Re: indicate scordatura at beginning of piece

Caution: *External Email: Use caution responding, opening attachments, or clicking on links.*

Hi Dirck,

On Fri, Apr 5, 2024 at 5:36 PM Dirck Nagy <dnagy@uwlax.edu> wrote:

Hello Michael!

First of all, thank you for your patience! I don't have much computer code experience, so i apologize if i am asking questions that are obvious to most others.

This custom header looks like the most promising solution, but I had a couple problems:

1. The link you sent doesnt work; i cant find anything called "default header block" in the lilypond manuals. Could you re-send, please?

The link I sent wasn't actually a web link - it was referring to a file that will be on your hard drive as part of LilyPond itself. However, the relevant section of the documentation would be section 3.3 of the Notation Reference:

https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.25/Documentation/notation/titles-and-headers

for the 2.25 development series, or

https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.24/Documentation/notation/titles-and-headers

for the 2.24 non-development series.

To locate the file I referred to, you'll need to find where LilyPond is installed on your system. The path I gave in my earlier email was a partial file path, omitting the first section as that part will vary depending on your specific installation. On my system, I have a general lilypond directory in my home directory. All the different versions of lilypond just get dropped into that directory. So, for the latest development version of LilyPond (that's 2.25.14) the full path for my particular installation to the file I referenced is:

/home/michael/lilypond/lilypond-2.25.14/share/lilypond/2.25.14/ly/titling-init.ly

2. I couldnt get the examples. I'm sure this is due to my misunderstanding of basic concepts, so could i ask you to send the complete lilypond file for the example you sent? This way, I could paste it into an empty document.

Sure can. Here goes:

\version "2.25.14" % Can also be changed to ...

% \version "2.24.3" % ... or whichever version you use

\paper {
bookTitleMarkup = \markup {
\override #'(baseline-skip . 3.5)
\column {
\fill-line { \fromproperty #'header:dedication }
\override #'(baseline-skip . 3.5)
\column {
\fill-line {
\huge \larger \larger \bold
\fromproperty #'header:title
}
\fill-line {
\large \bold
\fromproperty #'header:subtitle
}
\fill-line {
\smaller \bold
\fromproperty #'header:subsubtitle
}
\fill-line {
\fromproperty #'header:poet
{ \large \bold \fromproperty #'header:instrument }
\fromproperty #'header:composer
}
\fill-line {
\fromproperty #'header:meter
\fromproperty #'header:arranger
}
\fromproperty #'header:scordatura % <-- This line is what defines the custom header
}
}
}
}

\header {
title = "Example Title"
composer = "Composer here"
poet = "Poet here"
arranger = "Arranger here"
meter = "Meter here"
scordatura = \markup { \override #'(baseline-skip . 2.75) % Adjust this value ...
\fontsize #-1.5 % ... and this one as needed
\column { \line { \circle "6" "= D" }
\line { \circle "5" "= G" } } }
}

\score {

\new Staff {
\new Voice {
c''1 d''1
}
}

}

The bookTitleMarkup block can be changed just as much or as little as you desire. It's basically just a block of markup. Something like this (adding a single custom header) is just scratching the surface. If you wanted, you could completely redefine the entire header section, to make it completely your own. Another part of just how configurable LilyPond can be. The learning curve can be a bit steep at times, but I think it's well worth it.

Michael

From:	Dirck Nagy
Subject:	Re: indicate scordatura at beginning of piece
Date:	Sat, 6 Apr 2024 02:26:46 +0000