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When octaves are specified in absolute mode it is easy to accidentally put a pitch in the wrong octave. Relative octave mode reduces these errors since most of the time it is not necessary to indicate any octaves at all. Furthermore, in absolute mode a single mistake may be difficult to spot, while in relative mode a single error puts the rest of the piece off by one octave.
\relative startpitch musicexpr
In relative mode, each note is assumed to be as close to the previous note as possible. This means that the octave of each pitch inside musicexpr is calculated as follows:
'
or ,
can be
added to respectively raise or lower a pitch by an extra octave,
relative to the pitch calculated without an octave mark.
''
and ,,
will alter the pitch by two
octaves.
c
.
Here is the relative mode shown in action:
\relative c { \clef bass c d e f g a b c d e f g }
Octave changing marks are used for intervals greater than a fourth:
\relative c'' { c g c f, c' a, e'' c }
A note sequence without a single octave mark can nevertheless span large intervals:
\relative c { c f b e a d g c }
If the preceding item is a chord, the first note of the chord is
used as the reference point for the octave placement of a
following note or chord. Inside chords, the next note is always
relative to the preceding one. Examine the next example
carefully, paying attention to the c
notes.
\relative c' { c <c e g> <c' e g'> <c, e, g''> }
As explained above, the octave of pitches is calculated only with the note names, regardless of any alterations. Therefore, an E-double-sharp following a B will be placed higher, while an F-double-flat will be placed lower. In other words, a double-augmented fourth is considered a smaller interval than a double-diminished fifth, regardless of the number of semitones that each interval contains.
\relative c'' { c2 fis c2 ges b2 eisis b2 feses }
Music Glossary: fifth, interval, Pitch names.
Notation Reference: Octave checks.
Snippets: Pitches.
Internals Reference: RelativeOctaveMusic.
The relative conversion will not affect \transpose
,
\chordmode
or \relative
sections in its argument.
To use relative mode within transposed music, an additional
\relative
must be placed inside \transpose
.
If no startpitch is specified for \relative
,
then c'
is assumed. However, this is a deprecated
option and may disappear in future versions, so its use is
discouraged.
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.