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First steps

We start off by showing how very simple music is entered in LilyPond: you get a note simply by typing its note name, from a through g. So if you enter

     c d e f g a b
     

then the result looks like this:

[picture of music]

We will continue with this format: First we show a snippet of input, then the resulting output.

The length of a note is specified by adding a number, 1 for a whole note, 2 for a half note, and so on:

     a1 a2 a4 a16 a32
     
[picture of music]

If you don't specify a duration, the previous one is used:

     a4 a a2 a
     
[picture of music]

A sharp (#) is made by adding is, a flat (b) by adding es. As you would expect, a double sharp or double flat is made by adding isis or eses:

     cis1 ees fisis aeses
     
[picture of music]

Add a dot . after the duration to get a dotted note:

     a2. a4 a8. a16
     
[picture of music]

The meter (or time signature) can be set with the \time command:

     \time 3/4
     \time 6/8
     \time 4/4
     
[picture of music]

The clef can be set using the \clef command:

     \clef treble
     \clef bass
     \clef alto
     \clef tenor
     
[picture of music]

When you enter these commands in a file, you must to enclose them in \notes {...}. This lets LilyPond know that music (and not lyrics, for example) follows:

     \notes {
       \time 3/4
       \clef bass
       c2 e4 g2.
       f4 e d c2.
     }
     

Now the piece of music is almost ready to be printed. The final step is to combine the music with a printing command.

The printing command is the so-called \paper block. Later on you will see that the \paper block is used to customize printing specifics. The music and the \paper block are combined by enclosing them in \score { ... }. This is what a full LilyPond source file looks like:

     \score {
       \notes {
         \time 3/4
         \clef bass
         c2 e4 g2.
         f4 e d c2.
       }
       \paper { }
     }
     
[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.