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To raise a note by an octave, add a high quote '
(apostrophe) to
the note name, to lower a note one octave, add a "low quote" ,
(a comma). Middle C is c'
:
c'4 c'' c''' \clef bass c c,
An example of the use of quotes is in the following Mozart fragment:
\key a \major \time 6/8 cis''8. d''16 cis''8 e''4 e''8 b'8. cis''16 b'8 d''4 d''8
This example shows that music in a high register needs lots of quotes.
This makes the input less readable, and it is a source of errors. The
solution is to use "relative octave" mode. In practice, this is the
most convenient way to copy existing music. To use relative mode, add
\relative
before the piece of music. You must also give a note
from which relative starts, in this case c''
. If you do not
use octavation quotes (i.e. do not add ' or , after a note), relative
mode chooses the note that is closest to the previous one.
For example, c f
goes up while c g
goes down:
\relative c'' { c f c g c }
Since most music has small intervals, pieces can be written almost without octavation quotes in relative mode. The previous example is entered as
\relative c'' { \key a \major \time 6/8 cis8. d16 cis8 e4 e8 b8. cis16 b8 d4 d8 }
Larger intervals are made by adding octavation quotes.
\relative c'' { c f, f c' c g' c, }
Quotes or commas do not determine the absolute height of a note; the
height of a note is relative to the previous one.
For example: c f,
goes down; f, f
are both the same;
c' c
are the same; and c g'
goes up:
Here is an example of the difference between relative mode and "normal" (non-relative) mode:
\relative a { \clef bass a d a e d c' d' }
\clef bass a d a e d c' d'
For more information on Relative octaves see Relative octaves and Octave check.
This page is for LilyPond-2.0.1 (stable-branch).