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Partial or pick-up measures, such as an anacrusis or upbeat, are
entered using the \partial
command, with the syntax
\partial duration
where duration
is the rhythmic length of the interval
before the start of the first complete measure:
\partial 4 e4 | a2. c,4 |
The partial measure can be any duration less than a full measure:
\partial 8*3 c8 d e | a2. c,4 |
Internally, this is translated into
\set Timing.measurePosition = -duration
The property measurePosition
contains a rational number
indicating how much of the measure has passed at this point. Note
that this is set to a negative number by the \partial
command: i.e., \partial 4
is internally translated to
-4
, meaning “there is a quarter note left in the measure.”
Music Glossary: anacrusis
Notation Reference: Grace notes
Snippets: Rhythms.
Internal Reference: Timing_translator
The \partial
command is intended to be used only at the
beginning of a piece. If you use it after the beginning, some
odd warnings may occur.
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.