LilyPond Notation Reference: 1.6.3 Writing parts

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1.6.3 Writing parts

This section explains how to insert tempo indications and instrument names into a score. Methods to quote other voices and format cue notes are also described.

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Instrument names

Instrument names can be printed on the left side of staves in the Staff, PianoStaff, StaffGroup, GrandStaff and ChoirStaff contexts. The value of instrumentName is used for the first staff, and the value of shortInstrumentName is used for all succeeding staves.

\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Violin "
\set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"Vln "
c4.. g'16 c4.. g'16
\break
c1

Markup mode can be used to create more complicated instrument names:

\set Staff.instrumentName = \markup {
  \column { "Clarinetti"
            \line { "in B" \smaller \flat } } }
c4 c,16 d e f g2

When two or more staff contexts are grouped together, the instrument names and short instrument names are centered by default. To center multi-line instrument names, \center-column must be used:

<<
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"Flute"
    f2 g4 f
  }
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = \markup \center-column {
      Clarinet
      \line { "in B" \smaller \flat }
    }
    c4 b c2
  }
>>

However, if the instrument names are longer, the instrument names in a staff group may not be centered unless the indent and short-indent settings are increased. For details about these settings, see \paper variables for shifts and indents.

\layout {
  indent = 3.0\cm
  short-indent = 1.5\cm
}

\relative c'' <<
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"Alto Flute in G"
    \set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"Fl."
    f2 g4 f \break
    g4 f g2
  }
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"Clarinet"
    \set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"Clar."
    c,4 b c2 \break
    c2 b4 c
  }
>>

To add instrument names to other contexts (such as ChordNames or FiguredBass), Instrument_name_engraver must be added to that context. For details, see Modifying context plug-ins.

Instrument names may be changed in the middle of a piece. However, remember that instrumentName will not be displayed in the middle of the piece, as it only appears on the first staff:

\set Staff.instrumentName = #"First"
\set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"one"
c1 c c c \break
c1 c c c \break
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Second"
\set Staff.shortInstrumentName = #"two"
c1 c c c \break
c1 c c c \break

If an instrument switch is needed, \addInstrumentDefinition may be used in combination with \instrumentSwitch to create a detailed list of the necessary changes for the switch. The \addInstrumentDefinition command has two arguments: an identifying string, and an association list of context properties and values to be used for the instrument. It must be placed in the toplevel scope. \instrumentSwitch is used in the music expression to declare the instrument switch:

\addInstrumentDefinition #"contrabassoon"
  #`((instrumentTransposition . ,(ly:make-pitch -1 0 0))
     (shortInstrumentName . "Cbsn.")
     (clefGlyph . "clefs.F")
     (middleCPosition . 6)
     (clefPosition . 2)
     (instrumentCueName . ,(make-bold-markup "cbsn."))
     (midiInstrument . "bassoon"))

\new Staff \with {
  instrumentName = #"Bassoon"
}
\relative c' {
  \clef tenor
  \compressFullBarRests
  c2 g'
  R1*16
  \instrumentSwitch "contrabassoon"
  c,,2 g \break
  c,1 ~ | c1
}

Quoting other voices

It is very common for one voice to double some of the music from another voice. For example, the first and second violins may play the same notes during a passage of music. In LilyPond this is accomplished by letting one voice quote the other voice without having to re-enter it.

Before a part can be quoted, the \addQuote command must be used to initialize the quoted fragment. This command must be used in the toplevel scope. The first argument is an identifying string, and the second is a music expression:

flute = \relative c'' {
  a4 gis g gis
}
\addQuote "flute" { \flute }

The \quoteDuring command is used to indicate the point where the quotation begins. It is followed by two arguments: the name of the quoted voice, as defined with \addQuote, and a music expression that indicates the duration of the quote, usually spacer rests or multi-measure rests. The corresponding music (including all articulations, dynamics, markup, etc.) from the quoted voice is inserted into the music expression:

flute = \relative c'' {
  a4 gis g->\f gis^\markup{quoted}
}
\addQuote "flute" { \flute }

\relative c' {
  c4 cis \quoteDuring #"flute" { s2 }
}

If the music expression used for \quoteDuring contains anything but a spacer rest or multi-measure rest, a polyphonic situation is created, which is often not desirable:

flute = \relative c'' {
  a4 gis g gis
}
\addQuote "flute" { \flute }

\relative c' {
  c4 cis \quoteDuring #"flute" { c4 b }
}

Quotations recognize instrument transposition settings for both the source and target instruments if the \transposition command is used. For details about \transposition, see Instrument transpositions.

clarinet = \relative c'' {
  \transposition bes
  a4 gis g gis
}
\addQuote "clarinet" { \clarinet }

\relative c' {
  c4 cis \quoteDuring #"clarinet" { s2 }
}

It is possible to tag quotations with unique names in order to process them in different ways. For details about this procedure, see Using tags.

It is also possible to adjust which objects from the original voice are quoted by changing the quotedEventTypes property. By default, its value is #'(StreamEvent), which means that everything is quoted. Setting it to e.g. #'(note-event rest-event tie-event) causes lilypond to quote only notes, rests and ties, but no articulations, markup or dynamics.

clarinet = \relative c'' {
  a4 gis g->\f gis^\markup{quoted}
}
\addQuote "clarinet" { \clarinet }

\relative c' {
  \set Score.quotedEventTypes = #'(note-event rest-event tie-event)
  c4 cis \quoteDuring #"clarinet" { s2 }
}

Selected Snippets

Quoting another voice with transposition

Quotations take into account the transposition of both source and target. In this example, all instruments play sounding middle C; the target is an instrument in F. The target part may be transposed using \transpose. In this case, all the pitches (including the quoted ones) are transposed.

\addQuote clarinet {
  \transposition bes
  \repeat unfold 8 { d'16 d' d'8 }
}

\addQuote sax {
  \transposition es'
  \repeat unfold 16 { a8 }
}

quoteTest = {
  % french horn
  \transposition f
  g'4
  << \quoteDuring #"clarinet" { \skip 4 } s4^"clar." >>
  << \quoteDuring #"sax" { \skip 4 } s4^"sax." >>
  g'4
}

{
  \set Staff.instrumentName =
    \markup {
      \center-column { Horn \line { in F } }
    }
  \quoteTest
  \transpose c' d' << \quoteTest s4_"up a tone" >>
}

Quoting another voice

The quotedEventTypes property determines the music event types which should be quoted. The default value is (note-event rest-event tie-event beam-event tuplet-span-event), which means that only the notes, rests, ties, beams and tuplets of the quoted voice will appear in the \quoteDuring expression. In the following example, a 16th rest is not quoted since rest-event is not in quotedEventTypes.

For a list of event types, consult the “Music classes” section of the Internals Reference.

quoteMe = \relative c' {
  fis4 r16 a8.-> b4\ff c
}
\addQuote quoteMe \quoteMe

original = \relative c'' {
  c8 d s2
  \once \override NoteColumn #'ignore-collision = ##t
  es8 gis8
}

<<
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"quoteMe"
    \quoteMe
  }
  \new Staff {
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"orig"
    \original
  }
  \new Staff \relative c'' <<
    \set Staff.instrumentName = #"orig+quote"
    \set Staff.quotedEventTypes =
      #'(note-event articulation-event)
    \original
    \new Voice {
      s4
      \set fontSize = #-4
      \override Stem #'length-fraction = #(magstep -4)
      \quoteDuring #"quoteMe" { \skip 2. }
    }
  >>
>>

Known issues and warnings

Only the contents of the first Voice occurring in an \addQuote command will be considered for quotation, so music cannot contain \new and \context Voice statements that would switch to a different Voice.

Quoting grace notes is broken and can even cause LilyPond to crash.

Quoting nested triplets may result in poor notation.

In earlier versions of LilyPond (pre 2.11), addQuote was written entirely in lower-case letters: \addquote.

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Formatting cue notes

The previous section explains how to create quotations. The \cueDuring command is a more specialized form of \quoteDuring, being particularly useful for inserting cue notes into a part. The syntax is as follows:

\cueDuring #partname #voice music

This command copies only the notes and rests from the corresponding measures from partname into a CueVoice context. The CueVoice is created implicitly, and occurs simultaneously with music, which creates a polyphonic situation. The voice argument determines whether the cue notes should be notated as a first or second voice; UP corresponds to the first voice, and DOWN corresponds to the second.

oboe = \relative c'' {
  r2 r8 d16(\f f e g f a)
  g8 g16 g g2.
}
\addQuote "oboe" { \oboe }

\new Voice \relative c'' {
  \cueDuring #"oboe" #UP { R1 }
  g2 c,
}

In the above example, the Voice context had to be explicitly declared, or else the entire music expression would belong to the CueVoice context.

It is possible to adjust which aspects of the music are quoted with \cueDuring by setting the quotedCueEventTypes property. Its default value is #'(note-event rest-event tie-event beam-event tuplet-span-event), which means that only notes, rests, ties, beams and tuplets are quoted, but not articulations, dynamic marks, markup etc.

oboe = \relative c'' {
  r2 r8 d16(\f f e g f a)
  g8 g16 g g2.
}
\addQuote "oboe" { \oboe }

\new Voice \relative c'' {
  \set Score.quotedCueEventTypes = #'(note-event rest-event tie-event
                                      beam-event tuplet-span-event
                                      dynamic-event slur-event)
  \cueDuring #"oboe" #UP { R1 }
  g2 c,
}

Markup can be used to show the name of the quoted instrument. Also, if the cue notes require a change in clef, the original clef should be restored at the end of the cue notes.

flute = \relative c'' {
  r2. c4 d8 c d e fis2 g2 d2
}
bassoon = \relative c {
  \clef bass
  R1
  \clef treble
  s1*0^\markup { \tiny "flute" }
  \cueDuring #"flute" #UP { R1 }
  \clef bass
  g4. b8 d2
}
\addQuote "flute" { \flute }
\new Staff {
  \bassoon
}

The \killCues command removes cue notes from a music expression, so the same music expression can be used to produce the instrument part with cues and the score. The \killCues command removes only the notes and events that were quoted by \cueDuring. Other markup associated with cues, such as clef changes and a label identifying the source instrument, can be tagged for selective inclusion in the score; see Using tags.

flute = \relative c'' {
  r2. c4 d8 c d e fis2 g2 d2
}
bassoon = \relative c {
  \clef bass
  R1
  \tag #'part {
    \clef treble
    s1*0^\markup { \tiny "flute" }
  }
  \cueDuring #"flute" #UP { R1 }
  \tag #'part \clef bass
  g4. b8 d2
}
\addQuote "flute" { \flute }

\new Staff {
  \bassoon
}
\new StaffGroup <<
  \new Staff {
    \flute
  }
  \new Staff {
    \removeWithTag #'part { \killCues { \bassoon } }
  }
>>

Alternatively, Clef changes and instrument labels can be collected into an instrument definition for repeated use, using \addInstrumentDefinition described in Instrument names.

Like \quoteDuring, \cueDuring takes instrument transpositions into account. Cue notes are produced at the pitches that would be written for the instrument receiving the cue to produce the sounding pitches of the source instrument.

To transpose cue notes differently, use \transposedCueDuring. This command takes an extra argument to specify (in absolute mode) the printed pitch that you want to represent the sound of a concert middle C. This is useful for taking cues from an instrument in a completely different register.

piccolo = \relative c''' {
  \clef "treble^8"
  R1
  c8 c c e g2
  c4 g g2
}
bassClarinet = \relative c' {
  \key d \major
  \transposition bes,
  d4 r a r
  \transposedCueDuring #"piccolo" #UP d { R1 }
  d4 r a r
}

\addQuote "piccolo" { \piccolo }

<<
  \new Staff \piccolo
  \new Staff \bassClarinet
>>

A CueVoice context may be created explicitly if notes of a smaller size are required, for example to set an alternative sequence of notes more suitable for a higher or lower voice.

\time 12/8
\key ees \major
g4 ees8 f4 g8
\stemDown
<<
  { d4. bes4 c8 }
  \new CueVoice
  { g'4. f4 ees8 }
>>
\stemUp
d2. d2.

Known issues and warnings

Collisions can occur with rests, when using \cueDuring, between Voice and CueVoice contexts.

[ << Musical notation ]	[Top][Contents][Index][ ? ]			[ Specialist notation >> ]
[ < Quoting other voices ]		[ Up : Writing parts ]	[ Editorial annotations > ]

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1.6.3 Writing parts

Instrument names

See also

Quoting other voices

Selected Snippets

See also

Known issues and warnings

Formatting cue notes

See also

Known issues and warnings

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