LilyPond Beginnershandleiding

Hoofdstuk 4: Tweaking output 94
link to All layout objects. The page that appears lists all the layout objects used in your version
of LilyPond, in alphabetic order. Select the link to Slur, and the properties of Slurs are listed.
An alternative way of finding this page is from the Notation Reference. On one of the pages
that deals with slurs you may find a link to the Internals Reference. This link will take you
directly to this page, but if you have an idea about the name of the layout object to be tweaked,
it is easier to go straight to the IR and search there.
This Slur page in the IR tells us first that Slur objects are created by the Slur engraver. Then
it lists the standard settings. Browse through them looking for a property that might control
the heaviness of slurs, and you should find
thickness (number)
1.2
Line thickness, generally measured in line-thickness
This looks a good bet to change the heaviness. It tells us that the value of thickness is a
simple number, that the default value is 1.2, and that the units are in another property called
line-thickness.
As we said earlier, there are few to no explanations in the IR, but we already have enough
information to try changing the slur thickness. We see that the name of the layout object is
Slur, that the name of the property to change is thickness and that the new value should be
a number somewhat larger than 1.2 if we are to make slurs thicker.
We can now construct the \override command by simply substituting the values we have
found for the names, omitting the context. Let’s use a very large value for the thickness at first,
so we can be sure the command is working. We get:
\override Slur.thickness = #5.0
Don’t forget the # preceding the new value!
The final question is, ‘Where should this command be placed?’ While you are unsure and
learning, the best answer is, ‘Within the music, before the first slur and close to it.’ Let’s do
that:
{
}
\key es \major
\time 6/8
{
% Increase thickness of all following slurs from 1.2 to 5.0
\override Slur.thickness = #5.0
r4 bes8 bes[( g]) g |
g8[( es]) es d[( f]) as |
as8 g
}
\addlyrics {
The man who | feels love's sweet e -- | mo -- tion
}
8
6
sweet
The
love's e
man who feels
and we see that the slur is indeed heavier.
motion
So this is the basic way of constructing \override commands. There are a few more complications
that we shall meet in later sections, but you now know all the essentials required to