somewhere around this location in the documentation
lilypond-2.11.12-1.documentation/Documentation/user/lilypond/Vocal-
ensembles.html#Vocal-ensembles
it illustrates that
\layout {
\context {
% a little smaller so lyrics
% can be closer to the staff
\Staff
\override VerticalAxisGroup #'minimum-Y-extent =
#'(-3 . 3)
}
}
has something to do with the location of lyrics to the staff. I
suggest playing around with that.
I suggest playing around with the VerticalAxisGroup minimum-Y-extent in the Lyrics context instead of the Staff context. It's just a little more direct. If you find values that are better than the defaults, let me know and I'll change the defaults.
Joe