[ << Notation manual tables ][Top][Contents][Index][ Cheat sheet >> ]
[][ Up : Notation manual tables ][]

A.22 Available music functions

In the following, the first argument of a function is printed with a slanted typeface, followed by the first argument’s type in parentheses. Then comes the second argument, followed by the second argument’s type, again in parentheses, and so on. After the arrow the type of the return value is printed.

If an argument and its type is enclosed in brackets, the argument is optional and can be omitted, indicating that LilyPond should use a default value instead. However, if a function’s last argument is tagged as optional, it cannot be omitted: you have to pass \default if you do not want to explicitly specify a value. See Scheme function usage for more details on how optional arguments are handled.

\absolute music (music) ⇒ music

Make music absolute.

This does not actually change the music itself but rather hides it from surrounding \relative and \fixed commands.

\acciaccatura music (music) ⇒ music

Create an acciaccatura from music.

\accidentalStyle style (symbol list) ⇒ music

Set accidental style to style.

style is a (predefined) symbol list like piano-cautionary; see section Automatic accidentals for the available styles. If it is preceded by a context name, the settings are applied to that context (example: Staff.piano-cautionary). Otherwise, the context defaults to Staff, except for piano styles, which use GrandStaff as a context.

\addChordShape key-symbol (symbol) tuning (pair) shape-definition (string or pair) ⇒ void

Add shape-definition as a chord shape.

It gets added to the chord-shape-table hash with the key (cons key-symbol tuning).

\addInstrumentDefinition name (string) lst (list) ⇒ void

Create instrument name with properties lst.

This function is deprecated.

\addQuote name (string) music (music) ⇒ void

Define music as a quotable music expression named name.

\after delta (duration) ev (music) mus (music) ⇒ music

Add music ev with a delay of delta after the onset of mus.

ev is usually a post-event.

\afterGrace [fraction (non-negative rational, fraction, or moment)] main (music) grace (music) ⇒ music

Create grace as grace notes after a main music expression.

The musical position of the grace expression is after a given fraction of the main note’s duration has passed. If optional argument fraction is omitted, the fraction value is taken from afterGraceFraction, defaulting to 3/4.

\allowPageTurn ⇒ music

Allow a page turn.

May be used at top level (i.e., between scores or markups), or inside a score.

\allowVoltaHook bar (string) ⇒ void

Allow the volta bracket hook being drawn over bar line bar.

\alterBroken property (key list or symbol) arg (list) target (key list or music) ⇒ music

Override property for pieces of broken spanner target with arg.

target may either be music in the form of a starting spanner event, or a symbol list of the form Context.Grob or just Grob. If target is in the form of a spanner event, property may also have the form Grob.property for specifying a directed tweak.

arg is a list of values, one for each broken piece.

\ambitusAfter target (symbol) ⇒ music

Move the ambitus after the break-align symbol target.

\appendToTag tag (symbol) more (music) music (music) ⇒ music

Append more to music tagged with tag.

A post-event can be added to the articulations of rhythmic events or chords; other expressions may be added to chords, sequential or simultaneous music.

\applyContext proc (procedure) ⇒ music

Modify context properties with Scheme procedure proc.

\applyMusic func (procedure) music (music) ⇒ music

Apply procedure func to music.

\applyOutput target (symbol list or symbol) proc (procedure) ⇒ music

Apply function proc to every layout object matched by target.

target takes the form Context or Context.Grob.

\appoggiatura music (music) ⇒ music

Create an appoggiatura from music.

\assertBeamQuant l (pair) r (pair) ⇒ music

Testing function: check whether the beam quants l and r are correct.

\assertBeamSlope comp (procedure) ⇒ music

Testing function: check whether the slope of the beam is the same as comp.

\augmentum expr (music) ⇒ music

Add augmentum dots (morae) to Gregorian chant expr.

\autoChange [pitch (pitch)] [clef-1 (context modification)] [clef-2 (context modification)] music (music) ⇒ music

Make voices for music that switch between staves automatically.

The optional argument pitch specifies where to switch staves; the default is c'. Optional arguments clef-1 and clef-2 specify which clefs to use; this only works for implicitly instantiated staves.

Example: 

\autoChange d' \with { \clef alto } { g4 d' g' }
\balloonGrobText grob-name (symbol) offset (pair of numbers) text (markup) ⇒ music

Attach text to grob-name at offset offset (use like \once).

\balloonText offset (pair of numbers) text (markup) ⇒ post-event

Attach text at offset (use like \tweak).

\bar type (string) ⇒ music

Insert a bar line of type type, overriding any automatic bar lines.

\barNumberCheck n (integer) ⇒ music

Print a warning if the current bar number is not n.

\beamExceptions music (music) ⇒ any type

Set beam exceptions.

This function extracts a value suitable for setting Timing.beamExceptions from the given pattern with explicit beams in music. A bar check ‘|’ has to be used between bars of patterns in order to reset the timing.

\bendAfter delta (real number) ⇒ post-event

Create a fall or doit of pitch interval delta.

\bendHold mus (music) ⇒ post-event

Set BendSpanner.style to 'hold for mus.

\bendStartLevel idx (non-negative, exact integer) mus (music) ⇒ post-event

Set Bendspanner.details.successive-level to idx for mus.

\bookOutputName newfilename (string) ⇒ void

Direct output for the current book block to newfilename.

This is equivalent to setting output-filename in the current book’s \paper block.

\bookOutputSuffix newsuffix (string) ⇒ void

Set the output file name suffix for the current book block to newsuffix.

This is equivalent to setting output-suffix in the current book’s \paper block.

\breathe ⇒ music

Insert a breath mark.

\caesura ⇒ music

Insert a caesura.

\chordRepeats [event-types (list)] music (music) ⇒ music

Extend ‘q’ to also repeat articulation.

This function walks through music, putting the notes of the previous chord into repeat chords, as well as an optional list of event-types such as #'(string-number-event).

\clef type (string) ⇒ music

Set the current clef to type.

\codaMark [num (non-negative, exact integer)] ⇒ music

Create a coda mark.

num may be 1 for the first mark, 2 for the second, etc., or it may be \default to use the next number in sequence automatically.

\compoundMeter args (pair) ⇒ music

Create a compound time signature.

The argument args is a Scheme list of lists. Each list represents one fraction, where all entries but the last hold the summands in the enumerator, and the last entry is the denominator. If the time signature consists of just one fraction, the list can be given directly, i.e., not as a list containing a single list. For example, a time signature of (3+1)/8 + 2/4 can be created with \compoundMeter #'((3 1 8) (2 4)), and a time signature of (3+2)/8 with either \compoundMeter #'((3 2 8)) or the shorter version \compoundMeter #'(3 2 8).

\compressMMRests music (music) ⇒ music

Convert empty bars to multi-measure rests in music.

\crossStaff notes (music) ⇒ music

Create cross-staff stems for notes.

\cueClef type (string) ⇒ music

Set the current cue clef to type.

\cueClefUnset ⇒ music

Unset the current cue clef.

\cueDuring what (string) dir (direction) main-music (music) ⇒ music

Create a cue.

This function inserts the contents of quote what corresponding to main-music, in a CueVoice context called cue oriented by dir.

\cueDuringWithClef what (string) dir (direction) clef (string) main-music (music) ⇒ music

Create a cue with clef.

This function inserts the contents of quote what corresponding to main-music, in a CueVoice context called cue oriented by dir and using clef clef.

\deadNote note (music) ⇒ music

Print note with a cross-shaped note head.

\defineBarLine bar (string) glyph-list (list) ⇒ void

Define bar line settings for bar line bar.

The list glyph-list must have three entries, defining substitute glyphs for the end of a line, the beginning of a line, and a span bar, respectively. The substitute glyphs may be either strings or Booleans: #t calls for the same value as bar and #f calls for no glyph.

\displayLilyMusic [port (output port)] music (music) ⇒ music

Write LilyPond’s input representation of music.

If port is omitted, the output defaults to the console (stdout).

\displayMusic [port (output port)] music (music) ⇒ music

Write the internal representation of music.

If port is omitted, the output defaults to the console (stdout).

\displayScheme [port (output port)] expr (any type) ⇒ any type

Write the internal Scheme representation of expr.

If port is omitted, the output defaults to the console (stdout).

\dropNote num (integer) music (music) ⇒ music

‘Drop’ the num-th note in each chord of music.

This function moves the affected notes down (usually by an octave) to be lower than the other notes of the chord. The position in a chord is counted downwards from the top.

The opposite function is \raiseNote.

\enablePolymeter ⇒ void

Enable polymetry.

This function moves the timing management from Score to Staff-like contexts. This is done by removing the Timing_translator from Score, and adding it to all contexts having the Staff alias.

Use this within an output definition.

\endSpanners music (music) ⇒ music

Terminate spanners.

This function prematurely ends all spanners in music by inserting an end-spanner event at the end of the argument, without the need of specific end-spanner commands.

\eventChords music (music) ⇒ music

Compatibility function: Handle isolated rhythmic events in music.

Use this to wrap EventChord around isolated rhythmic events occuring since version 2.15.28, after expanding repeat chords ‘q’.

Not needed for new code.

\featherDurations scale (non-negative rational, fraction, or moment) music (music) ⇒ music

Adjust feathered beam durations in music by scale.

\finger finger (index or markup) ⇒ post-event

Apply finger as a fingering indication.

\fixed pitch (pitch) music (music) ⇒ music

Use the octave of pitch as the default octave for music.

\footnote [mark (markup)] offset (pair of numbers) footnote (markup) item (symbol list or music) ⇒ music

Make the markup footnote a footnote on item.

The footnote is marked with a markup mark moved by offset with respect to the marked music.

If mark is not given or specified as \default, it is replaced by an automatically generated sequence number. If item is a symbol list of form Grob or Context.Grob, then grobs of that type are marked at the current time step in the given context (default Bottom).

If item is music, the music gets a footnote attached to a grob immediately attached to the event, like \tweak does. For attaching a footnote to an indirectly caused grob, write \single\footnote, use item to specify the grob, and follow it with the music to annotate.

Like with \tweak, if you use a footnote on a following post-event, the \footnote command itself needs to be attached to the preceding note or rest as a post-event with ‘-’.

\grace music (music) ⇒ music

Insert music as grace notes.

\grobdescriptions descriptions (list) ⇒ any type

Create a context modification from descriptions.

The argument is a list in the format of all-grob-descriptions.

\harmonicByFret fret (number) music (music) ⇒ music

Convert music into mixed harmonics.

The resulting notes resemble harmonics played on a fretted instrument by touching the strings at fret.

\harmonicByRatio ratio (number) music (music) ⇒ music

Convert music into mixed harmonics.

The resulting notes resemble harmonics played on a fretted instrument by touching the strings at the point given through ratio.

\harmonicNote note (music) ⇒ music

Print note with a diamond-shaped note head.

\harmonicsOn ⇒ music

Set the default note head style to a diamond-shaped style.

\hide item (symbol list or music) ⇒ music

Make item invisible while still retaining its dimensions.

If item is a symbol list of form GrobName or Context.GrobName, the result is an override for the grob name specified by it. If item is a music expression, the result is the same music expression with an appropriate tweak applied to it.

This function sets item’s transparent property to #t.

\incipit incipit-music (music) ⇒ music

Output incipit-music as an incipit.

incipit-music is typeset within a MensuralStaff context; the result is positioned before the main staff (as part of an InstrumentName grob) to indicate the music’s original notation.

\inherit-acceptability to (symbol) from (symbol) ⇒ void

Make two contexts ‘compatible’.

When used in an output definition, modify all context definitions such that context to is accepted as a child by all contexts that also accept from.

\initialContextFrom music (music) ⇒ music

Enter the initial context of music and ignore the rest of it.

This is useful for prepending music while preserving the influence of the original music on the context.

Example: 

{
  \initialContextFrom \originalMusic
  \prependedMusic
  \originalMusic
  \appendedMusic
}
\inStaffSegno ⇒ music

Put the segno variant varsegno at this position into the staff.

This is compatible with the repeat command.

\instrumentSwitch name (string) ⇒ music

Switch instrument to name.

name must have been predefined with function \addInstrumentDefinition.

This function is deprecated.

\inversion around (pitch) to (pitch) music (music) ⇒ music

Invert music about around and transpose from around to to.

\invertChords num (integer) music (music) ⇒ music

Invert any chords in music into their num-th position.

Chord inversions may be directed downwards using negative integers.

\jump text (markup) ⇒ music

Use text to mark a point of departure, e.g., ‘Gavotte I D.C.’.

\keepWithTag tags (symbol list or symbol) music (music) ⇒ music

Keep tagged music.

This function only includes elements of music that are tagged with one of the tags in tags. tags may be either a single symbol or a list of symbols.

Each tag may be declared as a member of at most one tag group (defined with \tagGroup). If none of a music element’s tags share a tag group with one of the specified tags, the element is retained.

\key [tonic (pitch)] [pitch-alist (list of number pairs)] ⇒ music

Set key to tonic and scale pitch-alist.

If both arguments are omitted (i.e., replaced by \default), just generate a KeyChangeEvent, which prints the current key signature again.

\killCues music (music) ⇒ music

Remove cue notes from music.

\label label (symbol) ⇒ music

Create label as a referrable label.

The value stored in label is the page number, which can be extracted with the \page-ref markup command later on.

\language language (string) ⇒ void

Set note names for language language.

The value is stored in the pitchnames alist.

\languageRestore ⇒ void

Restore the previously-saved pitchnames alist.

\languageSaveAndChange language (string) ⇒ void

Save current pitchnames alist and change note names to language.

\ligature music (music) ⇒ music

Make a ligature from Gregorian Chant music.

This is equivalent to enclosing music with \[ and \].

\magnifyMusic mag (positive number) music (music) ⇒ music

Magnify the size of music by factor mag.

This doesn’t change the staff size. Stems, beams, slurs, ties, and horizontal spacing are adjusted automatically.

\magnifyStaff mag (positive number) ⇒ music

Change the staff size by factor mag.

This adjusts notation size and horizontal spacing automatically.

\makeClusters arg (music) ⇒ music

Display chords in arg as clusters.

\makeDefaultStringTuning symbol (symbol) pitches (list) ⇒ void

Define string tuning symbol by a list of pitches.

symbol also gets registered in defaultStringTunings for documentation purposes.

\mark [label (index or markup)] ⇒ music

Create a rehearsal mark.

If label is an integer, create the rehearsal mark for the given sequence number. If label is \default, create the next sequential rehearsal mark. If label is markup, use it for the mark.

\markupMap path (symbol list or symbol) markupfun (markup-function) music (music) ⇒ music

Apply markupfun to property path in music.

Argument path is either of the form property or MusicExpression.property. If MusicExpression is not given, markupfun gets applied to all properties called property, otherwise it is restricted to MusicExpression events. If property is not a markup, it is ignored.

In the following example, both the tempo indication and the bowing instruction are printed in red. If you replace text with TempoChangeEvent.text, only the tempo indication changes the color. 

\markupMap
  text
  \markup \with-color #red \etc
  { \tempo "Largo" g'2_"arco" c'' }
\modalInversion around (pitch) to (pitch) scale (music) music (music) ⇒ music

Invert music about around using scale and transpose from around to to.

\modalTranspose from (pitch) to (pitch) scale (music) music (music) ⇒ music

Transpose music from pitch from to pitch to using scale.

\musicLength music (music) ⇒ any type

Return the length of music as a moment.

\musicMap proc (procedure) mus (music) ⇒ music

Apply proc to mus and all of the music it contains.

\noPageBreak ⇒ music

Forbid a page break.

May be used at top level (i.e., between scores or markups), or inside a score.

\noPageTurn ⇒ music

Forbid a page turn.

May be used at top level (i.e., between scores or markups), or inside a score.

\octaveCheck pitch (pitch) ⇒ music

Do an octave check.

This prints a warning if the interval between the previous note and pitch is not within a fourth.

\offset property (symbol list or symbol) offsets (any type) item (key list or music) ⇒ music

Offset the default value of property of item by offsets.

If item is a string, the result is an override for the specified grob type. If item is a music expression, the result is the same music expression with an appropriate tweak applied to it.

\omit item (symbol list or music) ⇒ music

Omit item without taking up space.

If item is a symbol list of form GrobName or Context.GrobName, the result is an override for the grob name specified by it. If item is a music expression, the result is the same music expression with an appropriate tweak applied to it.

This function sets item’s stencil property to #f.

\once music (music) ⇒ music

Set property once to #t on all layout instruction events in music.

\ottava octave (integer) ⇒ music

Set the octavation to octave.

A positive value n indicates n octaves higher; a negative value n octaves lower, and value 0 means no octavation.

\overrideProperty grob-property-path (list of indices or symbols) value (any type) ⇒ music

Set the grob property specified by grob-property-path to value.

grob-property-path is a symbol list of the form Context.GrobName.property or GrobName.property, possibly with subproperties given as well.

As opposed to \override, which overrides the context-dependent defaults with which a grob is created, this command uses Output_property_engraver at the grob acknowledge stage. This may be necessary for overriding values set after the initial grob creation.

\overrideTimeSignatureSettings time-signature (boolean-or-fraction) base-moment (fraction, as pair) beat-structure (list) beam-exceptions (list) ⇒ music

Override time signature settings.

This function sets timeSignatureSettings for time signatures equal to time-signature to have settings of base-moment, beat-structure, and beam-exceptions.

\pageBreak ⇒ music

Force a page break.

May be used at top-level (i.e., between scores or markups), or inside a score.

\pageTurn ⇒ music

Force a page turn.

May be used at top-level (i.e., between scores or markups), or inside a score.

\palmMute note (music) ⇒ music

Print note with a triangle-shaped note head.

\palmMuteOn ⇒ music

Set the default note head style to a triangle-shaped style.

\parallelMusic voice-ids (list) music (music) ⇒ void

Define parallel music sequences.

Within music, parallel music sequences are separated by ‘|’ characters. The sequences are assigned to the LilyPond music identifiers provided in voice-ids.

For example, this code 

\parallelMusic A,B,C {
  c c | d d | e e |
  d d | e e | f f |
}

is equivalent to 

A = { c c | d d }
B = { d d | e e }
C = { e e | f f }

The last bar checks in a sequence are not copied to the result in order to facilitate ending the last entry at non-bar boundaries.

\parenthesize arg (symbol list or music) ⇒ music

Tag arg to be parenthesized.

arg may be either a music event or a grob path.

\partCombine [chord-range (pair of numbers)] part1 (music) part2 (music) ⇒ music

Combine two parts into a single staff.

This takes the music in part1 and part2 and returns a music expression containing simultaneous Voice contexts (called one for the upper and two for the lower voice). Where appropriate, part1 and part2 are combined into a single voice (called shared or solo, depending on context).

Optional argument chord-range is a pair (start . stop) that defines the range in which the two voices are printed as chords (or unison); the default value is (0 . 8), which means that intervals up to and including a ninth are unified.

\partCombineDown [chord-range (pair of numbers)] part1 (music) part2 (music) ⇒ music

Combine two parts into a single staff with all stems downwards.

See function \partCombine for details.

\partCombineForce [type (symbol)] ⇒ music

Override the part-combiner mode with type.

The following table gives the possible values for type, together with the corresponding shorthand functions.

apart\partCombineApart
chords\partCombineChords
unisono\partCombineUnisono
solo1\partCombineSoloI
solo2\partCombineSoloII
\default\partCombineAutomatic
\partCombineUp [chord-range (pair of numbers)] part1 (music) part2 (music) ⇒ music

Combine two parts into a single staff with all stems upwards.

See function \partCombine for details.

\partial dur (duration) ⇒ music

Make a partial measure of duration dur.

\phrasingSlurDashPattern dash-fraction (number) dash-period (number) ⇒ music

Set up a custom dash pattern style for phrasing slurs.

dash-fraction gives the size of one dash relative to dash-period; dash-period is the length of one dash plus one space. LilyPond adjusts dash-period to produce symmetrical output.

More complex patterns can be achieved by directly manipulating the PhrasingSlur.dash-definition property.

\pitchedTrill main-note (music) secondary-note (music) ⇒ music

Print a pitched trill.

main-note is the main note of the trill; secondary-note gets printed as a stemless note head in parentheses.

\pointAndClickOff ⇒ void

Suppress links to LilyPond source code in music output.

\pointAndClickOn ⇒ void

Generate links to LilyPond source code in music output.

This enables the creation of code in a PDF or SVG output file to reference the originating LilyPond source code (i.e., file name, line number, and column). This is helpful when developing a score; however, the output file becomes much larger.

\pointAndClickTypes types (symbol list or symbol) ⇒ void

Generate point-and-click info for music of type types only.

types is a single music expression (such as #'note-event) or a list of music expressions.

\popContextProperty path (list of indices or symbols) ⇒ music

Pop value of context property path from stack and set it.

This is the opposite to function \pushContextProperty.

\preBend mus (music) ⇒ post-event

Set BendSpanner.style to 'pre-bend for mus.

\preBendHold mus (music) ⇒ post-event

Set BendSpanner.style to 'pre-bend-hold for mus.

\propertyOverride grob-property-path (list of indices or symbols) value (any type) ⇒ music

Set the grob property specified by grob-property-path to value.

grob-property-path is a symbol list of the form Context.GrobName.property or GrobName.property, possibly with subproperties given as well. This music function is mostly intended for use from Scheme as a substitute for the built-in \override command.

\propertyRevert grob-property-path (list of indices or symbols) ⇒ music

Revert the grob property specified by grob-property-path to its previous value.

grob-property-path is a symbol list of the form Context.GrobName.property or GrobName.property, possibly with subproperties given as well. This music function is mostly intended for use from Scheme as a substitute for the built-in \revert command.

\propertySet property-path (symbol list or symbol) value (any type) ⇒ music

Set the context property specified by property-path to value.

This music function is mostly intended for use from Scheme as a substitute for the built-in \set command.

\propertyTweak prop (key list or symbol) value (any type) item (key list or music) ⇒ music

Add a tweak to item, usually music.

This function sets the value of property prop to value; it generally behaves like \tweak but will turn into an \override when item is a symbol list. In that case, item specifies the grob path to override. This is mainly useful when using \propertyTweak as as a component for building other functions like \omit. It is not the default behavior for \tweak since many input strings in \lyricmode can serve equally as music or as symbols, which causes surprising behavior when tweaking lyrics using the less specific semantics of \propertyTweak.

prop can contain additional elements in which case a nested property (inside of an alist) is tweaked.

\propertyUnset property-path (symbol list or symbol) ⇒ music

Unset the context property specified by property-path.

This music function is mostly intended for use from Scheme as a substitute for the built-in \unset command.

\pushContextProperty path (list of indices or symbols) value (any type) ⇒ music

Set context property path to value and push old value to stack.

The old value can be popped off the stack and restored with function \popContextProperty.

\pushToTag tag (symbol) more (music) music (music) ⇒ music

Add more to the front of music tagged with tag.

A post-event can be added to the articulations of rhythmic events or chords; other expressions may be added to chords, sequential or simultaneous music.

\quoteDuring what (string) main-music (music) ⇒ music

Indicate a section of music to be quoted.

what indicates the name of the quoted voice, as specified in an \addQuote command. main-music is used to indicate the length of music to be quoted; it usually contains spacers or multi-measure rests.

\raiseNote num (integer) music (music) ⇒ music

‘Raise’ the num-th note in each chord of music.

This function moves the affected notes up (usually by an octave) to be higher than the other notes of the chord. The position in a chord is counted upwards from the bottom.

The opposite function is \dropNote.

\reduceChords music (music) ⇒ music

Reduce chords contained in music to single notes.

This is intended mainly for reusing music in a RhythmicStaff context. It does not reduce simultaneous music.

\relative [pitch (pitch)] music (music) ⇒ music

Make music relative to pitch.

If pitch is omitted, the first note in music is given in absolute pitch.

\removeWithTag tags (symbol list or symbol) music (music) ⇒ music

Remove elements of music that are tagged with one of the tags in tags.

tags may be either a single symbol or a list of symbols.

\resetRelativeOctave pitch (pitch) ⇒ music

Set the octave inside a \relative section to pitch.

\responsum music (music) ⇒ music

Prepend character U+211F (RESPONSE) to the lyrics represented by music.

\retrograde music (music) ⇒ music

Return music in reverse order.

\revertTimeSignatureSettings time-signature (pair) ⇒ music

Revert timeSignatureSettings for time signatures equal to time-signature.

\rightHandFinger finger (index or markup) ⇒ post-event

Apply finger as a right-hand fingering indication.

\scaleDurations fraction (non-negative rational, fraction, or moment) music (music) ⇒ music

Multiply the duration of events in music by fraction.

\sectionLabel text (markup) ⇒ music

Mark the beginning of a named passage with text, e.g., “Coda”.

This is well suited for use at a section division created with \section, but it does not imply \section and may be used alone.

\segnoMark [num (non-negative, exact integer)] ⇒ music

Create a segno mark (or bar line).

num may be 1 for the first segno, 2 for the second, etc., or it may be \default to use the next number in sequence automatically.

If the segnoStyle context property is 'bar-line, a segno bar line is created instead of a segno mark.

\settingsFrom [ctx (symbol)] music (music) ⇒ any type

Translate layout instructions into a context modification.

This function takes the layout instruction events from music (i.e., \set, \unset, \override, \revert), optionally restricted to those applying to context type ctx, and returns a context modification duplicating their effect.

\shape offsets (list) item (key list or music) ⇒ music

Offset control points of item by offsets.

offsets is a list of number pairs (x . y) or a list of such lists. Each pair represents an offset to a control point. The ‘y’ value of each pair is scaled by staff space.

If item is a string, the result is \once\override for the specified grob type. If item is a music expression, the result is the same music expression with an appropriate tweak applied.

\shiftDurations dur (integer) dots (integer) arg (music) ⇒ music

Change duration of arg.

This function walks over all durations and dot counts in arg, adding dur to the durations and dots to the dot counts.

\single overrides (music) music (music) ⇒ music

Convert overrides to tweaks and apply them to music.

This does not convert \revert, \set or \unset.

\skip arg (duration-or-music) ⇒ music

Skip over arg, which may be music or a duration.

\slashedGrace music (music) ⇒ music

Create slashed graces from music.

This produces slashes through stems, but no slur.

\slurDashPattern dash-fraction (number) dash-period (number) ⇒ music

Set up a custom dash pattern style for slurs.

dash-fraction gives the size of one dash relative to dash-period; dash-period is the length of one dash plus one space. LilyPond adjusts dash-period to produce symmetrical output.

More complex patterns can be achieved by directly manipulating the Slur.dash-definition property.

\staffHighlight color (color) ⇒ music

Start a highlight with color color.

\storePredefinedDiagram fretboard-table (hash table) chord (music) tuning (pair) diagram-definition (string or pair) ⇒ void

Add a predefined fret diagram to fretboard-table.

It is defined by diagram-definition for the chord pitches chord and the string tuning tuning.

\stringTuning chord (music) ⇒ any type

Convert chord to a string tuning.

chord must be in absolute pitches and should have the highest string number (generally the lowest pitch) first.

\styledNoteHeads style (symbol) heads (symbol list or symbol) music (music) ⇒ music

Set heads in music to style.

\tabChordRepeats [event-types (list)] music (music) ⇒ music

Extend ‘q’ to also repeat string and fingering information.

This function walks through music putting the notes, fingerings and string numbers of the previous chord into repeat chords, as well as an optional list of event-types such as #'(articulation-event).

\tabChordRepetition ⇒ void

Include the string and fingering information in a chord repetition.

This function is deprecated; use \tabChordRepeats instead.

\tag tags (symbol list or symbol) music (music) ⇒ music

Tag music with tags.

This function adds the single symbol or symbol list tags to the tags property of music and returns the result.

\tagGroup tags (symbol list) ⇒ void

Define a tag group comprising the symbols in the symbol list tags.

Tag groups must not overlap.

\temporary music (music) ⇒ music

Make \override reversible with \revert.

This function makes any \override in music replace an existing grob property value only temporarily, restoring the old value when a corresponding \revert is executed. This is achieved by clearing the pop-first property normally set on \overrides.

An \override/\revert sequence created by using \temporary and \undo on the same music containing overrides will cancel out perfectly or cause a warning.

Non-property-related music is ignored, warnings are generated for any property-changing music that isn’t an \override.

\textEndMark text (markup) ⇒ music

Create a right-aligned text mark using text.

\textMark text (markup) ⇒ music

Create a (left-aligned) text mark using text.

\tieDashPattern dash-fraction (number) dash-period (number) ⇒ music

Set up a custom dash pattern style for ties.

dash-fraction gives the size of one dash relative to dash-period; dash-period is the length of one dash plus one space. LilyPond adjusts dash-period to produce symmetrical output.

More complex patterns can be achieved by directly manipulating the Tie.dash-definition property.

\time [beat-structure (number list)] fraction (fraction, as pair) ⇒ music

Set fraction as a time signature.

The optional number list beat-structure additionally sets a beat structure.

\times fraction (fraction, as pair) music (music) ⇒ music

Scale music in time by fraction.

\tocItem [label (symbol list or symbol)] text (markup) ⇒ music

Add text as an entry to the table of contents.

This uses the tocItemMarkup paper variable markup for formatting and assigns it to label if one is provided. If a hierarchy of labels is given, make the current item a child of the corresponding objects.

\transpose from (pitch) to (pitch) music (music) ⇒ music

Transpose music from pitch from to pitch to.

\transposedCueDuring what (string) dir (direction) pitch (pitch) main-music (music) ⇒ music

Create a transposed cue.

This function inserts notes from the part what into a CueVoice context called cue, using the transposition defined by pitch. This happens simultaneously with main-music, which is usually a rest. The argument dir determines whether the cue notes should be notated as a first or second voice.

\transposition pitch (pitch) ⇒ music

Set instrument transposition to pitch.

\tuplet ratio (fraction, as pair) [tuplet-span (duration)] music (music) ⇒ music

Scale the given music to tuplets.

ratio is a fraction that specifies how many notes are played in place of the nominal value: it will be 3/2 for triplets, namely three notes being played in place of two.

If the optional duration tuplet-span is specified, it is used instead of tupletSpannerDuration for grouping the tuplets. For example, 

\tuplet 3/2 4 { c8 c c c c c }

results in two groups of three tuplets, each group lasting for a quarter note.

\tupletSpan [tuplet-span (duration)] ⇒ music

Set tupletSpannerDuration to the duration tuplet-span.

This context property is the length into which \tuplet without an explicit tuplet span argument of its own will group its tuplets. To revert to the default of not subdividing the contents of a \tuplet command without an explicit tuplet span argument, use 

\tupletSpan \default
\tweak prop (key list or symbol) value (any type) music (music) ⇒ music

Add a tweak to music.

Layout objects created by music get their property prop set to value. If prop has the form Grob.property, like with 

\tweak Accidental.color #red cis'

an indirectly created grob (Accidental is caused by NoteHead) can be tweaked; otherwise only directly created grobs are affected.

prop can contain additional elements in which case a nested property (inside of an alist) is tweaked.

If music is an event-chord, every contained rhythmic-event is tweaked instead.

\undo music (music) ⇒ music

Convert \override and \set in music to \revert and \unset, respectively.

Any reverts and unsets already in music cause a warning. Non-property-related music is ignored.

\unfolded music (music) ⇒ music

Mask music until the innermost enclosing repeat is unfolded.

\unfoldRepeats [types (symbol list or symbol)] music (music) ⇒ music

Unfold \repeat.

This forces \repeat volta, \repeat tremolo or \repeat percent commands in music to be interpreted as \repeat unfold, if specified in the optional symbol-list types. The default for types is an empty list, which forces any of those commands in music to be interpreted as \repeat unfold. Possible entries are volta, tremolo or percent. Multiple entries are possible.

\versus music (music) ⇒ music

Prepend character U+2123 (VERSICLE) to the lyrics represented by music.

\voices ids (list of indices or symbols) music (music) ⇒ music

Specify voice order in simultaneous music.

This takes the key list ids of numbers (indicating the use of ‘\voiceOne’…) or symbols (indicating voice names, typically converted from strings by argument list processing) and assign the following \\-separated music in music to contexts according to that list. Named rather than numbered contexts can be used for continuing one voice (for the sake of spanners and lyrics), usually requiring a \voiceOne-style override at the beginning of the passage and a \oneVoice override at its end.

The default 

<< … \\ … \\ … >>

construct would correspond to 

\voices 1,2,3 << … \\ … \\ … >>
\void arg (any type) ⇒ void

Accept a Scheme argument arg and return a void expression.

Use this if you want to have a Scheme expression evaluated because of its side effects but its return value being ignored.

\volta volta-numbers (number list) music (music) ⇒ music

Mark music as being limited to the volte given in volta-numbers.

This gets used when the innermost enclosing repeat is unfolded. Volta number begins at 1 and increases by 1 with each repetition.

\vshape offsets (list) item (key list or music) ⇒ music

Like \shape, but additionally show control points for ease of tweaking.

\withMusicProperty sym (symbol) val (any type) music (music) ⇒ music

Set music property sym to val in music.

\withRelativeDir file-name (string) ⇒ any type

Prepend directory of current input file to string file-name.

Use this for markup commands that include files, and where such files should be found relative to the input file. Example: 

\markup { \image #X #3 \withRelativeDir "test.png" }
\xNote note (music) ⇒ music

Print note with a cross-shaped note head.

\= id (index or symbol) event (post-event) ⇒ post-event

Assign an ID to a spanner.

This sets the spanner-id property of event to the given id, which is a non-negative integer or a symbol. This can be used to tell LilyPond how to connect overlapping or parallel slurs or phrasing slurs within a single Voice context. 

\fixed c' { c\=1( d\=2( e\=1) f\=2) }

[image of music]

[ << Notation manual tables ][Top][Contents][Index][ Cheat sheet >> ]
[][ Up : Notation manual tables ][]

<< Back to Documentation Index

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