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Note heads with equal durations are automatically merged, while note heads with unequal durations are not merged. Rests opposite a stem are shifted vertically.
<<
{
c8 d e d c d c4
g'2 fis
} \\ {
c2 c8. b16 c4
e,2 r
} \\ {
\oneVoice
s1
e8 a b c d2
}
>>
Note heads with different note heads may be merged, with the exception of half-note heads and quarter-note heads:
<<
{
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn
c8 d e d c d c4
g'2 fis
} \\ {
c2 c8. b16 c4
e,2 r
} \\ {
\oneVoice
s1
e8 a b c d2
}
>>
Note heads with different dots may be merged:
<<
{
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn
\mergeDifferentlyDottedOn
c8 d e d c d c4
g'2 fis
} \\ {
c2 c8. b16 c4
e,2 r
} \\ {
\oneVoice
s1
e8 a b c d2
}
>>
The collision on the second measure happens because
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn cannot successfully complete the
merge when three or more notes line up in the same column – in
fact, you will obtain a warning for this reason. To allow the
merge to work properly, apply a \shift to the note that
should not be merged. Here, \shiftOn is applied to move
the top g out of the column, and
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn works properly.
<<
{
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn
\mergeDifferentlyDottedOn
c8 d e d c d c4
\shiftOn
g'2 fis
} \\ {
c2 c8. b16 c4
e,2 r
} \\ {
\oneVoice
s1
e8 a b c d2
}
>>
The \shiftOn, \shiftOnn, and \shiftOnnn
commands specify the degree to which chords of the current voice
should be shifted. The outer voices (normally: voices one and
two) have \shiftOff, while the inner voices (three and
four) have \shiftOn. \shiftOnn and
\shiftOnnn define further shift levels.
Notes are only merged if they have opposing stem directions (i.e., in
Voice 1 and 2).
\mergeDifferentlyDottedOn,
\mergeDifferentlyDottedOff,
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn,
\mergeDifferentlyHeadedOff.
\shiftOn,
\shiftOnn,
\shiftOnnn,
\shiftOff.
Additional voices to avoid collisions
In some instances of complex polyphonic music, additional voices are
necessary to prevent collisions between notes. If more than four
parallel voices are needed, additional voices can be added by defining
a variable using the Scheme function context-spec-music.
voiceFive = #(context-spec-music (make-voice-props-set 4) 'Voice)
\relative c'' {
\time 3/4 \key d \minor \partial 2
<<
{ \voiceOne
a4. a8
e'4 e4. e8
f4 d4. c8
} \\ {
\voiceThree
f,2
bes4 a2
a4 s2
} \\ {
\voiceFive
s2
g4 g2
f4 f2
} \\ {
\voiceTwo
d2
d4 cis2
d4 bes2
}
>>
}
Forcing horizontal shift of notes
When the typesetting engine cannot cope, the force-hshift
property of the NoteColumn object can be used to override
typesetting decisions. The measure units used here are staff spaces.
\relative c' <<
{
<d g>2 <d g>
}
\\
{ <b f'>2
\once \override NoteColumn #'force-hshift = #1.7
<b f'>2
}
>>
Music Glossary: polyphony.
Learning Manual: Multiple notes at once, Voices contain music, Collisions of objects.
Snippets: Simultaneous notes.
Internals Reference: NoteColumn, NoteCollision, RestCollision.
When using \mergeDifferentlyHeadedOn with an upstem eighth
or a shorter note, and a downstem half note, the eighth note stem
gets a slightly wrong offset because of the different width of the
half note head symbol.
The requirements for successfully merging different note heads that are at the same time differently dotted are not clear.
There is no support for chords where the same note occurs with different accidentals in the same chord. In this case, it is recommended to use enharmonic transcription, or to use special cluster notation (see Clusters).
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.