Very basic problem with manual beaming

[Ed Bradburn]

Hi Folks, 
 
I'm probably missing something blindingly obvious, but I have the following 
problem. Using RoseGarden, I have exported a simple piece of music, and would 
now like to tidy up just one or two bars. These bars are 7/8 bars, and I need 
an alternative beaming structure. 
 
Output from RoseGarden: 
 
\time 7/8 
c'' 16 d'' d'' a' d'' d'' c'' d'' d'' d'' e'' d'' e'' fis'' 
 
What I (think) I need, following the manual: 
 
\time 7/8 
[c'' 16 d'' d''] [a' d'' d''] [c'' d'' d'' d''] [e'' d'' e'' fis''] 
 
However, when I run this (and the rest of the score) through lilypond, it 
exits with the following error: 
 
ClassicReelSet.ly:77:16: error: syntax error, unexpected '[' 
 
[c'' 16 d'' d''] [a' d'' d''] [c'' d'' d'' d''] [e'' d'' e'' fis''] 
ClassicReelSet.ly:13:4: error: errors found, ignoring music expression 
 
Why is this "unexpected"? Isn't this how to do manual beaming? 
 
Note that this section is properly enclosed in a 
 
\context Voice = "voice 0" { 
... 
} % Voice 
 
tag, so I don't think that that is the problem. 
 
Many thanks for any help, 
 
 
Ed Bradburn