<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<!-- header_tag -->
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Upbeats - GNU LilyPond Notation Reference</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<meta name="description" content="GNU LilyPond Notation Reference">
<meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.11">
<link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top">
<link rel="up" href="Displaying-rhythms.html#Displaying-rhythms" title="Displaying rhythms">
<link rel="prev" href="Time-signature.html#Time-signature" title="Time signature">
<link rel="next" href="Unmetered-music.html#Unmetered-music" title="Unmetered music">
<link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage">
<!--
Copyright (C) 1999--2007 by the authors
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections. A copy of the license is
included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
License''.
-->
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css">
<style type="text/css"><!--
pre.display { font-family:inherit }
pre.format { font-family:inherit }
pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller }
pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller }
pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller }
span.sc { font-variant:small-caps }
span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; }
span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; }
hr { border:0; height:1; color: #000000; background-color: #000000; }
/* hr {
border: none;
height: 1px;
color: #666666;
background-color: #666666;
}
body {
border-left: 1px solid #666666;
border-right: 1px solid #666666;
color: #332d28;
margin-right: auto;
margin-left: auto;
width: 60em;
list-style-type: square;
font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;
padding-right: 1em;
padding-left: 1em;
}
a {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #344242;
text-decoration: none;
color: #344242;
}
a:link {
text-decoration: none;
}
a:visited {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #666666;
color: #666666;
}
a:active {
border-bottom: 1px solid #00cccc;
color: #00cccc;
}
a:hover {
border-bottom: 1px solid #1d7b85;
color: #1d7b85;
}
blockquote {
border: 1px solid #cccccc;
padding: 3px;
width: 40em;
}
.node {
border-left: 1px solid #666666;
margin: -0.5em 0px 1em;
padding: 2px 1px 0px;
font-style: italic;
}
.node a {
border: none;
text-decoration: underline;
font-style: normal;
font-weight: bold;
}
.verbatim {
font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;
}
.unnumberedsubsubsec {
font-size: large;
color: #1d7b85;
}
.subsubheading {
font-size: large;
color: #3b220d;
}
.contents {
border: 1px dashed #339999;
margin: 3px 2em;
list-style-type: square;
padding-right: 1em;
width: 40em;
background-color: #fcfff9;
}
.contents a {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #423d34;
text-decoration: none;
color: #423d34;
}
.contents a:visited {
border-bottom: 1px dashed #666666;
color: #666666;
}
.contents a:active {
border-bottom: 1px solid #f0d86d;
color: #f0d86d;
}
.contents a:hover {
border-bottom: 1px solid #3b220d;
color: #3b220d;
}
.menu {
border-left: 1px dashed #339999;
margin: 3px 2em 1em;
list-style-type: square;
padding-left: 1.4em;
width: 40em;
}
.unnumbered {
}
h2 {
font-size: x-large;
color: #1d7b85;
}
*/
--></style>
</head>
<BODY BGCOLOR=WHITE TEXT=BLACK>
<div class="node">
<p>
<a name="Upbeats"></a>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Unmetered-music.html#Unmetered-music">Unmetered music</a>,
Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Time-signature.html#Time-signature">Time signature</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Displaying-rhythms.html#Displaying-rhythms">Displaying rhythms</a>
<hr>
</div>
<h5 class="subsubsection">1.2.3.2 Upbeats</h5>
<p><a name="index-anacrusis-553"></a><a name="index-upbeat-554"></a><a name="index-partial-measure-555"></a><a name="index-measure_002c-partial-556"></a><a name="index-pickup-measure-557"></a><a name="index-measure_002c-change-length-558"></a><a name="index-measurePosition-559"></a><a name="index-g_t_005cpartial-560"></a><a name="index-g_t_005cpartial-561"></a>
<p>Partial or pick-up measures, such as an anacrusis or upbeat, are
entered using the <code>\partial</code> command, with the syntax
<pre class="example">\partial <var>duration</var>
</pre>
<p>where <code>duration</code> is the rhythmic length of the interval
before the start of the first complete measure:
<blockquote>
<pre class="verbatim">
\partial 4 e4 |
a2. c,4 |
</pre>
<p>
<a href="../58/lily-72dbe087.ly">
<img align="middle"
border="0" src="../58/lily-72dbe087.png" alt="[image of music]">
</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The partial measure can be any duration less than a full measure:
<blockquote>
<pre class="verbatim">
\partial 8*3 c8 d e |
a2. c,4 |
</pre>
<p>
<a href="../c2/lily-461c2525.ly">
<img align="middle"
border="0" src="../c2/lily-461c2525.png" alt="[image of music]">
</a>
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Internally, this is translated into
<pre class="example">\set Timing.measurePosition = -<var>duration</var>
</pre>
<p>The property <code>measurePosition</code> contains a rational number
indicating how much of the measure has passed at this point. Note
that this is set to a negative number by the <code>\partial</code>
command: i.e., <code>\partial 4</code> is internally translated to
<code>-4</code>, meaning “there is a quarter note left in the measure.”
<p class="noindent">
<h5 class="subsubheading">See also</h5>
<p class="indent">
<p>Music Glossary: <a name="index-anacrusis-562"></a><a href="../music-glossary/anacrusis.html#anacrusis">anacrusis</a>
<p>Notation Reference: <a href="Grace-notes.html#Grace-notes">Grace notes</a>
<p>Snippets:
<a href="../../../input/lsr/lilypond-snippets/Rhythms.html#Rhythms">Rhythms</a>.
<p>Internal Reference:
<a name="index-Timing_005ftranslator-563"></a><a href="../lilypond-internals/Timing_005ftranslator.html#Timing_005ftranslator">Timing_translator</a>
<p class="noindent">
<h5 class="subsubheading">Known issues and warnings</h5>
<p><a name="index-grace-notes_002c-in-anacruses-564"></a>
The <code>\partial</code> command is intended to be used only at the
beginning of a piece. If you use it after the beginning, some
odd warnings may occur.
<!-- footer_tag --><br><hr>
<div class="node">
<p>
Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Unmetered-music.html#Unmetered-music">Unmetered music</a>,
Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="Time-signature.html#Time-signature">Time signature</a>,
Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Displaying-rhythms.html#Displaying-rhythms">Displaying rhythms</a>
</div>
<div style="background-color: #e8ffe8; padding: 2; border: #c0ffc0 1px solid;">
<p>
<font size="-1">
This page is for LilyPond-2.11.57 (development-branch).
<br>
<address>
Report errors to <a href="http://post.gmane.org/post.php?group=gmane.comp.gnu.lilypond.bugs">http://post.gmane.org/post.php?group=gmane.comp.gnu.lilypond.bugs</a>. </address>
<br>
Your <a href="http://lilypond.org/web/devel/participating/documentation-adding">suggestions for the documentation</a> are welcome.
</font>
</p>
</div>
<P>
Other languages: <a href="Upbeats.fr.html">français</a>, <a href="Upbeats.es.html">español</a>, <a href="Upbeats.de.html">deutsch</a>.
<BR>
</P>
</BODY></html>
