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2.1.2.4 Multiple notes to one syllable

Sometimes, particularly in Medieval music, several notes are to be sung on one single syllable; such vocalises are called melismas, or melismata.

You can define melismata entirely in the lyrics, by entering _ for every extra note that has to be added to the the melisma.

Additionaly, you can make an extender line to be typeset to indicate the melisma in the score, writing a double underscore next to the first syllable of the melisma. This example shows the three elements that are used for this purpose (all of them surrounded by spaces): double hyphens to separate syllables in a word, underscores to add notes to a melisma, and a double underscore to put an extender line.

     
     { \set melismaBusyProperties = #'()
      c d( e) f f( e) e e  }
     \addlyrics
      { Ky -- _ _ ri __ _ _ _  e }

[image of music]

In this case, you can also have ties and slurs in the melody if you set melismaBusyProperties, as is done in the example above.

However, the \lyricsto command can also detect melismata automatically: it only puts one syllable under a tied or slurred group of notes. If you want to force an unslurred group of notes to be a melisma, insert \melisma after the first note of the group, and \melismaEnd after the last one, e.g.,

     
     <<
       \new Voice = "lala" {
         \time 3/4
         f4 g8
         \melisma
         f e f
         \melismaEnd
         e2
       }
       \new Lyrics \lyricsto "lala" {
         la di __ daah
       }
     >>

[image of music]

In addition, notes are considered a melisma if they are manually beamed, and automatic beaming (see Setting automatic beam behavior) is switched off.

A complete example of a SATB score setup is in section Vocal ensembles.

Predefined commands

\melisma, \melismaEnd

See also

Known issues and warnings

Melismata are not detected automatically, and extender lines must be inserted by hand.

This page is for LilyPond-2.11.58 (development-branch).

Report errors to http://post.gmane.org/post.php?group=gmane.comp.gnu.lilypond.bugs.

Your suggestions for the documentation are welcome.

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