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Note: New users are sometimes confused about accidentals and key signatures. In LilyPond, note names are the raw input; key signatures and clefs determine how this raw input is displayed. An unaltered note like c
means ‘C natural’, regardless of the key signature or clef. For more information, see Accidentals and key signatures.
The key signature indicates the tonality in which a piece is
played. It is denoted by a set of alterations (flats or sharps)
at the start of the staff. Setting or changing the key signature
is done with the \key
command:
\key pitch mode
Here, mode should be \major
or \minor
to get a
key signature of pitch-major or pitch-minor,
respectively. You may also use the standard mode names, also
called ‘church modes’: \ionian
, \dorian
,
\phrygian
, \lydian
, \mixolydian
,
\aeolian
, and \locrian
.
\key g \major fis1 f fis
When the key signature changes, natural signs are automatically printed to cancel any accidentals from previous key signatures. This may be altered by setting to "false" the printKeyCancellation property in the Staff context.
\relative { \key d \major a b cis d \key g \minor a bes c d \set Staff.printKeyCancellation = ##f \key d \major a b cis d \key g \minor a bes c d }
The commonly used \key
command sets the keySignature
property, in the Staff
context. However, non-standard key
signatures can be specified by setting this property directly. The
format of this command is a list: \set Staff.keySignature =
#'(((octave . step) . alter) ((octave . step) . alter) ...)
where,
for each element in the list, octave specifies the octave (0 being the
octave from middle C to the B above), step specifies the note within
the octave (0 means C and 6 means B), and alter is ,SHARP ,FLAT
,DOUBLE-SHARP etc. (Note the leading comma.)
However, for each item in the list, you can also use the alternative format (step . alter), which specifies that the same alteration should hold in all octaves.
Here is an example of a possible key signature for generating a whole-tone scale:
\relative c' { \set Staff.keySignature = #`(((0 . 3) . ,SHARP) ((0 . 5) . ,FLAT) ((0 . 6) . ,FLAT)) c d e fis aes bes c2 }
Music Glossary: church mode, scordatura.
Learning Manual: Accidentals and key signatures.
Snippets: Pitches .
Internals Reference: KeyCancellation,
KeySignature, Key_engraver.
Next: Ottava brackets, Previous: Clef, Up: Displaying pitches
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