Formatting lyrics syllables (LilyPond snippets)

[ << Vocal music ]	[Top][Contents]	[ Chords >> ]
[ < Forcing hyphens to be shown ]	[ Up : Vocal music ]	[ How to put ties between syllables in lyrics > ]

Formatting lyrics syllables

Markup mode may be used to format individual syllables in lyrics.

mel = \relative c'' { c4 c c c c1 }
lyr = \lyricmode {
  Your lyrics \markup { \italic can } \markup { \with-color #red contain }
  \markup { \fontsize #8 \bold Markup! }
}

<<
  \new Voice = melody \mel
  \new Lyrics \lyricsto melody \lyr
>>

<< Back to Documentation Index

LilyPond snippets v2.25.22 (development-branch).

Pitches
- Adding ambitus per voice
- Adding an ottava marking to a single voice
- Aiken head thin variant noteheads
- Altering the length of beamed stems
- Ambitus
- Ambitus after key signature
- Ambitus with multiple voices
- Applying note head styles depending on the step of the scale
- Automatically changing the stem direction of the middle note based on the melody
- Changing ottava text
- Changing the ambitus gap
- Changing the interval of lines on the stave
- Clefs can be transposed by arbitrary amounts
- Coloring notes depending on their pitch
- Creating a sequence of notes on various pitches
- Creating custom key signatures
- Direction of merged ’fa’ shape note heads
- Force a cancellation natural before accidentals
- Forcing a clef symbol to be displayed
- Generating random notes
- Hiding accidentals on tied notes at the start of a new system
- Keep change clefs full sized
- Makam example
- Modifying the Ottava spanner slope
- Non-traditional key signatures
- Numbers as easy note heads
- Orchestra, choir and piano template
- Preventing extra naturals from being automatically added
- Preventing natural signs from being printed when the key signature changes
- Quoting another voice with transposition
- Separating key cancellations from key signature changes
- Transposing pitches with minimum accidentals ("Smart" transpose)
- Turkish Makam example
- Tweaking clef properties
- Using autochange with more than one voice
Rhythms
- Adding beams, slurs, ties etc. when using tuplet and non-tuplet rhythms
- Adding drum parts
- Adjusting grace note spacing
- Aligning bar numbers
- Alternative breve notes
- Appoggiatura or grace note before a bar line
- Automatic beam subdivisions
- Automatically change durations
- Beam endings in Score context
- Beam nibs
- Beams across line breaks
- Changing beam knee gap
- Changing form of multi-measure rests
- Changing the number of augmentation dots per note
- Changing the tempo without a metronome mark
- Changing the tuplet number
- Changing time signatures inside a polymetric section using \scaleDurations
- Chant or psalms notation
- Compound time signatures
- Conducting signs, measure grouping signs
- Consistently left-aligned bar numbers
- Controlling tuplet bracket visibility
- Cow and ride bell example
- Creating metronome marks in markup mode
- Engraving ties manually
- Engraving tremolos with floating beams
- Entering several tuplets using only one \tuplet command
- Forcing rehearsal marks to start from a given letter or number
- Generating custom flags
- Guitar strum rhythms
- Heavily customized polymetric time signatures
- High and Low woodblock example
- Making an object invisible with the ’transparent property
- Making slurs with complex dash structure
- Manually controlling beam positions
- Merging multi-measure rests in a polyphonic part
- Modifying tuplet bracket length
- Moving dotted notes in polyphony
- Multi-measure rest length control
- Multi-measure rest markup
- Non-default tuplet numbers
- Numbering single measure rests
- Partcombine and \autoBeamOff
- Percussion example
- Permitting line breaks within beamed tuplets
- Positioning grace note beams at the height of normal note beams
- Positioning grace notes with floating space
- Positioning multi-measure rests
- Positioning opposing fermatas on a bar line
- Preventing final mark from removing final tuplet
- Printing bar numbers at regular intervals
- Printing bar numbers for broken measures
- Printing bar numbers inside boxes or circles
- Printing bar numbers using modulo-bar-number-visible
- Printing bar numbers with changing regular intervals
- Printing metronome and rehearsal marks below the staff
- Printing music with different time signatures
- Printing the bar number for the first measure
- Printing tuplet brackets on the note head side
- Redefining grace note global defaults
- Removing bar numbers from a score
- Removing connecting bar lines on StaffGroup, PianoStaff, or GrandStaff
- Rest styles
- Reverting default beam endings
- Rhythmic slashes
- Skips in lyric mode
- Skips in lyric mode (2)
- Stemlets
- Strict beat beaming
- Subdividing beams
- Tam-tam example
- Tambourine example
- Three-sided box
- Time signature in brackets
- Time signature in parentheses
- Time signature printing only the numerator as a number (instead of the fraction)
- Tweaking grace layout within music
- User defined time signatures
- Using alternative flag styles
- Using grace note slashes with normal heads
- Using ties with arpeggios
Expressive marks
- Adding beams, slurs, ties etc. when using tuplet and non-tuplet rhythms
- Adding parentheses around an expressive mark or chordal note
- Adding timing marks to long glissandi
- Adjusting slur positions vertically
- Adjusting the shape of falls and doits
- Aligning the ends of hairpins to NoteColumn directions
- Alternative breve notes
- Asymmetric slurs
- Breathing signs
- Broken Crescendo Hairpin
- Caesura ("railtracks") with fermata
- Center text below hairpin dynamics
- Changing text and spanner styles for text dynamics
- Changing the appearance of a slur from solid to dotted or dashed
- Changing the breath mark symbol
- Changing the number of augmentation dots per note
- Combining dynamics with markup texts
- Contemporary glissando
- Controlling spanner visibility after a line break
- Controlling the vertical ordering of scripts
- Creating a delayed turn
- Creating arpeggios across notes in different voices
- Creating cross-staff arpeggios in a piano staff
- Creating cross-staff arpeggios in other contexts
- Creating double-digit fingerings
- Creating "real" parenthesized dynamics
- Creating slurs across voices
- Creating text spanners
- Dynamics custom text spanner postfix
- Dynamics text spanner postfix
- Glissandi can skip grobs
- Hairpins with different line styles
- Hiding the extender line for text dynamics
- Horizontally aligning custom dynamics (e.g. "sempre pp", "piu f", "subito p")
- Inserting a caesura
- Laissez vibrer ties
- Line arrows
- Making slurs with complex dash structure
- Modifying default values for articulation shorthand notation
- Moving slur positions vertically
- Moving the ends of hairpins
- Positioning arpeggios
- Positioning text markups inside slurs
- Printing hairpins in various styles
- Printing hairpins using al niente notation
- Printing metronome and rehearsal marks below the staff
- Setting hairpin behavior at bar lines
- Setting the minimum length of hairpins
- Showing the same articulation above and below a note or chord
- Snap-pizzicato or Bartok pizzicato
- Using a tick as the breath mark symbol
- Using arpeggioBracket to make divisi more visible
- Using double slurs for legato chords
- Using the whiteout property
- Vertical line as a baroque articulation mark
- Vertically aligning dynamics across multiple notes
Repeats
- Adding volta brackets to additional staves
- Centered measure numbers
- Changing the default bar lines
- Controlling the appearance of tremolo slashes
- Cross-staff tremolos
- Engraving tremolos with floating beams
- Isolated percent repeats
- Measure counter
- Numbering groups of measures
- Percent repeat count visibility
- Percent repeat counter
- Positioning segno and coda (with line break)
- Setting the double repeat default for volte
- Shortening volta brackets
- Volta below chords
- Volta multi staff
- Volta text markup using repeatCommands
Simultaneous notes
- Additional voices to avoid collisions
- Changing \partCombine texts
- Changing a single note’s size in a chord
- Clusters
- Combining two parts on the same staff
- Displaying complex chords
- Forcing horizontal shift of notes
- Making an object invisible with the ’transparent property
- Moving dotted notes in polyphony
- Suppressing warnings for clashing note columns
- Two \partCombine pairs on one staff
Staff notation
- Adding ambitus per voice
- Adding an extra staff
- Adding an extra staff at a line break
- Adding indicators to staves which get split after a break
- Adding orchestral cues to a vocal score
- Adding timing marks to long glissandi
- Alternative bar numbering
- Ambitus after key signature
- Centered measure numbers
- Changing the default bar lines
- Changing the number of lines in a staff
- Changing the staff size
- Creating blank staves
- Creating custom key signatures
- Creating double-digit fingerings
- Cross-staff stems
- Display bracket with only one staff in a system
- Extending a TrillSpanner
- Extending glissandi across repeats
- Flat Ties
- Forcing measure width to adapt to MetronomeMark’s width
- Glissandi can skip grobs
- Incipit
- Inserting score fragments above a staff, as markups
- Let TabStaff print the topmost string at bottom
- Letter tablature formatting
- Making glissandi breakable
- Making some staff lines thicker than the others
- Measure counter
- Mensurstriche layout (bar lines between the staves)
- Modifying the Ottava spanner slope
- Nesting staves
- Non-traditional key signatures
- Numbering groups of measures
- Orchestra, choir and piano template
- Print ChordNames with same root and different bass as slash and bass-note
- Putting lyrics inside the staff
- Quoting another voice
- Quoting another voice with transposition
- Removing brace on first line of piano score
- Removing the first empty line
- Setting system separators
- Shape individual ties in chords
- Tick bar lines
- Time signature in brackets
- Time signature in parentheses
- Tweaking clef properties
- Two \partCombine pairs on one staff
- Use square bracket at the start of a staff group
- Using autochange with more than one voice
- Using marklines in a Frenched score
- Vertically aligned StaffGroups without connecting SystemStartBar
- Volta below chords
- Volta multi staff
Editorial annotations
- Adding fingerings to a score
- Adding links to objects
- Adding markups in a tablature
- Allowing fingerings to be printed inside the staff
- Alternative bar numbering
- Analysis brackets above the staff
- Analysis brackets with labels
- Applying note head styles depending on the step of the scale
- Blanking staff lines using the \whiteout command
- Changing a single note’s size in a chord
- Changing the appearance of a slur from solid to dotted or dashed
- Coloring notes depending on their pitch
- Controlling the placement of chord fingerings
- Creating a delayed turn
- Creating blank staves
- Creating double-digit fingerings
- Default direction of stems on the center line of the staff
- Different font size settings for instrumentName and shortInstrumentName
- Drawing boxes around grobs
- Drawing circles around note heads
- Drawing circles around various objects
- Embedding native PostScript in a \markup block
- Grid lines: changing their appearance
- Grid lines: emphasizing rhythms and notes synchronization
- Hammer on and pull off
- Hammer on and pull off using chords
- Hammer on and pull off using voices
- Making some staff lines thicker than the others
- Marking notes of spoken parts with a cross on the stem (Sprechstimme)
- Measure counter
- Measure spanner
- Numbering groups of measures
- Positioning fingering indications precisely
- Positioning text markups inside slurs
- Printing text from right to left
- String number extender lines
- Using PostScript to generate special note head shapes
- Using the whiteout property
Text
- [OBSOLETE] Adding a QR code
- Adding markups in a tablature
- Adding the current date to a score
- Adjusting lyrics vertical spacing
- Aligning and centering instrument names
- Aligning syllables with melisma
- Blanking staff lines using the \whiteout command
- Center text below hairpin dynamics
- Changing ottava text
- Changing the default text font family
- Combining dynamics with markup texts
- Combining two parts on the same staff
- Creating "real" parenthesized dynamics
- Creating text spanners
- Demonstrating all headers
- Embedding native PostScript in a \markup block
- Formatting lyrics syllables
- How to put ties between syllables in lyrics
- Lyrics alignment
- Markup list
- Multi-measure rest markup
- Of the ubiquity of markup objects
- Outputting the version number
- Piano template with centered lyrics
- Printing bar numbers with changing regular intervals
- Printing marks on every staff
- Printing text from right to left
- Putting lyrics inside the staff
- Stand-alone two-column markup
- String number extender lines
- Three-sided box
- UTF-8
- Vocal ensemble template with lyrics aligned below and above the staves
- Volta text markup using repeatCommands
Vocal music
- Adding ambitus per voice
- Adding indicators to staves which get split after a break
- Adding orchestral cues to a vocal score
- Adjusting lyrics vertical spacing
- Aligning syllables with melisma
- Ambitus
- Ambitus after key signature
- Ambitus with multiple voices
- Ancient notation template – modern transcription of gregorian music
- Anglican psalm template
- Arranging separate lyrics on a single line
- Changing stanza fonts
- Chant or psalms notation
- Forcing hyphens to be shown
- Formatting lyrics syllables
- How to put ties between syllables in lyrics
- Hymn template
- Lyrics alignment
- Marking notes of spoken parts with a cross on the stem (Sprechstimme)
- Obtaining 2.12 lyrics spacing in newer versions
- Orchestra, choir and piano template
- Piano template with melody and lyrics
- Putting lyrics inside the staff
- SATB Choir template - four staves
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, and chords
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, chords and frets
- Single staff template with notes and lyrics
- Skips in lyric mode
- Skips in lyric mode (2)
- Using arpeggioBracket to make divisi more visible
- Using tags to produce mensural and modern music from the same source
- Vertically aligning ossias and lyrics
- Vertically aligning stanza numbers of different staves
- Vertically centered common lyrics
- Vocal ensemble template
- Vocal ensemble template with automatic piano reduction
- Vocal ensemble template with lyrics aligned below and above the staves
- Vocal ensemble template with verse and refrain
Chords
- Adding a figured bass above or below the notes
- Adding bar lines to ChordNames context
- Adjusting figured bass alteration glyphs
- Changing chord separator
- Changing the chord names to German or semi-German notation
- Changing the positions of figured bass alterations
- Chord name exceptions
- chord name major7
- Chord names alternative
- Chords with stretched fingering for FretBoards and TabVoice
- Clusters
- Controlling the placement of chord fingerings
- Cross-staff chords - beaming problems workaround
- Customizing the chord grid style
- Customizing the no-chord symbol
- Displaying complex chords
- Manually break figured bass extenders for only some numbers
- Print ChordNames with same root and different bass as slash and bass-note
- Showing chords at changes
- Simple lead sheet
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, and chords
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, chords and frets
- Single staff template with notes and chords
- Vertically centering paired figured bass extenders
- Volta below chords
Keyboards
- Accordion-discant symbols
- Accordion register symbols
- Changing the text for sustain markings
- Clusters
- Controlling the placement of chord fingerings
- Creating slurs across voices
- Cross-staff chords - beaming problems workaround
- Cross-staff tremolos
- Fine-tuning pedal brackets
- Indicating cross-staff chords with arpeggio bracket
- Jazz combo template
- Laissez vibrer ties
- Piano template (simple)
- Piano template with centered lyrics
- Piano template with melody and lyrics
- Removing brace on first line of piano score
- Using autochange with more than one voice
- Vocal ensemble template with automatic piano reduction
Percussion
- Adding drum parts
- Cow and ride bell example
- Heavily customized polymetric time signatures
- High and Low woodblock example
- Jazz combo template
- Percussion beaters
- Percussion example
- Printing music with different time signatures
- Tam-tam example
- Tambourine example
Fretted strings
- Adding fingerings to a score
- Adding fingerings to tablatures
- Adding markups in a tablature
- Allowing fingerings to be printed inside the staff
- Automatic Fretboards Barre
- Changing fret orientations
- Chord glissando in tablature
- ChordChanges for FretBoards
- Chords with stretched fingering for FretBoards and TabVoice
- Controlling the placement of chord fingerings
- Customizing fretboard fret diagrams
- Customizing markup fret diagrams
- Defining predefined fretboards for other instruments
- Faking a hammer in tablatures
- Fingerings, string indications, and right-hand fingerings
- Flamenco notation
- Fret diagrams explained and developed
- Fretboards alternate tables
- Fretted-string harmonics in tablature
- Guitar slides
- Guitar strum rhythms
- Hammer on and pull off
- Hammer on and pull off using chords
- Hammer on and pull off using voices
- How to change fret diagram position
- Jazz combo template
- Laissez vibrer ties
- Let TabStaff print the topmost string at bottom
- Letter tablature formatting
- Open string harmonics in tablature
- Placement of right-hand fingerings
- Polyphony in tablature
- Slides in tablature
- Stem and beam behavior in tablature
- String number extender lines
Unfretted strings
- Creating slurs across voices
- Dotted harmonics
- Snap-pizzicato or Bartok pizzicato
- String quartet template (simple)
- String quartet template with separate parts
Winds
- Changing the size of woodwind diagrams
- Fingering symbols for wind instruments
- Flute slap notation
- Graphical and text woodwind diagrams
- Recorder fingering chart
- Woodwind diagrams key lists
- Woodwind diagrams listing
Ancient notation
- Adding a figured bass above or below the notes
- Ancient fonts
- Ancient notation template – modern transcription of gregorian music
- Ancient time signatures
- Chant or psalms notation
- Custodes
- Incipit
- Mensurstriche layout (bar lines between the staves)
- Rest styles
- Using tags to produce mensural and modern music from the same source
- Vertical line as a baroque articulation mark
World music
- Arabic improvisation
- Makam example
- Printing text from right to left
- Turkish Makam example
Contexts and engravers
- Adding a figured bass above or below the notes
- Adding an extra staff
- Adding an extra staff at a line break
- Automatically changing the stem direction of the middle note based on the melody
- Centered measure numbers
- Changing MIDI output to one channel per voice
- Changing time signatures inside a polymetric section using \scaleDurations
- Chant or psalms notation
- Creating blank staves
- Creating custom key signatures
- Cross-staff stems
- Defining an engraver in Scheme: ambitus engraver
- Displaying a whole GrandStaff system if only one of its staves is alive
- Engravers one-by-one
- Mensurstriche layout (bar lines between the staves)
- Nesting staves
- Numbering groups of measures
- Print ChordNames with same root and different bass as slash and bass-note
- Removing bar numbers from a score
- Use square bracket at the start of a staff group
- Using marklines in a Frenched score
- Vocal ensemble template with lyrics aligned below and above the staves
- Vocal ensemble template with verse and refrain
Tweaks and overrides
- Adding an ottava marking to a single voice
- Adding links to objects
- Adding markups in a tablature
- Adding timing marks to long glissandi
- Adjusting grace note spacing
- Adjusting lyrics vertical spacing
- Adjusting slur positions vertically
- Altering the length of beamed stems
- Alternative bar numbering
- Analysis brackets above the staff
- Analysis brackets with labels
- Asymmetric slurs
- Breaking vertical alignment of dynamics and textscripts
- Caesura ("railtracks") with fermata
- Changing a single note’s size in a chord
- Changing beam thickness and spacing
- Changing form of multi-measure rests
- Changing properties for individual grobs
- Changing text and spanner styles for text dynamics
- Changing the default text font family
- Changing the staff size
- Changing the tempo without a metronome mark
- Changing the text for sustain markings
- Controlling spanner visibility after a line break
- Controlling the appearance of tremolo slashes
- Controlling the vertical ordering of scripts
- Controlling tuplet bracket visibility
- Creating a delayed turn
- Creating custom key signatures
- Creating double-digit fingerings
- Creating text spanners
- Cross-staff chords - beaming problems workaround
- Cross-staff stems
- Custodes
- Customizing fretboard fret diagrams
- Customizing markup fret diagrams
- Display bracket with only one staff in a system
- Displaying grob ancestry
- Dotted harmonics
- Drawing boxes around grobs
- Drawing circles around various objects
- Dynamics custom text spanner postfix
- Dynamics text spanner postfix
- Extending a TrillSpanner
- Extending glissandi across repeats
- Fine-tuning pedal brackets
- Flat Ties
- Force a cancellation natural before accidentals
- Forcing horizontal shift of notes
- Fret diagrams explained and developed
- Generating custom flags
- Glissandi can skip grobs
- Hairpins with different line styles
- Horizontally aligning custom dynamics (e.g. "sempre pp", "piu f", "subito p")
- How to change fret diagram position
- Inserting a caesura
- Keep change clefs full sized
- Line arrows
- Making an object invisible with the ’transparent property
- Making glissandi breakable
- Manually controlling beam positions
- Measure-centered bar numbers
- Mensurstriche layout (bar lines between the staves)
- Modifying the Ottava spanner slope
- Moving dotted notes in polyphony
- Moving slur positions vertically
- Nesting staves
- Overriding articulations by type
- Percent repeat count visibility
- Positioning arpeggios
- Positioning multi-measure rests
- Positioning text markups inside slurs
- Printing bar numbers inside boxes or circles
- Printing metronome and rehearsal marks below the staff
- Printing note names with and without an octave marker
- Printing tuplet brackets on the note head side
- Proportional strict notespacing
- Removing brace on first line of piano score
- Removing connecting bar lines on StaffGroup, PianoStaff, or GrandStaff
- Removing the first empty line
- Rest styles
- Rhythmic slashes
- Separating key cancellations from key signature changes
- Setting hairpin behavior at bar lines
- Setting system separators
- Shape individual ties in chords
- Showing the same articulation above and below a note or chord
- String number extender lines
- Suppressing warnings for clashing note columns
- Time signature in brackets
- Time signature in parentheses
- Time signature printing only the numerator as a number (instead of the fraction)
- Tuplet bracket and change staff
- Tweaking clef properties
- Tweaking grace layout within music
- Using alternative flag styles
- Using ly:grob-object to access grobs with \tweak
- Using PostScript to generate special note head shapes
- Using the \tweak command to tweak individual grobs
- Vertically aligned dynamics and textscripts
- Vertically aligning ossias and lyrics
- Vertically aligning stanza numbers of different staves
- Vertically centering paired figured bass extenders
Paper and layout
- Aligning and centering instrument names
- Arranging separate lyrics on a single line
- Book parts
- Changing the staff size
- Clip systems
- Creating blank staves
- Demonstrating all headers
- Setting system separators
- Table of contents
- Vertically aligned StaffGroups without connecting SystemStartBar
Titles
- Adding the current date to a score
- Aligning and centering instrument names
- Demonstrating all headers
- Outputting the version number
Spacing
- Adjusting lyrics vertical spacing
- Allowing fingerings to be printed inside the staff
- Breaking vertical alignment of dynamics and textscripts
- Page label
- Proportional strict notespacing
- Vertically aligned dynamics and textscripts
- Vertically aligning ossias and lyrics
MIDI
- Changing MIDI output to one channel per voice
- Changing the tempo without a metronome mark
- Creating custom dynamics in MIDI output
- Demo MidiInstruments
- Replacing default MIDI instrument equalization
Templates
- Ancient notation template – modern transcription of gregorian music
- Anglican psalm template
- Hymn template
- Jazz combo template
- Orchestra, choir and piano template
- Piano template (simple)
- Piano template with centered lyrics
- Piano template with melody and lyrics
- SATB Choir template - four staves
- Score for diatonic accordion
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, and chords
- Single staff template with notes, lyrics, chords and frets
- Single staff template with notes and chords
- Single staff template with notes and lyrics
- Single staff template with only notes
- String quartet template (simple)
- String quartet template with separate parts
- Vocal ensemble template
- Vocal ensemble template with automatic piano reduction
- Vocal ensemble template with lyrics aligned below and above the staves
- Vocal ensemble template with verse and refrain