
    measureBarType = "-span|"
  }
}

music = \fixed c'' {
  c1
  d2 \section e2
  f1 \fine
}

\new StaffGroup <<
  \new Staff \music
  \new Staff \music
>>

See also

Music Glossary: brace, bracket, grand staff, mensurstrich.

Notation Reference: Instrument names, Defining new contexts.

Snippets: Staff notation.

Internals Reference: Staff, StaffGroup, ChoirStaff, GrandStaff, PianoStaff, OneStaff, SystemStartBar, SystemStartBrace, SystemStartBracket, SystemStartSquare.

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