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<a name="Score-is-a-(single)-compound-musical-expression"></a>
<a name="Score-is-a-_0028single_0029-compound-musical-expression"></a>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Nesting-music-expressions.html#Nesting-music-expressions">Nesting music expressions</a>,
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<h4 class="subsection">3.1.2 Score is a (single) compound musical expression</h4>
<p><a name="index-g_t_005cscore-198"></a><a name="index-g_t_005cscore-199"></a>
<a name="index-score-200"></a><a name="index-Compound-music-expression-201"></a><a name="index-Music-expression_002c-compound-202"></a>
We saw the general organization of LilyPond input files in the
previous section, <a href="Introduction-to-the-LilyPond-file-structure.html#Introduction-to-the-LilyPond-file-structure">Introduction to the LilyPond file structure</a>.
But we seemed to skip over the most important part: how do we figure
out what to write after <code>\score</code>?
<p>We didn't skip over it at all. The big mystery is simply that
there <em>is</em> no mystery. This line explains it all:
<blockquote>
<em>A </em><code>\score</code><em> block must begin with a compound music expression.</em>
</blockquote>
<p class="noindent">To understand what is meant by a music expression and a compound
music expression, you may find it useful to review the tutorial,
<a href="Music-expressions-explained.html#Music-expressions-explained">Music expressions explained</a>. In that section, we saw how to
build big music expressions from small pieces – we started from
notes, then chords, etc. Now we're going to start from a big
music expression and work our way down.
<pre class="example">\score {
{ % this brace begins the overall compound music expression
\new GrandStaff <<
<var>...insert the whole score of a Wagner opera in here...</var>
>>
} % this brace ends the overall compound music expression
\layout { }
}
</pre>
<p>A whole Wagner opera would easily double the length of this
manual, so let's just add a singer and piano. We don't need a
<code>GrandStaff</code> for this ensemble, which simply groups a number
of staves together with a brace at the left, so we shall remove
it. We <em>do</em> need a singer and a piano, though.
<pre class="example">\score {
<<
\new Staff = "singer" <<
>>
\new PianoStaff = piano <<
>>
>>
\layout { }
}
</pre>
<p>Remember that we use <code><< ... >></code> instead of <code>{ ... }</code> to
show simultaneous music. And we definitely want to show the vocal
part and piano part at the same time, not one after the other! Note
that the <code><< ... >></code> construct is not really necessary for the
Singer staff, as it contains only one sequential music expression;
however, using <code><< ... >></code> instead of braces is still necessary
if the music in the Staff is made of two simultaneous expressions,
e.g. two simultaneous Voices, or a Voice with lyrics. We'll add some
real music later; for now let's just put in some dummy notes and
lyrics.
<blockquote>
<pre class="verbatim">
\score {
<<
\new Staff = "singer" <<
\new Voice = "vocal" { c'1 }
\addlyrics { And }
>>
\new PianoStaff = "piano" <<
\new Staff = "upper" { c'1 }
\new Staff = "lower" { c'1 }
>>
>>
\layout { }
}
</pre>
<p>
<a href="../01/lily-9d813cc3.ly">
<img align="middle"
border="0" src="../01/lily-9d813cc3.png" alt="[image of music]">
</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now we have a lot more details. We have the singer's staff: it
contains a <code>Voice</code> (in LilyPond, this term refers to a set of
notes, not necessarily vocal notes – for example, a violin
generally plays one voice) and some lyrics. We also have a piano
staff: it contains an upper staff (right hand) and a lower staff
(left hand).
<p>At this stage, we could start filling in notes. Inside the curly
braces next to <code>\new Voice = vocal</code>, we could start writing
<pre class="example">\relative c'' {
r4 d8\noBeam g, c4 r
}
</pre>
<p>But if we did that, the <code>\score</code> section would get pretty
long, and it would be harder to understand what was happening. So
let's use variables instead. These were introduced at the end
of the previous section, remember? So, adding a few notes, we
now have a piece of real music:
<blockquote>
<pre class="verbatim">
melody = \relative c'' { r4 d8\noBeam g, c4 r }
text = \lyricmode { And God said, }
upper = \relative c'' { <g d g,>2~ <g d g,> }
lower = \relative c { b2 e2 }
\score {
<<
\new Staff = "singer" <<
\new Voice = "vocal" { \melody }
\addlyrics { \text }
>>
\new PianoStaff = "piano" <<
\new Staff = "upper" { \upper }
\new Staff = "lower" {
\clef "bass"
\lower
}
>>
>>
\layout { }
}
</pre>
<p>
<a href="../13/lily-d5c98f0c.ly">
<img align="middle"
border="0" src="../13/lily-d5c98f0c.png" alt="[image of music]">
</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Be careful about the difference between notes, which are introduced
with <code>\relative</code> or which are directly included in a music
expression, and lyrics, which are introduced with
<code>\lyricmode</code>. These are essential to tell LilyPond
to interpret the following content as music and text
respectively.
<p>When writing (or reading) a <code>\score</code> section, just take it
slowly and carefully. Start with the outer level, then work on
each smaller level. It also really helps to be strict with
indentation – make sure that each item on the same level starts
on the same horizontal position in your text editor.
<p class="noindent">
<h5 class="subsubheading">See also</h5>
<p class="indent">
<p>Notation Reference: <a name="index-Structure-of-a-score-203"></a><a href="../lilypond/Structure-of-a-score.html#Structure-of-a-score">Structure of a score</a>.
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Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Nesting-music-expressions.html#Nesting-music-expressions">Nesting music expressions</a>,
Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Introduction-to-the-LilyPond-file-structure.html#Introduction-to-the-LilyPond-file-structure">Introduction to the LilyPond file structure</a>,
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