9.2.6 Changing context default settings

The adjustments of the previous subsections (Changing context properties on the fly, Modifying context plug-ins, and Layout tunings within contexts) can also be entered separately from the music in the \layout block,

\layout {
  ...
  \context {
    \Staff

    \set fontSize = #-2
    \override Stem #'thickness = #4.0
    \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
  }
}

The \Staff command brings in the existing definition of the staff context so that it can be modified.

The statements

\set fontSize = #-2
\override Stem #'thickness = #4.0
\remove "Time_signature_engraver"

affect all staves in the score. Other contexts can be modified analogously.

The \set keyword is optional within the \layout block, so

\context {
  ...
  fontSize = #-2
}

will also work.

Bugs

It is not possible to collect context changes in a variable and apply them to a \context definition by referring to that variable.

The \RemoveEmptyStaffContext will overwrite your current \Staff settings. If you wish to change the defaults for a staff which uses \RemoveEmptyStaffContext, you must do so after calling \RemoveemptyStaffContext, ie

\layout {
  \context {
    \RemoveEmptyStaffContext

    \override Stem #'thickness = #4.0
  }
}