lilypond-learning: Four-part SATB vocal score
3.4.2 Four-part SATB vocal score
--------------------------------
Most vocal scores of music written for four-part mixed choir with
orchestral accompaniment such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah or Handel’s
Messiah have the choral music and words on four staves, one for each of
SATB, with a piano reduction of the orchestral accompaniment underneath.
Here’s an example from Handel’s Messiah:
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
None of the templates provides this layout exactly. The nearest is
SATB vocal score and automatic piano reduction – but we need to
change the layout and add a piano accompaniment which is not derived
automatically from the vocal parts. The variables holding the music and
words for the vocal parts are fine, but we shall need to add variables
for the piano reduction.
The order in which the contexts appear in the ChoirStaff of the
template do not correspond with the order in the vocal score shown
above. We need to rearrange them so there are four staves with the
words written directly underneath the notes for each part. All the
voices should be ‘\voiceOne’, which is the default, so the ‘\voiceXXX’
commands should be removed. We also need to specify the tenor clef for
the tenors. The way in which lyrics are specified in the template has
not yet been encountered so we need to use the method with which we are
familiar. We should also add the names of each staff.
Doing this gives for our ChoirStaff:
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff = "sopranos" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Soprano"
\new Voice = "sopranos" {
\global
\sopranoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "sopranos" {
\sopranoWords
}
\new Staff = "altos" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Alto"
\new Voice = "altos" {
\global
\altoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "altos" {
\altoWords
}
\new Staff = "tenors" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Tenor"
\new Voice = "tenors" {
\global
\tenorMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "tenors" {
\tenorWords
}
\new Staff = "basses" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Bass"
\new Voice = "basses" {
\global
\bassMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "basses" {
\bassWords
}
>> % end ChoirStaff
Next we must work out the piano part. This is easy - we just pull
out the piano part from the ‘Solo piano’ template:
\new PianoStaff <<
\set PianoStaff.instrumentName = #"Piano "
\new Staff = "upper" \upper
\new Staff = "lower" \lower
>>
and add the variable definitions for ‘upper’ and ‘lower’.
The ChoirStaff and PianoStaff must be combined using angle brackets
as we want them to be stacked one above the other:
<< % combine ChoirStaff and PianoStaff one above the other
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff = "sopranos" <<
\new Voice = "sopranos" {
\global
\sopranoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "sopranos" {
\sopranoWords
}
\new Staff = "altos" <<
\new Voice = "altos" {
\global
\altoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "altos" {
\altoWords
}
\new Staff = "tenors" <<
\clef "G_8" % tenor clef
\new Voice = "tenors" {
\global
\tenorMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "tenors" {
\tenorWords
}
\new Staff = "basses" <<
\clef "bass"
\new Voice = "basses" {
\global
\bassMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "basses" {
\bassWords
}
>> % end ChoirStaff
\new PianoStaff <<
\set PianoStaff.instrumentName = #"Piano"
\new Staff = "upper" \upper
\new Staff = "lower" \lower
>>
>>
Combining all these together and adding the music for the three bars
of the example above gives:
\version "2.18.2"
global = { \key d \major \time 4/4 }
sopranoMusic = \relative c'' {
\clef "treble"
r4 d2 a4 | d4. d8 a2 | cis4 d cis2 |
}
sopranoWords = \lyricmode {
Wor -- thy | is the lamb | that was slain |
}
altoMusic = \relative a' {
\clef "treble"
r4 a2 a4 | fis4. fis8 a2 | g4 fis fis2 |
}
altoWords = \sopranoWords
tenorMusic = \relative c' {
\clef "G_8"
r4 fis2 e4 | d4. d8 d2 | e4 a, cis2 |
}
tenorWords = \sopranoWords
bassMusic = \relative c' {
\clef "bass"
r4 d2 cis4 | b4. b8 fis2 | e4 d a'2 |
}
bassWords = \sopranoWords
upper = \relative a' {
\clef "treble"
\global
r4 <a d fis>2 <a e' a>4 |
<d fis d'>4. <d fis d'>8 <a d a'>2 |
<g cis g'>4 <a d fis> <a cis e>2 |
}
lower = \relative c, {
\clef "bass"
\global
<d d'>4 <d d'>2 <cis cis'>4 |
<b b'>4. <b' b'>8 <fis fis'>2 |
<e e'>4 <d d'> <a' a'>2 |
}
\score {
<< % combine ChoirStaff and PianoStaff in parallel
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff = "sopranos" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Soprano"
\new Voice = "sopranos" {
\global
\sopranoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "sopranos" {
\sopranoWords
}
\new Staff = "altos" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Alto"
\new Voice = "altos" {
\global
\altoMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "altos" {
\altoWords
}
\new Staff = "tenors" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Tenor"
\new Voice = "tenors" {
\global
\tenorMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "tenors" {
\tenorWords
}
\new Staff = "basses" <<
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"Bass"
\new Voice = "basses" {
\global
\bassMusic
}
>>
\new Lyrics \lyricsto "basses" {
\bassWords
}
>> % end ChoirStaff
\new PianoStaff <<
\set PianoStaff.instrumentName = #"Piano "
\new Staff = "upper" \upper
\new Staff = "lower" \lower
>>
>>
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
Info Catalog
lilypond-learning: Soprano and cello
lilypond-learning: Extending the templates
lilypond-learning: Building a score from scratch