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Node:Durations, Next:, Previous:Skips, Up:Note entry



Durations

In Note, Chord, and Lyrics mode, durations are designated by numbers and dots: durations are entered as their reciprocal values. For example, a quarter note is entered using a 4 (since it's a 1/4 note), while a half note is entered using a 2 (since it's a 1/2 note). For notes longer than a whole you must use identifiers.

     c'\breve
     c'1 c'2 c'4 c'8 c'16 c'32 c'64 c'64
     r\longa r\breve
     r1 r2 r4 r8 r16 r32 r64 r64
     

[picture of music]

If the duration is omitted then it is set to the previously entered duration. At the start of parsing, a quarter note is assumed. The duration can be followed by dots (`.') in order to obtain dotted note lengths:

       a' b' c''8 b' a'4 a'4. b'4.. c'8.
     
[picture of music]

You can alter the length of duration by a fraction N/M appending `*N/M' (or `*N' if M=1). This won't affect the appearance of the notes or rests produced.

       a'2*2 b'4*2 a'8*4 a'4*3/2 gis'4*3/2 a'4*3/2 a'4
     
[picture of music]

Durations can also be produced through GUILE extension mechanism.

      c'\duration #(ly:make-duration 2 1)
     
[picture of music]

BUGS

Dot placement for chords is not perfect. In some cases, dots overlap:

[picture of music]
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Copyright (c) 1997--2002 Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen.

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.


This page was built from LilyPond-1.7.14 (development-branch) by

Buchan Milne <(address unknown)>, Thu Mar 6 21:11:35 2003 CET.