Hi Bernard, I would like to try and explain it in other words as the manual:
music with implicit voice and staff: { c' } music with explicit staff and implicit voice: \new Staff { c' } adding a with statement: \new Staff \with { clefPosition = 2 } { c' } Please note here: There must be no { after Staff, because that would start a music expression. The braces are not just for grouping things but they start a music expression and \with must come before the music starts. Think of it as a function, if the first argument starts with { it is music and not a \with block: \new Staff \with { clefPosition = 2 } { c' } ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^ function optional argument (not music) music Alternatively, you can put this into a layout block: \layout { \context { \Staff clefPosition = 2 } } %or \layout { \set Staff.clefPosition = 2 } ## Contexts and objects Contexts are different from graphical objects and their properties (prop) are changed differently (explained in the docs). Just a summary here (val means value): contexts (Staff, Voice, …) Ctx | graphical objects (Clef, …) obj ----------------------------------------------------------------------- in music: { \set Ctx.prop = val } | { \override Ctx.obj.prop = val } in with block: \with { prop = val } | \with { \override Ctx.obj.prop = val } in layout block (variant 1): \layout { \context { \Ctx | \layout { \context { \Ctx prop = val } | \override obj.prop = val } in layout block (variant 2): \layout { \set Ctx.prop = val } | \layout{\override Ctx.obj.prop = val } td;dr: (1) be careful with {} (2) read the input as functions with some optional arguments (3) context properties and object properties are different HTH, Joram PS: I know you said you won't try any longer, but perhaps this will help someone. _______________________________________________ lilypond-user mailing list lilypond-user@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/lilypond-user