7.3.5 Melismata

The \lyricsto command detects melismata: it only puts one syllable under a tied or slurred group of notes. If you want to force an unslurred group of notes to be a melisma, insert \melisma after the first note of the group, and \melismaEnd after the last one, e.g.,

     
     <<
       \new Voice = "lala" {
         \time 3/4
         f4 g8
         \melisma
         f e f
         \melismaEnd
         e2
       }
       \new Lyrics \lyricsto "lala" {
         la di __ daah
       }
     >>

In addition, notes are considered a melisma if they are manually beamed, and automatic beaming (see Setting automatic beam behavior) is switched off.

A complete example of a SATB score setup is in section Vocal ensembles.

Predefined commands

\melisma, \melismaEnd

See also

Program reference: Melisma_translator.

input/regression/lyric-combine-new.ly.

Bugs

Melismata are not detected automatically, and extender lines must be inserted by hand.