A.12.4 Markup for music and musical symbols

\accidental alteration (an exact rational number)

Select an accidental glyph for alteration, given as a rational number.

Use \text-accidental instead if you need glyph representation forms that fit and align well with text.

\markup {
  text
  \tiny { \accidental #1/2 \accidental #-1/2 }
  text
  \tiny { \text-accidental #1/2 \text-accidental #-1/2 }
  text
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • alteration-glyph-name-alist
\bar-line strg (string)

Print a bar line in markup.

The allowed characters for input string strg are ‘;|.:!S[]{}’, having the same meaning as with the \bar command. The additional characters ‘{’ and ‘}’ denote left and right braces, respectively.

The output is vertically centered.

Changes of font-size are respected.

The default of height is 4 staff-space units. Apart from the bracket tips of a bracket bar line and the segno bar line all other bar lines are scaled with height. We don’t scale bracket tips and segno to meet the behaviour of SystemStartBracket and the segno barline.

\bar-line is further customizable by overriding dot-count and dash-count for dotted and dashed bar lines. The values for hair-thickness, kern and thick-thickness are customizable as well; defaults are the same as the values of the corresponding BarLine grob properties.

\markup {
   \override #'(word-space . 2)
   \column {
      \line {
        Examples
        \fontsize #-5 \translate-scaled #'(0 . 2) {
          \bar-line ":|.|:"
          \bar-line ";!S!;"
          \bar-line "]{|}["
        }
      }
      \line {
        Examples
        \fontsize #0 \translate-scaled #'(0 . 2) {
          \bar-line ":|.|:"
          \bar-line ";!S!;"
          \bar-line "]{|}["
        }
      }
      \line {
        Examples
        \fontsize #5 \translate-scaled #'(0 . 2) {
          \bar-line ":|.|:"
          \bar-line ";!S!;"
          \bar-line "]{|}["
        }
      }
   }
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • thick-thickness (6.0)
  • kern (3.0)
  • hair-thickness (1.9)
  • dash-count (5)
  • dot-count (4)
  • height (4)
  • font-size (0)
\coda

Draw a coda sign.

\markup {
  \coda
}

[image of music]

\compound-meter time-sig (number or pair)

Draw a numeric time signature based on time-sig.

time-sig can be a single number, an alist, a simple list, or a list of lists, as the following example demonstrates.

\markup {
  \override #'(baseline-skip . 4.5)
  \column {
    \line { Single number:
               \compound-meter #3 }
    \line { Conventional:
               \compound-meter #'(4 . 4) or
               \compound-meter #'(4 4) }
    \line { Compound:
               \compound-meter #'(2 3 5 8) }
    \line { Single-number compound:
               \compound-meter #'((2) (3)) }
    \line { Complex compound:
               \compound-meter #'((2 3 8) (3 4)) }
  }
}

[image of music]

\customTabClef num-strings (integer) staff-space (number)

Draw a clef in sans-serif style for a tablature with num-strings lines spaced by staff-space.

This markup command is used to implement \clef moderntab within a TabStaff context.

\markup {
  \customTabClef #4 #1
}

[image of music]

\doubleflat

Draw a double flat symbol.

\markup {
  \doubleflat
}

[image of music]

\doublesharp

Draw a double sharp symbol.

\markup {
  \doublesharp
}

[image of music]

\fermata

Create a fermata glyph.

If property direction is DOWN, use an inverted glyph.

Note that within music, one would normally use the \fermata articulation instead of a markup.

{ c''1^\markup \fermata d''1_\markup \fermata }

\markup { \fermata \override #`(direction . ,DOWN) \fermata }

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • direction (1)
\flat

Draw a flat symbol.

\markup {
  \flat
}

[image of music]

\multi-measure-rest-by-number length (non-negative, exact integer)

Return a multi-measure rest symbol for length measures.

If the number of measures is greater than the number given by expand-limit a thick horizontal line is printed. For every multi-measure rest lasting more than one measure a number is printed on top. However, if property multi-measure-rest-number is set to #t, this number gets suppressed.

\markup {
  Multi-measure rests may look like
  \multi-measure-rest-by-number #12
  or
  \override #'(multi-measure-rest-number . #f)
    \multi-measure-rest-by-number #7
  (church rests)
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • multi-measure-rest-number (#t)
  • width (8)
  • expand-limit (10)
  • hair-thickness (2.0)
  • thick-thickness (6.6)
  • word-space
  • style (())
  • font-size (0)
\musicglyph glyph-name (string)

Print music symbol glyph-name.

See The Emmentaler font for a complete listing of the possible glyph names.

\markup {
  \musicglyph "f"
  \musicglyph "rests.2"
  \musicglyph "clefs.G_change"
}

[image of music]

\natural

Draw a natural symbol.

\markup {
  \natural
}

[image of music]

\note duration (duration) dir (number)

Draw a note of given duration with a stem pointing into direction dir.

duration gives the note head type and augmentation dots; dir controls both the direction and length of the stem.

See also function \note-by-number.

\markup {
  \note {4..} #UP
  \hspace #2
  \override #'(style . cross)
  \note {4..} #0.75
  \hspace #2
  \note {\breve} #0
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • style (())
  • dots-direction (0)
  • flag-style (())
  • font-size (0)
\note-by-number log (number) dot-count (number) dir (number)

Draw a note of length log, with dot-count dots and a stem pointing into direction dir.

By using fractional values for dir, longer or shorter stems can be obtained.

Ancient note-head styles (via the style property, see Note head styles) get mensural-style flags by default; use flag-style to override this. Supported flag styles are default, old-straight-flag, modern-straight-flag, flat-flag, stacked, mensural, and neomensural. The last flag style is the same as mensural and provided for convenience.

\markup {
  \note-by-number #3 #0 #DOWN
  \hspace #2
  \note-by-number #1 #2 #0.8
  \hspace #2
  \override #'(style . petrucci)
  \note-by-number #3 #0 #UP
  \hspace #2
  \override #'(flag-style . modern-straight-flag)
  \note-by-number #4 #0 #DOWN
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • style (())
  • dots-direction (0)
  • flag-style (())
  • font-size (0)
\rest duration (duration)

Return a rest symbol with length duration.

If the multi-measure-rest property is set to #t, a multi-measure rest symbol may be returned. In this case the duration needs to be entered as { 1*N } to get a multi-measure rest for N bars. Actually, only the scaling factor (i.e., the number after ‘*’) determines the length; the basic duration is disregarded.

See also functions \rest-by-number and \multi-measure-rest-by-number for more information on the used properties.

\markup {
  Rests:
  \hspace #2
  \rest { 4.. }
  \hspace #2
  \rest { \breve }
  \hspace #2
  Multi-measure rests:
  \override #'(multi-measure-rest . #t)
  {
    \hspace #2
    \rest { 1*7 }
    \hspace #2
    \rest { 1*12 }
  }
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • multi-measure-rest-number (#t)
  • width (8)
  • expand-limit (10)
  • hair-thickness (2.0)
  • thick-thickness (6.6)
  • word-space
  • style (())
  • font-size (0)
  • style (())
  • ledgers ((-1 0 1))
  • font-size (0)
\rest-by-number log (integer) dot-count (integer)

Draw a rest of length log, with dot-count dots.

For duration logs that appear in the ledgers property, rest symbols with ledger lines are selected.

\markup {
  \rest-by-number #3 #2
  \hspace #2
  \rest-by-number #0 #1
  \hspace #2
  \rest-by-number #-1 #0
  \hspace #2
  \override #'(ledgers . ())
  \rest-by-number #-1 #0
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • style (())
  • ledgers ((-1 0 1))
  • font-size (0)
\rhythm music (music)

Draw embedded rhythmic pattern as specified by music.

\relative {
  \tempo \markup {
    Swing
    \hspace #0.4
    \rhythm { 8[ 8] } = \rhythm { \tuplet 3/2 { 4 8 } }
  }
  b8 g' c, d ees d16 ees d c r8
}

[image of music]

Within \rhythm, there is no time signature and no division in measures (as with \cadenzaOn, see Unmetered music). Beaming must be added explicitly with the syntax explained in Manual beams.

\markup {
  The rhythmic pattern \rhythm { 16[ 8 16] } is
  a type of syncopation.
}

[image of music]

\stemDown can be used to flip the stems.

\markup \rhythm { \stemDown 8 16 8 }

[image of music]

\rhythm works by creating a StandaloneRhythmVoice context. The parents of this context are StandaloneRhythmStaff and StandaloneRhythmScore. It is possible to apply global tweaks to the output by using a \layout block.

\layout {
  \context {
    \StandaloneRhythmVoice
    \xNotesOn
  }
}

\markup \rhythm { 8 16 8 }

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • font-size (-2)
\score score (score)

Inline an image of music as specified by score.

The reference point (usually the middle staff line) of the lowest staff in the top system is placed on the baseline.

\markup {
  Text before the score.
  \score {
    \new PianoStaff <<
      \new Staff \relative c' {
        \key f \major
        \time 3/4
        \mark \markup { Allegro }
        f2\p( a4)
      }
      \new Staff \relative c {
        \clef bass
        \key f \major
        \time 3/4
        f8( a c a c a
      }
    >>

    \layout {
      indent = 0.0\cm
    }
  }
  Text after the score.
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • baseline-skip
\segno

Draw a segno symbol.

\markup {
  \segno
}

[image of music]

\semiflat

Draw a semiflat symbol.

\markup {
  \semiflat
}

[image of music]

\semisharp

Draw a semisharp symbol.

\markup {
  \semisharp
}

[image of music]

\sesquiflat

Draw a 3/2 flat symbol.

\markup {
  \sesquiflat
}

[image of music]

\sesquisharp

Draw a 3/2 sharp symbol.

\markup {
  \sesquisharp
}

[image of music]

\sharp

Draw a sharp symbol.

\markup {
  \sharp
}

[image of music]

\text-accidental alteration (an exact rational number)

Select an accidental glyph for alteration (given as a rational number) that aligns well with text.

\markup {
  text
  \tiny { \text-accidental #1/2 \text-accidental #-1/2 }
  text
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • alteration-glyph-name-alist
\text-doubleflat

Draw a double flat symbol for text.

\markup {
  \text-doubleflat
}

[image of music]

\text-doublesharp

Draw a double sharp symbol for text.

\markup {
  \text-doublesharp
}

[image of music]

\text-flat

Draw a flat symbol for text.

\markup {
  \text-flat
}

[image of music]

\text-natural

Draw a natural symbol for text.

\markup {
  \text-natural
}

[image of music]

\text-sharp

Draw a sharp symbol for text.

\markup {
  \text-sharp
}

[image of music]

\tied-lyric str (string)

Replace ‘~’ tilde symbols with tie characters in str.

\markup \column {
  \tied-lyric
    "Siam navi~all'onde~algenti Lasciate~in abbandono"
  \tied-lyric
    "Impetuosi venti I nostri~affetti sono"
  \tied-lyric
    "Ogni diletto~e scoglio Tutta la vita~e~un mar."
}

[image of music]

Used properties:

  • word-space
\varcoda

Draw a varcoda sign.

\markup {
  \varcoda
}

[image of music]


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