GNU Lilypond

Notes are surrounded by curly braces { NOTES }. Curly braces create an object containing a sequence of notes.

\relative { NOTES } means the raising and lowering an octave is relative to the previous note.

• Pitch:
  • a to g. with c being the middle C. Notes must be in lowercase.
  • Accidental: is, es after the name. (e.g. ais)
  • r rest
  • n' to raise an octave
  • n, to lower an octave.
• Length: 1 - 16 for Nth notes. . to add the dot.
• Articulation: -^, ->, -., --, -_ after the name.
• Beaming: [ <notes> ] after a note
• Slur: ( <notes> )
• Tie: ~, only the length needs to be specified.
• Chord: surround the notes with angle brackets < NOTES >
• Simultaneous Expression: << SEQUENCES >>. Multiple sequences are stacked.
• Tuplet: \tuplet FRACTION { NOTES }
  • e.g. \tuplet 3/2 { b4 4 4 }

• \clef treble|alto|tenor|bass|...
• \key A \major|\minor
• \time N/N
• \tempo "DESC" N = NNN
• \repeat volta|segno|unfold|... N { NOTES }
• \bar "FORMAT"
• | is used for the compiler to check the bar length mismatch

Variables can be defined in normal way VAR = EXPR

Expression can be a staff, note sequences

% starts a comment

\book {
  \score {
    \new Staff {
      \new Voice {
        \relative {
          c''4 a b c
        }
      }
    }
    \header {
      title = "TITLE"
      composer = "COMPOSER"
    }
    \layout { }
    \midi { }
  }
}

Any missing structure is implicitly created.

• #(ly:set-option 'SYM #t) sets the -dSYM flag

• .ly file
• --format=FORMAT change the main output format
• --svg, --png additionally generate image files
• -dSYM --define-defaults[SYM[=VAL]|no-SYM]=
  • preview to compile the first line, or in musical term, the first system.
  • crop to crop the image to the content
  • resolution
  • paper-size
  • backend: Either 'ps or 'svg
  • help

• .lytex file
• Compile a ./tex.html file containing lilypond environment.