I'm new to LilyPond (v2.12.3) and to music notation in general, so I'm just a tad beyond the starting point on LilyPond's learning curve. I'm scratching my head now as to how to write the repeats in my learning testfile, "Podmoskovnye Vechera", (Moscow Nights). The melody has four verses, each verse has two couplets (i.e., four stanzas per verse), with the second couplet repeated in each of the four verses. The repeats for the first three verses are identical, but the repeat for the final verse includes a tempo change (slower, sadly) with an octave upbeat at the end. I'm only coding the melody line for now; here's the code I've been using (time = 2/4):
\bar "|:"
\repeat volta 4 %% notation shows repeat for verses 1, 2, 3, only
{
b4 cis4
e8 d8 a4~a8
e4 d8 \mbreak %% \mbreak defined in my '%% Definitions' block
a'8. g16 bes4~bes4
c8 bes8
a4 g8 f8
}
\alternative %% notation shows repeat for verse 4
{
{a4 g8 f8 d2 }
{ d'2~d2\fermata }
}
\bar "||"
To get it right (volta showing verses 1 - 4, alternative showing verse 4 only) will I need to code the final couplet of verse 4 into \alternative? Or is there a better, more professional way to do it?