6.4.8 Staff symbol

Notes, dynamic signs, etc., are grouped with a set of horizontal lines, called a staff (plural ‘staves’). In LilyPond, these lines are drawn using a separate layout object called staff symbol.

The staff symbol may be tuned in the number, thickness and distance of lines, using properties. This is demonstrated in the example files input/test/staff-lines.ly, input/test/staff-size.ly.

In addition, staves may be started and stopped at will. This is done with \startStaff and \stopStaff.

b4 b
\override Staff.StaffSymbol #'line-count = 2
\stopStaff \startStaff
b b
\revert Staff.StaffSymbol #'line-count
\stopStaff \startStaff
b b

In combination with Frenched staves, this may be used to typeset ossia sections. An example is shown here

See also

Program reference: StaffSymbol.

Examples: input/test/staff-lines.ly, input/test/ossia.ly, input/test/staff-size.ly, input/regression/staff-line-positions.ly.

Other languages: French.