> On one system, the piano staves are ridiculously far
> apart. How do you bring them closer together?
Have you looked at the documentation on vertical spacing, particularly
<http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.12/Documentation/user/lilypond/Explicit-
staff-and-system-positioning#Explicit-staff-and-system-positioning>
It's relatively easy to control the (explicit) position of a single
staff.
Hope this helps!
Kieren.
Thanks for the pointer to the documentation. I extracted the
following code and have put comments in:
%start
\version "2.12.2"
\score {
<<
\new Staff <<
\new Voice {%Spacer track containing line breaks,
%system positions and distance between
%the two staves of each system.
\overrideProperty #"Score.NonMusicalPaperColumn"
#'line-break-system-details #'((Y-offset . 20)
(alignment-offsets . (0 -10)))
%Line-break-system etc. gives the position of the first system on the page.
%Increase the Y-offset number to move the system down.
%Alignment-offsets etc. gives the distance
%between the first two staves: -10 is narrower than -15
s1*5 \break
\overrideProperty #"Score.NonMusicalPaperColumn"
#'line-break-system-details #'((Y-offset . 60)
(alignment-offsets . (0 -15)))
%Line-break-system etc. gives the position of the second system on the page.
%Increase the Y-offset number to move the system down
%alignment-offsets etc. gives the distance
%between the staves: -10 is narrower than -15
s1*5 \break
\overrideProperty #"Score.NonMusicalPaperColumn"
#'line-break-system-details #'((Y-offset . 100)
(alignment-offsets . (0 -15)))
%Line-break-system etc. gives the position of the second system on the page.
%Increase the Y-offset number to move the system down
%alignment-offsets etc. gives the distance
%between the staves: -10 is narrower than -15
s1*5 \break
}
\new Voice { \repeat unfold 15 { c'4 c' c' c' } }%The top stave.
%Repeat unfold 15 gives 15 bars of music.
>>
\new Staff {
\repeat unfold 15 { d'4 d' d' d' }%The bottom stave
}
>>
}
%end
This produces a useful demonstration.
In my particular case, there are four voice parts with lyrics
and a piano part, so I ended up with:
\overrideProperty #"Score.NonMusicalPaperColumn"
#'line-break-system-details #'((Y-offset . 70)
(alignment-offsets . (0 -7 -14 -21 -28 -35 -42 -49 -59 -70)))
which may need a bit more adjusting but is very satisfactory so far.
I wasted time because I failed to notice that the lyrics count as a
staff. All I had to do was insert the \overrideProperty etc....(alignment-etc.
immediately after a \break and put a \break at the end of the system.
The Y-offset etc. is the position of the system on the page,
and the alignment-offsets numbers etc. are the position of each stave and line
of lyrics within this system. With a bit of juggling, Bob's your uncle!
Thank you once again.
Yours, Fred.