This project is maintained by kenakofer
Creating a new song
If you haven’t already, set up Frescobaldi + Lilypond or Visual Studio Code + Lilypond.
If you haven’t already, go learn the basics of Lilypond. It will make doing basic things much less painful.
Copy the template
To create a song called “My Song”:
- Run the script
scripts/new-song-from-template.sh my-song. This just copies the a template file into a new file atlilypond/songs/my-song/my-song.ly. - Or manually: create a new directory
my-songinlilypond/songs/, and copylilypond/hymn-template/hymn-template.lytomy-song/my-song.ly.
Modify the template
The first things you’ll do after creating the new song file:
- Remove the included
shared-tune(unless you just want to provide new lyrics to an existing tune) - Fill out everything in the
%% TUNE INFO, and%% SONG INFOsections, e.g. change “Title of the song” to “My Song” - Add some notes to soprano, alto, tenor, and bass
- Add some lyrics in
verseAthroughverseF- To left align lyrics, put
\lbefore the top syllable. This makes the leftmost columns of syllables neater.
- To left align lyrics, put
- Make weird special-case tweaks (Scroll down to appendix)
- Check your work frequently by saving/re-engraving!
The \include files do a lot of setup and formatting, such that song file can simply give info, notes, lyrics, and chords, and all the difficult formatting and multiple outputs should just work.
Adding your new song to the website
Email it or use a Github pull request.
Appendix: How do I do [weird special-case thing?]
Here are a list of common Lilypond tasks that are easy to forget, and an example song that does it well:
| Task | Example song |
|---|---|
| Italic lyrics | Wakantanka |
| Single staff | Wakantanka |
| Dotted slur (lyrics ignore) | Wakantanka |
| Shared tune between several songs | All praise to thee, my God, using the shared tune Tallis Canon |
| Canon / Round | Tallis Canon |
| Double column lyrics at the end | Religion fit to last |
| Single column lyrics at the end | We shall overcome |
| Alternating Leader/All or Unison/Harmony | When Israel was in Egypt’s land |
| Chorus / Refrain lines condensed to one line without ruining the lyrics extractor | All creatures worship God most high |
| Hide verse numbers in first staff (e.g. songs starting with chorus) | All things bright and beautiful |
| Fermatas (up and down facing) | All creatures worship God most high |
| Alternate title | All creatures worship God most high |
| Score zoomed to fit on one page (both traditional notation and clairscore) | All creatures worship God most high |
| Two lyrics languages in the staff | Heilig, Heilig, Heilig |
| Hide/Show/Custom lyric/stanza/verse labels on certain lines | Heilig, Heilig, Heilig |
| Different lyrics for each of 2 staffs | Warm Summer Sun |
| One part in a staff resting while the other sings | O come all ye faithful |
| Different lyrics for the same staff (e.g. soprano v. alto) | When peace like a river |
| Double staff switch to single staff in same song | La paz de la tierra |
| Lyrics skip note without using slurs | Once in royal David’s city |
| Chant style (half bars, hidden note flags, tweaks noteheads/beaming) | O come, O come Immanuel |
| Add symmetrical padding to verses | The Lord Bless you and keep you |
| Line Lyrics Stanza above the soprano staff | The Lord Bless you and keep you |
| Different note/duration midi vs. print (e.g. for fermatas) | Teach me thy truth |
| Capo chords / Chords on multiple lines | O wizened eyes resplendent |
| Vertical space padding using white-out chords | O wizened eyes resplendent |
| “Quotes” in lyrics | Use two ‘‘apostrophes’’ instead |