Re: LyricOn and LyricOff

[Erik Sandberg]

On Tuesday 11 October 2005 01.39, Ian Hawthorn wrote:
> Suggested feature: Commands (e.g.) `\LOn' and `\LOff' to turn on and off
> the synchronisation of lyrics  and avoid overuse of  `_'. For example
>
> { \LOff b4 a g a |  \LOn b b b r  | \LOff a a a r | b d d r }
> addlyrics { lit -- tle lamb }
>
> To give the same result as
>
> {  b4 a g a |  b b b r  | a a a r | b d d r }
> addlyrics{ _ _ _ _ | li -- tle lamb | _ _ _ | _ _ _ }
>
> Sometimes I feel like I am drowning in  _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ and
> it is so easy to lose count or forget to take account of a tie and end
> up with the words out of synch.

You can use two different voices for the notes, and then use \lyricsto to 
assign lyrics only to one of the voices:

<<
  \new Staff <<
    \context Voice="song" {s1 | b4 b b r | s1 | s1 | }
    \context Voice="instr" {b4 a g a |  s1  | a4 a a r | b d d r }
  >>
  \lyricsto "song" { li -- tle lamb }
>>

Notice that the "song" voice here is kept alive with skip notes all the time. 
In principle, I think it also should be possible to do it like this:
 {  \context Voice="instr" {b4 a g a} | \context Voice="song" {b b b r}  | 
\context Voice="instr" {a a a r | b d d r} }
However, I think there are bugs that prevent this, so I don't recommend it.

-- 
Erik