lilypond-learning: Size of objects
4.3.2 Size of objects
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music expressions::) which showed how to introduce a new temporary
staff, as in an 
(music-glossary)ossia.
\new Staff ="main" {
\relative g' {
r4 g8 g c4 c8 d |
e4 r8
<<
{ f8 c c }
\new Staff \with {
alignAboveContext = #"main" }
{ f8 f c }
>>
r4 |
}
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
Ossia are normally written without clef and time signature, and are
usually printed slightly smaller than the main staff. We already know
now how to remove the clef and time signature – we simply set the
stencil of each to ‘#f’, as follows:
\new Staff ="main" {
\relative g' {
r4 g8 g c4 c8 d |
e4 r8
<<
{ f8 c c }
\new Staff \with {
alignAboveContext = #"main"
}
{
\omit Staff.Clef
\omit Staff.TimeSignature
{ f8 f c }
}
>>
r4 |
}
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
where the extra pair of braces after the ‘\with’ clause are required to
ensure the enclosed overrides and music are applied to the ossia staff.
But what is the difference between modifying the staff context by
using ‘\with’ and modifying the stencils of the clef and the time
signature with ‘\override’, or in this case ‘\omit’? The main
difference is that changes made in a ‘\with’ clause are made at the time
the context is created, and remain in force as the *default* values for
the duration of that context, whereas ‘\set’ or ‘\override’ commands
embedded in the music are dynamic – they make changes synchronized with
a particular point in the music. If changes are unset or reverted using
‘\unset’ or ‘\revert’ they return to their default values, which will be
the ones set in the ‘\with’ clause, or if none have been set there, the
normal default values.
Some context properties can be modified only in ‘\with’ clauses.
These are those properties which cannot sensibly be changed after the
context has been created. ‘alignAboveContext’ and its partner,
‘alignBelowContext’, are two such properties – once the staff has been
created its alignment is decided and it would make no sense to try to
change it later.
The default values of layout object properties can also be set in
‘\with’ clauses. Simply use the normal ‘\override’ command leaving out
the context name, since this is unambiguously defined as the context
which the ‘\with’ clause is modifying. If fact, an error will be
generated if a context is specified in this location.
So we could replace the example above with
\new Staff ="main" {
\relative g' {
r4 g8 g c4 c8 d |
e4 r8
<<
{ f8 c c }
\new Staff \with {
alignAboveContext = #"main"
% Don't print clefs in this staff
\override Clef.stencil = ##f
% Don't print time signatures in this staff
\override TimeSignature.stencil = ##f
}
{ f8 f c }
>>
r4 |
}
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
It turns out that we can also employ the shorthands ‘\hide’ and
‘\omit’ for setting the ‘transparent’ property and clearing the
‘stencil’ here, leading to the result
\new Staff ="main" {
\relative g' {
r4 g8 g c4 c8 d |
e4 r8
<<
{ f8 c c }
\new Staff \with {
alignAboveContext = #"main"
% Don't print clefs in this staff
\omit Clef
% Don't print time signatures in this staff
\omit TimeSignature
}
{ f8 f c }
>>
r4 |
}
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
Finally we come to changing the size of layout objects.
Some layout objects are created as glyphs selected from a typeface
font. These include note heads, accidentals, markup, clefs, time
signatures, dynamics and lyrics. Their size is changed by modifying the
‘font-size’ property, as we shall shortly see. Other layout objects
such as slurs and ties – in general, spanner objects – are drawn
individually, so there is no ‘font-size’ associated with them. These
objects generally derive their size from the objects to which they are
attached, so usually there is no need to change their size manually.
Still other properties such as the length of stems and bar lines,
thickness of beams and other lines, and the separation of staff lines
all need to be modified in special ways.
Returning to the ossia example, let us first change the font-size.
We can do this in two ways. We can either change the size of the fonts
of each object type, like ‘NoteHead’s with commands like
\override NoteHead.font-size = #-2
or we can change the size of all fonts by setting a special property,
‘fontSize’, using ‘\set’, or by including it in a ‘\with’ clause (but
without the ‘\set’).
\set fontSize = #-2
Both of these statements would cause the font size to be reduced by 2
steps from its previous value, where each step reduces or increases the
size by approximately 12%.
Let’s try it in our ossia example:
\new Staff ="main" {
\relative g' {
r4 g8 g c4 c8 d |
e4 r8
<<
{ f8 c c }
\new Staff \with {
alignAboveContext = #"main"
\omit Clef
\omit TimeSignature
% Reduce all font sizes by ~24%
fontSize = #-2
}
{ f8 f c }
>>
r4 |
}
}
[image src="" alt="[image of music]" text="image of music" ]
This is still not quite right. The note heads and flags are smaller,
but the stems are too long in proportion and the staff lines are spaced
too widely apart. These need to be scaled down in proportion to the
font reduction. The next sub-section discusses how this is done.
Info Catalog
lilypond-learning: Visibility and color of objects
lilypond-learning: Appearance of objects
lilypond-learning: Length and thickness of objects