7.3.3 Hyphens and extenders

Centered hyphens are entered as `--' between syllables. The hyphen will have variable length depending on the space between the syllables and it will be centered between the syllables.

When a lyric is sung over many notes (this is called a melisma), this is indicated with a horizontal line centered between a syllable and the next one. Such a line is called an extender line, and it is entered as `__'.

In tighly engraved music, hyphens can be removed. In some languages (e.g. German and Hungarian), hyphens should not disappear, since spelling depends on hyphenation. For that purpose, hyphens can be forced to remain by overriding minimum-length of the LyricHyphen grob.

     \score {
      <<
       \new Staff \relative c'' {
         \time 1/4 c16 c c c c16 c c c c16 c c c
       }
       \lyricmode { \new Lyrics
         \with {
           \override SeparationItem #'padding = #0.0
           % Otherwise lyrics are so far apart that hyphens don't disappear
         }
         {
           An -- ti -- cons -- ti --
           tu -- tion -- nel -- le --
           \override LyricHyphen  #'minimum-length = #0.7
           \override LyricHyphen  #'spacing-procedure =
             #Hyphen_spanner::set_spacing_rods
           men -- taire -- ment. ouf~!
         }
       }
      >>
      \layout   {
       indent = 0.0 \cm
       linewidth = 3.4 \cm
       \context {
         \Staff \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
       }
      }
     }

See also

Program reference: LyricHyphen, LyricExtender.

Other languages: English.
Using automatic language selection.