8.2.3 Rehearsal marks

To print a rehearsal mark, use the \mark command

     
     c1 \mark \default
     c1 \mark \default
     c1 \mark #8
     c1 \mark \default
     c1 \mark \default

The letter ‘I’ is skipped in accordance with engraving traditions. If you wish to include the letter ‘I’, then use

\set Score.markFormatter = #format-mark-alphabet

The mark is incremented automatically if you use \mark \default, but you can also use an integer argument to set the mark manually. The value to use is stored in the property rehearsalMark.

The style is defined by the property markFormatter. It is a function taking the current mark (an integer) and the current context as argument. It should return a markup object. In the following example, markFormatter is set to a canned procedure. After a few measures, it is set to function that produces a boxed number.

     
     \set Score.markFormatter = #format-mark-numbers
     c1 \mark \default
     c1 \mark \default
     \set Score.markFormatter = #format-mark-box-numbers
     c1 \mark \default
     c1 \mark \default
     c1

The file scm/translation-functions.scm contains the definitions of format-mark-numbers (the default format), format-mark-box-numbers, format-mark-letters and format-mark-box-letters. These can be used as inspiration for other formatting functions.

You may use format-mark-barnumbers, format-mark-box-barnumbers, and format-mark-circle-barnumbers to get bar numbers instead of incremented numbers or letters.

Other styles of rehearsal mark can be specified manually

\mark "A1"

Score.markFormatter does not affect marks specified in this manner. However, it is possible to apply a \markup to the string.

\mark \markup{ \box A1 }

Music glyphs (such as the segno sign) may be printed inside a \mark

     
     c1 \mark \markup { \musicglyph #"scripts.segno" }
     c1 \mark \markup { \musicglyph #"scripts.coda" }
     c1 \mark \markup { \musicglyph #"scripts.ufermata" }
     c1

See The Feta font for a list of symbols which may be printed with \musicglyph.

The horizontal location of rehearsal marks can be adjusted by setting break-align-symbol

     
     c1
     \key cis \major
     \clef alto
     \override Score.RehearsalMark #'break-align-symbol = #'key-signature
     \mark "on-key"
     cis
     \key ces \major
     \override Score.RehearsalMark #'break-align-symbol = #'clef
     \clef treble
     \mark "on clef"
     ces

break-align-symbol may also accept the following values: ambitus, breathing-sign, clef, custos, staff-bar, left-edge, key-cancellation, key-signature, and time-signature. Setting break-align-symbol will only have an effect if the symbol appears at that point in the music.

See also

This manual: Text marks.

Program reference: RehearsalMark.

Init files: scm/translation-functions.scm contains the definition of format-mark-numbers and format-mark-letters. They can be used as inspiration for other formatting functions.

Examples: input/regression/rehearsal-mark-letter.ly,

input/regression/rehearsal-mark-number.ly.