LilyPond, ties and voices (advanced)

The object of this article

The object of the article is the same as my this previous article but now I have composed, using the LilyPond language, a short score for piano with a little bit more complex voices and ties combinations.

I have also created a colour image highlighting the points of interest.

You can also listen to the audio version of the short composition at the end of the article.

The following terms from the LilyPond lexicon must, of course, be regarded:

  • oneVoice: a single voice line
  • voiceOne: the upper melody line of a polyphonic composition
  • voiceTwo: the lower melody line of a polyphonic composition

And now let’s have a look at the LilyPond code

Here’s the complete LilyPond code in which you will find each line commented and, in particular, the crossing points shown in the score below.:

\version "2.22.0"
\layout {
  \context {
    \Voice
    \remove Tie_engraver
  }
  \context {
    \Staff
    \consists Tie_engraver
  }
}

global = {
  \key g \major
  \time 4/4
}



right = \relative c'' 
{
  \global

  g a b c~ % single voice (oneVoice) in the right hand
  
%  POINT n. 1: from single voice (oneVoice) to upper multiple voice (voiceOne) in the right hand
				
  << { c8 d16 e f8 e  d4 c~ c8 b a g fis  d e fis g2 } % voiceOne in the right hand
     \\
     { g4 a b c~  c8 d16 e fis8 e  d4 c~ c8 d c4~ } % voiceTwo in the right hand

% POINT n. 2: return from upper multiple voice (voiceOne) to single voice (oneVoice) in the right hand

  >>
  c4 b g'2 r % single voice (oneVoice) in the right hand
}

left = \relative c' 
{
  \global
  g4 fis f e_~ % single voice (oneVoice) in the left hand

%  POINT n. 3: from single voice to lower multiple voice (voiceTwo) in left hand

  << { r4 r8 a8  d8 c b a g4  fis8 g a4 d~ } % voiceOne in the left hand
     
% POINT n. 4: return from lower multiple voice (voiceTwo) to single voice in the right hand (oneVoice)
     \\
     
     { e, 8 d cis4  d8 e fis4 g8 fis16 e  d2 r4 } % voiceTwo in the left hand
     
   >>
  d' d,  g2~ g r  % single voice (oneVoice) in the left hand
}

\score {
  \new PianoStaff \with {
    instrumentName = "Piano"
  } <<
    \new Staff = "right" \with {
      midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
    } \right
    \new Staff = "left" \with {
      midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
    } { \clef bass \left }
  >>
  \layout { }
  \midi {
    \tempo 4=100
  }
}

The magic code fragment, as already explained in my previous article, is the following:

\version "2.22.0"
\layout {
  \context {
    \Voice
    \remove Tie_engraver
  }
  \context {
    \Staff
    \consists Tie_engraver
  }
}

Without that part at the beginning, all the ties in this code would give an error and would not be engraved in the score.

The code corresponds to this score (in which I have only added the colours of the voices separately):

The crossing points

  • Crossing point no. 1: here you can see the tie between the end of the single voice (oneVoice) and the beginning of the upper voice (voiceOne) in the two-voice polyphony of the right hand.
  • Crossing point no. 2: here you can see the tie between the end of the upper voice (voiceOne) in the two-voice polyphony and the return of the single voice (oneVoice) of the right hand.
  • Crossing point no. 3: here you can see the tie between the end of the single voice (oneVoice) and the beginning of the lower voice (voiceTwo) in the two-voice polyphony of the left hand.
  • Crossing point no. 4: here you can see the tie between the end of the lower voice (voiceTwo) in the two-voice polyphony and the return of the single voice (oneVoice) of the left hand.

But the system is not perfect

The system is not perfect.

During the engraving process, a warning is reported in the tie of Point no. 2 even if, at the end of processing, the tie is correctly engraved:

Interpreting music...
(...): warning: unterminated tie
     { g4 a b c~  c8 d16 e fis8 e  d4 c
                                       ~ c8 d c4~ } % voiceTwo in the right hand

In addition, the ties are not considered when generating the audio file from the score, as you can hear in the following clip:

LilyPond developers have to tweak the system yet.

Thank You for your attention.

Originally published at https://francopasut.netlify.app on December 31, 2021.

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