LilyPond
< Graphics | Using Graphics >
LilyPond is a great music engraver, and you can include LilyPond in ConTeXt source using the lilypond module.
Contents
Setup
- First you need a working, recent LilyPond installation (version 2.10.x) plus dependencies like GhostScript.
- Include the lilypond module
\usemodule[lilypond]
- If you want, you can change the default settings using \setuplilypond
- If you need lyrics with accented characters (e.g. umlauts), you must typeset in UTF-8 encoding (see Encodings_and_Regimes), because LilyPond doesn't understand anything else. And you need to use UTF-8 without BOM (byte order marker), because ConTeXt doesn't understand BOMs.
- The module works with LuaTeX.
options
option | values | default | meaning |
---|---|---|---|
staffsize | number (pt) | 20 | height of the staff |
linewidth | measure | \localhsize | width of the staff |
betweensystemspace | measure | 54pt | space between systems |
align | yes/no | depends on fragment | ragged-right = (not align) |
indent | measure | 0pt | first line indent |
time | yes/no | yes | count the time (i.e. show time signature, draw bars, split the staff)? |
clef | yes/no | yes | show the clef? |
fragment | yes/no | no | typeset only a snippet (instead of a whole line)? |
barnumbers | yes/no | no | show measure numbers? |
showempty | yes/no | no | drop empty staves? |
seriffont | "name" | "Tex Gyre Schola" | serif font (e.g. for Lyrics and \markup; was Century Schoolbook L before) |
sansfont | "name" | "LMSans10" | sans serif font (e.g. for chords) |
monofont | "name" | "LMTypewriter10" | monospace font (normally not used) |
Snippets
There are some notes \lilypond{ \relative{bes a c b} } embedded in this line.
Sections
E.g. for a songbook you want to place big chunks of LilyPond output (i.e. note staffs) in your text. It behaves like any other graphics, especially similar to embedded MetaPost code:
\section{A Tune} \startlilypond \relative { \repeat volta 2 { \partial 4 e4 | a2 c4 d | e2 f4 e | d2. c4 | b4. c8 d4 e | a,2 c4 d | e2 f4 e | g,2 a | \partial 2. b2. | } \repeat volta 2 { \partial 4 r4 | f' g f d | e f e c | a b c d | e2. e4 | f g f8 e d4 | e f e c | a c b8 a g4 | } \alternative { { \partial 2. g2. } { \partial 2. a2. } } } \stoplilypond There's nothing to say about this tune yet; someone heard it from Lúnasa.
\section{Starlight (round)} \startlilypond << \context Staff = onlyone << \clef treble \key a \major \time 6/8 \context Voice = one { \relative c'' { a4.^\markup{1.} e' | e8( d cis) b4. | e4.^\markup{2.} d4 d8 | cis( b) a b4 e,8 | a4 a8 gis( a) b | cis4 cis8 b( cis d) | cis( d) e e4 e,8 | fis4 fis8 gis4. } } >> \lyricsto one \new Lyrics { \lyricmode { Star -- light, star -- bright, first star I see to -- night; I wish I may, I wish I might have the wish I wish to -- night. } } >> \stoplilypond
Font hints
LilyPond depends on the fonts that pango/fontconfig can find. But not even all of those will work, e.g. no fonts from the TeX tree (don't know why), only one face per font file etc. Therefore it doesn't use ConTeXt's font setup.
If you want to know which fonts of your system LilyPond can see with which names, try
lilypond -dshow-available-fonts any
(The 3rd parameter is necessary, but can be anything.)
LilyPond's default text font is Century Schoolbook. You can use it in ConTeXt MkIV (OpenType fonts) like this:
\usetypescriptfile[type-otf] \starttypescript[wiki][songbook] \usetypescript [serif] [schoolbook] \definetypeface [songbook] [rm] [serif] [schola] [default] \definetypeface [songbook] [ss] [sans] [default][default] \definetypeface [songbook] [tt] [mono] [default][default] \stoptypescript \usetypescript [wiki] [songbook] \setupbodyfont[songbook, rm, 8.5pt]
For ConTeXt MkII use:
\starttypescript[wiki][songbook] \usetypescript [serif] [schoolbook] [\defaultencoding] \definetypeface [songbook] [rm] [serif] [schoolbook] [default] [encoding=\defaultencoding] \definetypeface [songbook] [ss] [sans] [default][default] [encoding=ec] \definetypeface [songbook] [tt] [mono] [default][default] [encoding=ec] \stoptypescript \usetypescript [wiki] [songbook] \setupbodyfont[songbook, rm, 8.5pt]
Current workarounds
This section lists workarounds needed in some circumstances; we surely hope to move them to Older Workarounds as soon as possible!
Something (LilyPond, GhostScript etc.) isn't found
Depending on your setup (path, installation directories, ...) you must call the lilypond app with the full path.
If pstopdf can't create PDFs (but LilyPond has made EPS files) it might be that you must set the environment variable GS_LIB for GhostScript.
LilyPond 2.11
LilyPond 2.11 (and probably 2.12) changes the call syntax, thus the module for 2.10 doesn't work.
Look for the lilypond call in t-lilypond.tex and replace "-beps" with "-dbackend=eps".
Typesetting fret diagrams
Lilypond has commands to typeset fret diagrams for the guitar chords. The most important one is called \fret-diagram
and if you want to use it, you need to play a bit with the catcode of the minus
sign since ConTeXt is apparently confused by this. In addition, you can't type the example found in the Lilypond documentation on its own because Lilypond won't accept a score with only markup (the fret diagram) and nothing else; you have to place the markup on the page.
All in all, something like this will work:
\usemodule[lilypond] \starttext \catcode`\-=11 D chord: \blank \startlilypond d'' ^ \markup { \fret-diagram #"s:0.75;f:1;6-x;5-x;4-o;3-2-1;2-3-3;1-2-2;" } \stoplilypond \catcode`\-=12 \stoptext
If you find a real solution to the catcode
problem, please document it here, or report it to the list -- Arthur
Developer's Corner
For information how the integration works, please check the module code and its PDF version (both available from LilyPond on Modules). Unlike lilypond-book for LaTeX, the module does not use a precompiling step and thus can react to local width changes and the like, even if the LilyPond code is stored in a buffer.
Known bugs:
- LilyPond's EPS bounding box is a bit too small, so sometimes the content is cropped. Perhaps call eps2eps or the like to fix that?
Things that have not been implemented yet include:
- make lilypond call back on ConTeXt for included TeX (cf. [1])
- get information from LilyPond about the baseline, for run-in music fragments
- tell LilyPond how much space is left on the first page
- check and probably work on proper multi-page music
- it's not possible to set variables in LilyPond
- lots of features
To remember:
- see LilyPond Docs!
--Christopher Creutzig after ideas by Hraban
Older Workarounds
Beware: These relate to the old version of the module and older versions of LilyPond (earlier than 2.7)! Nowadays, LilyPond and epstopdf get called via texmfstart, that works without patching!
LilyPond is not found
Calling lilypond from command line in Windows fails. (Seems like a bug in lilypond.)
You have two options:
- modify the module, so that lilypond is called with the whole path (
C:/prog/lilypond/usr/bin/lilypond
for example instead oflilypond
alone). - place a
lilypond.bat
somewhere in your search path, calling
c:/prog/lilypond/usr/bin/lilypond %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9
Calling lilypond from ConTeXt via shell exit (write18) in MacOS X also fails, even if the shell's path is right. (Seems more like write18 wouldn't use the environment.) Modify the module (try which lilypond to get its path).
LilyPond 2.7.26 comes without a command line "version", at least in the MacOS X edition, i.e. the lilypond.sh script is missing. Here's it's relevant content:
#!/bin/sh
## where was the app installed?
INSTALLDIR=/Applications
if [ "$1" == "--print-appdir" ]; then
echo "$INSTALLDIR/LilyPond.app/"
exit 0
fi
# where to put the output
export LILYPOND_DESTDIR=pwd
# run the program
python "$INSTALLDIR/LilyPond.app/Contents/Resources/lilycall.py" \
"$INSTALLDIR/LilyPond.app/" $@
Save this as lilypond.sh, make it executable and symlink it into a directory on your path, e.g.
chmod a+x lilypond.sh sudo ln -s lilypond.sh /usr/local/bin/lilypond
LilyPond stops with an 'Unbound variable' error
The LilyPond module as of 2005-09-12 uses some commands in its header that work only with LilyPond 2.6 (at least no more with 2.7.25); replace "ly:parser-print-score" with "print-score-with-defaults" and "ly:music-scorify" with "scorify-music" for LilyPond 2.7 series.