LilyPond Snippets

Rhythms 21
Compound time signatures
Odd 20th century time signatures (such as "5/8") can often be played as compound time signatures
(e.g. "3/8 + 2/8"), which combine two or more inequal metrics. LilyPond can make
such music quite easy to read and play, by explicitly printing the compound time signatures and
adapting the automatic beaming behavior. (Graphic measure grouping indications can also be
added; see the appropriate snippet in this database.)
#(define ((compound-time one two num) grob)
(grob-interpret-markup grob
(markup #:override '(baseline-skip . 0) #:number
(#:line (
(#:column (one num))
#:vcenter "+"
(#:column (two num)))))))
\relative c' {
\override Staff.TimeSignature #'stencil = #(compound-time "2" "3" "8")
\time 5/8
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 8 5 8) 1 4)
c8 d e fis gis
c8 fis, gis e d
c8 d e4 gis8
}
2
8 +3 8
Conducting signs, measure grouping signs
Options to group beats within a bar are available through the Scheme function set-timesignature,
which takes three arguments: the number of beats, the beat length, and the internal
grouping of beats in the measure. If the Measure_grouping_engraver is included, the function
will also create MeasureGrouping signs. Such signs ease reading rhythmically complex modern
music. In the example, the 9/8 measure is subdivided in 2, 2, 2 and 3. This is passed to
set-time-signature as the third argument: '(2 2 2 3):
\score {
\relative c'' {
#(set-time-signature 9 8 '(2 2 2 3))
#(revert-auto-beam-setting '(end * * 9 8) 3 8)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 8 9 8) 1 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 8 9 8) 2 4)
#(override-auto-beam-setting '(end 1 8 9 8) 3 4)
g8 g d d g g a( bes g) |
#(set-time-signature 5 8 '(3 2))
a4. g4
}
\layout {
\context {
\Staff
\consists "Measure_grouping_engraver"
}