The most common syntax for pitch entry is used in \chords
and
\notes
mode. In Note and Chord mode, pitches may be designated
by names. The notes are specified by the letters a
through
g
, while the octave is formed with notes ranging from c
to b
. The pitch c
is an octave below middle C and the
letters span the octave above that C:
\clef bass a,4 b, c d e f g a b c' d' e' \clef treble f' g' a' b' c''
A sharp is formed by adding -is
to the end of a pitch name and
a flat is formed by adding -es
. Double sharps and double flats
are obtained by adding -isis
or -eses
. These
names are the Dutch note names. In Dutch, aes
is contracted to
as
, but both forms are accepted. Similarly, both
es
and ees
are accepted.
Half-flats and half-sharps are formed by adding -eh
and
-ih
; the following is a series of Cs with increasing pitches:
ceses4 ceseh ces ceh c cih cis cisih cisis
There are predefined sets of note names for various other languages.
To use them, include the language specific init file. For
example: \include "english.ly"
. The available language files
and the note names they define are:
Note Names sharp flat nederlands.ly c d e f g a bes b -is -es english.ly c d e f g a bf b -s/-sharp -f/-flat -x (double) deutsch.ly c d e f g a b h -is -es norsk.ly c d e f g a b h -iss/-is -ess/-es svenska.ly c d e f g a b h -iss -ess italiano.ly do re mi fa sol la sib si -d -b catalan.ly do re mi fa sol la sib si -d/-s -b espanol.ly do re mi fa sol la sib si -s -b
The optional octave specification takes the form of a series of
single quote (`'
') characters or a series of comma
(`,
') characters. Each '
raises the pitch by one
octave; each ,
lowers the pitch by an octave:
c' c'' es' g' as' gisis' ais'
Notes can be hidden and unhidden with the following commands:
\hideNotes
,
\unHideNotes
.
This page is for LilyPond-2.0.0 (stable-branch).