Am 26/12/2006 um 01:20 schrieb Geoff Horton:
You can analyze the exercise and see that the fist note e appears a
fist -> first.
You change the clef changing the term "treble" for
for -> to
like for instance:
"like for instance" is a little _too_ colloquial; "for example" would
probably be better.
For instance:
I'd prefer "for example" here, too.
Look for it in the other tutorials or in the next chapters, as soon
as they are written.
There's another unresolved "it" in this sentence. "Look for ways to do
more things in the other....." is better.
Geoff
Geoff, there is indeed a fist in English, not the first, but hitting
harder than a spell check. Here's with the corrections (is
"corrections" the right English word?)
Manuel
LilyPond's
Beginners Guide
for the
Absolute Beginner
(Mac OS X version)
Chapter One.
Open a new LilyPond window.
Then type this inside:
{ c' d' e' f' g' a' b' c' ' }
Save the file and then select "Typeset file" from the "Compile" menu.
A small window will open, where you can follow the proceedings, and
then a ".pdf" document will appear, with this result:
(insert graphic here)
It is a little C-major scale. Let us consider it:
The so-called "curly braces"
{
and
}
are essential. You must always write your music inside such braces.
Also, LilyPond is "case sensitive", which means that in our little
example, "c" (that's lower case) is right, but "C" (that's upper
case) would be wrong.
LilyPond has certain pre-set values, called "defaults", which will
apply whenever you do not ask for something different. In our present
example, for instance: the treble clef, 4/4 time signature, quarter
notes (or "crochets", for non-American English speakers).
You can, of course, change these and all other defaults; indeed you
can engrave old plainchant, contemporary notation, orchestral scores,
do MIDI files, and more. But all that lies further down the road. For
the moment, we will teach you how to engrave a simple melody.
First, we'll give you a very useful tool to input your notes, called
the "relative mode".
In our example, we have written each note with an octave
denomination: one apostrophe:
'
for the so-called "first octave", which is the octave immediately
above and including the middle c - that's the central c in the piano
keyboard - and two apostrophes:
''
for the "second octave", the one immediately above the first octave.
But now, using the "relative mode", you will save yourself a lot of
work. Erase what you wrote before in the LilyPond window and write
this instead:
\relative
{ c d e f g a b c }
Note that the \relative command comes before and outside the { } .
Also, be very precise in the way you write this and all other
commands: don't allow a space between the backslash and the word,
since for instance:
\ relative
will not work, and only
\relative
will be fine.
Save the file again, close the .pdf and select "Typeset file" from
the "Compile" menu. The result will be the same C-major scale:
(insert graphic here)
But now, with the
\relative
command, the first note is automatically engraved as close as
possible to the middle c and every further note will be engraved as
close as possible to the previous note. "As close as possible" means
calculating the smallest interval. Thus if you modify your input to
this:
\relative
{ e g c b g f d c }
(Don't forget to always save the file and close the previous .pdf
before compiling)
You will get this result:
(insert graphic here)
You can analyze the exercise and see that the first note e appears a
third above middle c rather than a sixth below; the same happens with
the following g in relation to the preceding e; then comes a c a
fourth above the g instead of a fifth below, an so forth.
Now in this mode, when you add an apostrophe, it makes the note
appear one octave higher than it would have appeared without the
apostrophe. Two apostrophes make for two octaves, and so forth.
To make a note one octave lower than it would otherwise appear, add a
comma:
c,
or two or more for more octaves:
c,,,
See it here:
\relative
{ c' g e' d c c, d c }
(insert graphic here)
Good. Now let's see how to select the following:
Clefs
Time signatures
Keys major and minor
Rhythmic values
Sharps and flats
Double bars and repeat bars.
These are simple things to do. Write this example:
\relative
{
\clef treble
\key c \major
\time 4/4
c d e f g a b c }
The result is our first example of a C-major scale:
(insert graphic here)
but this time you see the way some defaults are set. Change them
easily, like this:
\relative
{
\clef alto
\key cis \minor
\time 2/2
c d e f g a b c }
This should look thus:
(insert graphic here)
Don't worry just yet about the naturals. We'll explain them when we
come to talk about keys.
You change the clef changing the term "treble" to
alto
tenor
bass
or other, no less important clefs, like:
french (G clef on the first line)
soprano (C clef on the first line)
mezzosoprano (C clef on the second line)
baritone (C clef on the fifth line)
varbaritone (F clef on the third line)
subbass (F clef on the fifth line)
percussion (percussion clef)
tab (tablature clef)
To set the key, proceed in this way:
\key (name of the tonic) \(major or minor)
for example:
\key g \minor
And similarly for the time signature, like this:
\time x/y
for example:
\time 6/8
Now for the rhythmic values.
You specify these values with a number after the name of the note:
"c1" will make a whole note (also called a semi-breve); "d8" an
eighth note (or quaver), etc.
Add full stops (called "periods" in American English) for dotted or
double dotted notes:
g4.
for a dotted quarter note,
a8..
for a double dotted eighth note, and so on.
Insert rests with the letter "r" and specify their duration with
numbers:
r4.
will be a dotted quarter rest.
Once a rhythmic value is entered it remains the same for all the
following notes or rests until you change it. Lets see this with an
example:
\relative
{c4 r8 e g4 c r8 g c r c,4 r}
(insert graphic here)
Analyze this and see how the rhythmic values are automatically repeated.
You can amuse yourself writing all possible and also impossible
examples of simple melodies, and see what happens. Don't worry,
whatever you type, you can't break it...
Working fine? Then let's go for sharps and flats. Just add
is
to the name of a note to make it a sharp, like this:
cis
dis
eis
fis
gis
ais
bis
and add
es
to the name of a note to make it a flat, like this:
ces
des
ees
fes
ges
aes
bes
(Please note that this is not necessarily the way you are used to
naming the notes, just a quick, logical and easy way to work with
LilyPond.)
"cisis" and "ceses" will give you double alterations. Get it?
Whatever key you have chosen, you must always input the exact name of
the note you wish to have printed. For example in the key of D-Major
you must type in "fis" and "cis" to get f-sharp and c-sharp,
otherwise a natural sign will be printed before the note. This is not
a disadvantage, as you will surely notice after a time.
Insert double bars and repeats like this:
\relative
{
\clef treble
\key c \major
\time 2/4
c d
\bar "|:"
e f
\bar ":|:"
g a
\bar ":|"
b c
\bar "||"
}
(insert graphic here)
The exercises you have done so far should enable you to write any
simple melody. As you are surely aware, we have not said anything yet
about tuplets, lyrics, polyphony and many other things, which are
certainly no problem to do with this program. Indeed, if you wonder
whether you can do any imaginable thing with LilyPond, the answer is
very probably "YES!"
Look for ways to do more things in the other tutorials or in the next
chapters, if and when they are written. Any unsolved questions can be
directed to the mailing list, including an example of your problem.
Take great care where you put your { and } around your music, and
have fun!
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