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1.2.3.1 Time signature

The time signature is set with the \time command:

     
     \time 2/4 c2 \time 3/4 c2.

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Selected Snippets

The symbol that is printed can be customized with the style property. Setting it to #'() uses fraction style for 4/4 and 2/2 time,

     
     \time 4/4 c1
     \time 2/2 c1
     \override Staff.TimeSignature #'style = #'()
     \time 4/4 c1
     \time 2/2 c1

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A time signature symbol is normally printed whenever the time signature changes. If this takes place at the end of a line a warning time signature sign is printed at the end of the line and again at the start of a new line. This default behaviour can be modified by setting the value of the break-visibility property. This takes three values which may be set to #t or #f to specify whether the corresponding time signature is visible or not. The order of the three values is end of line visible, middle of line visible, beginning of line visible.

     
     % Do not print any time signatures at end of line
     \override Staff.TimeSignature #'break-visibility = ##(#f #t #t)
     \time 4/4 c1
     \time 3/4 c2.
     % Do not print the following 9/8 time signature
     \once \override Staff.TimeSignature #'break-visibility = ##(#t #f #t)
     \time 9/8 c4. c c
     \time 2/2 c1
     \break
     \time 9/8 c4. c c
     \time 12/8 c2. c2.

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There are many more options for its layout. See Ancient time signatures, for more examples.

\time sets the properties timeSignatureFraction, beatLength, and measureLength in the Timing context, which is normally aliased to Score. The property measureLength determines where bar lines should be inserted, and how automatic beams should be generated. Changing the value of timeSignatureFraction also causes the symbol to be printed.

More options are available through the Scheme function set-time-signature, which takes three arguments: the number of beats, the beat length, and the internal grouping of beats in the measure. If the Measure_grouping_engraver is included, the function will also create MeasureGrouping signs. Such signs ease reading rhythmically complex modern music. In the following example, the 9/8 measure is subdivided in 2, 2, 2 and 3. This is passed to set-time-signature as the third argument (2 2 2 3):

     
     \score {
       \relative c'' {
         #(set-time-signature 9 8 '(2 2 2 3))
         g8[ g] d[ d] g[ g] a8[( bes g]) |
         #(set-time-signature 5 8 '(3 2))
         a4. g4
       }
       \layout {
         \context {
           \Staff
           \consists "Measure_grouping_engraver"
         }
       }
     }

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See also

Snippets: Rhythms

Internals Reference: TimeSignature, and Timing_translator.

Examples:

Known issues and warnings

Automatic beaming does not use the measure grouping specified with set-time-signature.


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