Next: Aligning to cadenzas, Up: Special rhythmic concerns
Grace notes are ornaments that are written out. They are made with
the \grace
command. By prefixing this keyword to a music
expression, a new one is formed, which will be printed in a
smaller font and takes up no logical time in a measure.
c4 \grace c16 c4 \grace { c16[ d16] } c2 c4
Two special forms of the \grace
command exist.
An acciaccatura, which should be played as very short,
is denoted by a slurred small note with a slashed stem. The
appoggiatura, a grace note that takes a fixed fraction of the
main note, is denoted as a slurred note in small print without
a slash. They are entered with the commands \acciaccatura
and \appoggiatura
, as demonstrated in the following
example:
b4 \acciaccatura d8 c4 \appoggiatura e8 d4 \acciaccatura { g16[ f] } e4
\acciaccatura
and \appoggiatura
start a slur,
\grace
does not.
The placement of grace notes is synchronized between different staves. In the following example, there are two sixteenth grace notes for every eighth grace note
<< \new Staff { e4 \grace { c16[ d e f] } e4 } \new Staff { c4 \grace { g8[ b] } c4 } >>
If you want to end a note with a grace, use the \afterGrace
command. It takes two arguments: the main note, and the grace
notes following the main note.
c1 \afterGrace d1 { c16[ d] } c4
This will put the grace notes after a ‘space’ lasting 3/4 of the
length of the main note. The fraction 3/4 can be changed by
setting afterGraceFraction
, ie.
#(define afterGraceFraction (cons 7 8))
will put the grace note at 7/8 of the main note.
The same effect can be achieved manually by doing
\new Voice { << { d1^\trill_( } { s2 \grace { c16[ d] } } >> c4) }
By adjusting the duration of the skip note (here it is a half-note), the space between the main-note and the grace may be adjusted.
A \grace
music expression will introduce special
typesetting settings, for example, to produce smaller type, and
set directions. Hence, when introducing layout tweaks, they
should be inside the grace expression, for example,
\new Voice { \acciaccatura { \stemDown f16-> \stemNeutral } g4 }
The overrides should also be reverted inside the grace expression.
The layout of grace expressions can be changed throughout the
music using the function add-grace-property
. The following
example undefines the Stem
direction for this grace, so
that stems do not always point up.
\new Staff { #(add-grace-property 'Voice 'Stem 'direction '()) ... }
Another option is to change the variables startGraceMusic
,
stopGraceMusic
, startAcciaccaturaMusic
,
stopAcciaccaturaMusic
, startAppoggiaturaMusic
,
stopAppoggiaturaMusic
. The default values of these can be
seen in the file ly/grace-init.ly. By redefining
them other effects may be obtained.
The slash through the stem in acciaccaturas can be obtained in
other situations by \override Stem #'stroke-style =
#"grace"
.
Grace notes may be forced to use align with regular notes
in other staves by setting strict-grace-spacing
to
##t:
Music Glossary: grace notes, acciaccatura, appoggiatura
Snippets: Rhythms
Internals Reference: GraceMusic.
A multi-note beamed acciaccatura is printed without a slash, and looks exactly the same as a multi-note beamed appoggiatura.
Grace note synchronization can also lead to surprises. Staff notation, such as key signatures, bar lines, etc., are also synchronized. Take care when you mix staves with grace notes and staves without, for example,
<< \new Staff { e4 \bar "|:" \grace c16 d4 } \new Staff { c4 \bar "|:" d4 } >>
This can be remedied by inserting grace skips of the corresponding durations in the other staves. For the above example
<< \new Staff { e4 \bar "|:" \grace c16 d4 } \new Staff { c4 \bar "|:" \grace s16 d4 } >>
Grace sections should only be used within sequential music
expressions. Nesting or juxtaposing grace sections is not
supported, and might produce crashes or other errors.
Next: Aligning to cadenzas, Up: Special rhythmic concerns
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