Re: unusual lyric placement in second verse

[Simon Albrecht]

Hello,

On 14.02.2016 15:56, address@hidden wrote:
> I'm typesetting a hymn where the first section is (volta) repeated 
> with different lyrics.
> The way that the words are laid out across the two different lines 
> seems odd and distracting to me --
> particularly on the fourth and eighth bar.
>
> (a) why is lilypond laying the two line out displaced from one another?
> (b) is there a way to make things line up better?

You don’t use \lyricsto when you create the second Lyrics context, hence 
the problem.
Structurally it would be much clearer if you did something like

%%%%%%%%%%%%
\version "2.18.2"

global = {
  \key f \major
  \time 3/4
}

melody = {
  \repeat volta 2 \relative c'' {
    % A section
    a4 f g |
    a4 (b) c |
    c2 b4 |
    c2.\fermata |

    a4 bes a |
    g2 f4 |
    a2 (g4) |
    f2.
  } \break

}

textA = \lyricmode {
  % First A section
  Er -- mun -- tre dich, mein schwa -- cher Geist,
  und tra -- ge gross Ver -- lan -- gen,
}
textB = \lyricmode {
  % Second A section
  ein klei -- nes Kind, das Va -- ter heißt,
  mit Freu -- den zu em -- pfan -- gen.
}

\score {
  \context PianoStaff <<
    \new Staff = "upper" { \clef treble \global \new Voice = "melody" 
\melody}
    \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" \textA
    \new Lyrics \lyricsto "melody" \textB
  >>
}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

HTH, Simon