Re: General newbie questions

[Xavier Scheuer]

On 15 November 2010 06:00, Paul Thompson <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> Thanks.  After going thru the manual and the intro section, I have a
> good idea about lilypond (plus I am an old LaTeX user, which helps).

Please reply to all.
So that people on the mailing list receive your message too and could
answer as well.


> There are two things that I remain confused about:
>
> 1) Is there a general guide to putting multiple modifiers on a note?
> For instance, a note that is flatted, raised an octave, specified as
> quarter note, and the first note in a stave.  What order is used in
> this kind of multiple specification?

OK, let's try to answer in order.

1. the first note in a stave -> use \new Staff { to create a new staff.

2. a note that is flatted -> if you use LilyPond default note name,
you should add "es" as a suffix to the note name. Ex: bes for b flat.

But you can also use other note names (english for instance).
See NR 1.1.1 Writing pitches > Note names in other languages
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Writing-pitches.html#Note-names-in-other-languages

3. raised an octave -> I recommend using "Relative octave entry"
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Writing-pitches.html#Relative-octave-entry
Use a single quote ' (or apostrophe) to raise a pitch by an extra
octave, relative to the pitch calculated without an octave mark.

4. specified as quarter note -> add the number 4 after the note name.


To summarize

\score {
  <<  % if you want to input ‘simultaneous’ staves
    \new Staff {
      \relative c' {  % use relative octave entry
        bes4 c d ees |
        f g a bes |
        \bar "||"

        \time 3/2
        \key bes \major
        bes,2 bes' bes' |
        bes, bes,1

        \bar "|."  % end bar line
      }  % end \relative
    }  % end Staff
  >>
}  % end \score


> 2) All of these multiple specifications (\Stem \Score \Book etc) can
> be used.  Is there a general cheat-sheet to which is used for which
> thing, and in what order?

\Stem ?  I suppose you meant  \new Staff ...

Well, have you read the learning manual?
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond-learning/index.html
As said in the description, it's a a “must-read” gentle introduction to
LilyPond.  :)
There are some templates at the end.
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond-learning/Templates.html

There is also a "cheat-sheet" at the end of the notation manual (more
complete than the learning manual, containing almost everything a user
could want).
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Cheat-sheet.html

Cheers,
Xavier

-- 
Xavier Scheuer <address@hidden>