If you have visited my Bluesky account, you have probably come across this image:
An Example on Prescriptive Notation
I made that image with LilyPond, which I have been using since 2024. Having failed twice to learn LilyPond in the past, I initially feared it would take many sleepless nights to learn this program, but thanks to the support system that exists all over the internet, I managed to learn it while getting enough sleep (most of the time, at least). Yes, it’s got some learning curve to overcome, but it is a lot of fun and worth the effort.
This blog entry is just a trial run of more of what I would like to do, i.e. share my musings on LilyPond.1
If you are curious, here is the code that generates the preceding musical example:
Show the LilyPond code
\version "2.26.0"
\pointAndClickOff
strPosClefDesign = #(ly:make-stencil (list 'embedded-ps
"gsave
currentpoint translate
/fingboardpath
{
newpath
-0.55 7.5 moveto
0 -3 rlineto
1 -6.5 rlineto
-1 -1 rlineto
0 -3 rlineto
4.1 0 rlineto
0 3 rlineto
-1 1 rlineto
1 6.5 rlineto
0 3 rlineto
closepath
} def
fingboardpath clip
newpath
0.15 setlinewidth
0.5 4.75 moveto
0 -6.8 rlineto
-0.75 5 rlineto
3.5 0 rlineto
-0.75 -5 rlineto
0. 6.8 rlineto
stroke
0.35 setlinewidth
-0.4 2.75 moveto
3.75 0 rlineto
stroke
%inner two line
newpath
0.15 setlinewidth
1.16 4.75 moveto
0. -6.8 rlineto
1.8 4.75 moveto
0. -6.8 rlineto
stroke
%bridge
newpath
-0.4 3.6 moveto
0.3 0.4 rlineto
3.2 0 rlineto
0.3 -0.4 rlineto
stroke
%tailpiece
0.15 4.75 moveto
1 setlinecap
1 setlinejoin
2.75 0 rlineto
-0.65 1.75 rlineto
-0 -0 -0.6 0.55 -1.45 0 rcurveto
closepath
stroke
newpath
0.2 setlinewidth
1 setlinecap
1.5 -2.25 moveto
0 -2.5 rlineto
0.25 -3.5 moveto
2.5 0 rlineto
stroke
newpath
1.5 -3.5 0.85 0 360 arc
stroke
grestore")
(cons 0 3)
(cons 0 1))
strPosClefSize =
#(lambda (grob)
(let* ((bCS (ly:grob-property grob 'font-size 0.0))
(mult (magstep bCS)))
(ly:stencil-scale
strPosClef
mult mult)))
strPosClef = {
\override Staff.Clef.stencil = \strPosClefDesign
}
dashedLineNotehead = #(define-music-function
(beginning end x-distance) (ly:music? ly:music? number?)
(let*
(
(p1 (ly:music-property beginning 'pitch))
(p2 (ly:music-property end 'pitch))
(steps
(-
(+ (* 7 (ly:pitch-octave p2)) (ly:pitch-notename p2))
(+ (* 7 (ly:pitch-octave p1)) (ly:pitch-notename p1))
)
)
)
#{
{
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.stem-attachment = #'(0 . 0)
\once \override Staff.LedgerLineSpanner.stencil = ##f
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.text = \markup {
% \translate #(cons 0 0)
\postscript
#(string-append
"newpath 1 setlinecap
0.15 setlinewidth
0 0 moveto
[.4 .4 .4 .4] 3 setdash "
(number->string x-distance) " " (number->string (* steps 0.5))
" rlineto stroke"
)
}
#beginning
\revert Voice.NoteHead.stencil
\revert Staff.LedgerLineSpanner.stencil
}
#})
)
modularLineNotehead =
#(define-music-function
(beginning end beginningThickness endingThickness x-distance)
(ly:music? ly:music? number? number? number?)
(let*
(
(p1 (ly:music-property beginning 'pitch))
(p2 (ly:music-property end 'pitch))
(steps
(-
(+ (* 7 (ly:pitch-octave p2)) (ly:pitch-notename p2))
(+ (* 7 (ly:pitch-octave p1)) (ly:pitch-notename p1))
)
)
)
#{
{
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.stencil = #ly:text-interface::print
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.stem-attachment = #'(0 . 0)
\once \override Voice.LedgerLineSpanner.transparent = ##t
\once \override Voice.NoteHead.text = \markup {
\postscript
#(string-append
"newpath 1 setlinecap 0.1 setlinewidth -0.05 0 moveto 0 "
(number->string (* beginningThickness 0.005)) " rlineto "
(number->string x-distance) " "
(number->string (+ (- (* endingThickness 0.005)
(* beginningThickness 0.005) )
(* steps 0.5)))
" rlineto 0 "
(number->string (* endingThickness -0.01)) " rlineto "
(number->string (* -1 x-distance)) " "
(number->string (- (* endingThickness 0.005)
(* beginningThickness 0.005)
(* steps 0.5)))
" rlineto
closepath
fill"
)
}
#beginning
\revert Voice.NoteHead.stencil
\revert Staff.LedgerLineSpanner.stencil
}
#})
)
noteheadless = \once \override Voice.NoteHead.stencil = ##f
#(define-public ((tuplet-number::append-note-wrapper function note) grob)
(let ((txt (function grob)))
(markup txt #:fontsize -5 #:note note UP)))
\score {
{
\override Staff.StaffSymbol.line-positions = #'(6 -6)
\strPosClef \dashedLineNotehead g'4
^\markup {\fontsize #-4 \italic flaut.}
^\markup \translate #'(-2.5 . -0)
\center-column {
\translate #'(0 . -1.5)
\fontsize #-4 "II" \fontsize #-4 "III"
}
a' #6
\modularLineNotehead a'
^\markup \column {
\translate #'(0 . -1.5)
\fontsize #-4 \italic "apply"
\fontsize #-4 \italic "pressure"
}
d'' #15 #150 #6
\override TupletNumber.text = #tuplet-number::calc-fraction-text
\stemUp \tuplet 5/4 {
\modularLineNotehead d''8 b' #150 #50 #2.5
\modularLineNotehead b' f'' #50 #175 #2.5
\modularLineNotehead f'' a' #175 #70 #2.5
\modularLineNotehead a' c'' #70 #120 #2.5
\modularLineNotehead c'' e' #120 #15 #3.5
}
|
\modularLineNotehead e'4
^\markup {\fontsize #-4 \italic ord.} e' #15 #15 #12
\noteheadless e'
\dashedLineNotehead e'
^\markup {\fontsize #-4 \italic (flaut.)} e' #5
}
\layout {
\context {
\Score proportionalNotationDuration = #1/10
\override SpacingSpanner.uniform-stretching = ##t
}
}
}Footnotes
-
Huge shoutout to Ky Decker and their supercool creation Astro-LilyPond that makes this blog entry (and many more to come!) possible. In fact, it was Astro-LilyPond (and a certain web content management system that kept rejecting my custom-made code, making my previous website quite a bit unsightly…) that inspired me to redo my website in the first place using Astro. Ky added a functionality that allows Astro-LilyPond to correctly render
\postscriptbits of the LilyPond code, which is detailed here. Thank you, Ky! ↩