LilyPond Notation Reference: 1.5.1 Single voice

### 1.5.1 Single voice

This section discusses simultaneous notes inside the same voice.

#### Chorded notes

A chord is formed by enclosing a set of pitches between `<` and `>`. A chord may be followed by a duration just like simple notes.

>     <a c e>1 <a c e>2 <f a c e>4 <a c>8. <g c e>16

Chords may also be followed by articulations, again just like simple notes.

>     <a c e>1\fermata <a c e>2-> <f a c e>4\prall <a c>8.^| <g c e>16-.

The notes within the chord themselves can also be followed by articulation and ornamentation.

>     <a c\prall e>1 <a-> c-^ e>2 <f-. a c-. e-.>4 <a-+ c-->8. <g\fermata c e\turn>16

However some notation, such as dynamics, hairpins and slurs must be attached to the chord, rather than notes within the chord, otherwise they will not print.

>     <a\f c( e>1 <a c) e>\f <a\< c e>( <a\! c e>) <a c e>\< <a c e> <a c e>\!

Relative mode can be used for pitches in chords. The first note of each chord is always relative to the first note of the chord that came before it, or in the case where no preceding chord exists, the pitch of the last note that came before the chord. All remaining notes in the chord are relative to the note that came before it within the same chord.

>     <a c e>1 <f a c> <a c e> <f' a c> <b, e b,>

For more information about chords, see Chord notation.

#### See also

Music Glossary: chord.

Learning Manual: Combining notes into chords.

Notation Reference: Chord notation, Articulations and ornamentations, Relative octave entry, Multiple voices.

Snippets: Simultaneous notes.

#### Known issues and warnings

Chords containing more than two pitches within a staff space, such as ‘`<e f! fis!>`’, create overlapping noteheads. Depending on the situation, better representations might involve

- temporary use of Multiple voices, ‘`<< f! \\ <e fis!> >>`’,
- enharmonic transcription of one or more pitches, ‘`<e f ges>`’, or
- Clusters.

#### Chord repetition

In order to save typing, a shortcut can be used to repeat the preceding chord. The chord repetition symbol is `q`:

>     <a c e>1 q <f a c>2 q

As with regular chords, the chord repetition symbol can be used with durations, articulations, markups, slurs, beams, etc. as only the pitches of the previous chord are duplicated.

>     <a c e>1\p^"text" q2\<( q8)[-| q8.]\! q16-1-2-3 q8\prall

The chord repetition symbol always remembers the last instance of a chord so it is possible to repeat the most recent chord even if other non-chorded notes or rests have been added since.

>     <a c e>1 c4 q2 r8 q8

However, the chord repetition symbol does not retain any dynamics, articulation or ornamentation within, or attached to the previous chord.

>     <a-. c\prall e>1\sfz c4 q2 r8 q8

#### See also

Notation Reference: Chord notation, Articulations and ornamentations.

Installed Files: ‘`ly/chord-repetition-init.ly`’.

#### Simultaneous expressions

One or more music expressions enclosed in double angle brackets are taken to be simultaneous. If the first expression begins with a single note or if the whole simultaneous expression appears explicitly within a single voice, the whole expression is placed on a single staff; otherwise the elements of the simultaneous expression are placed on separate staves.

The following examples show simultaneous expressions on one staff:

>     \new Voice {  % explicit single voice
>       << { a4 b g2 } { d4 g c,2 } >>
>     }

>     % single first note
>     a << { a4 b g } { d4 g c, } >>

This can be useful if the simultaneous sections have identical rhythms, but attempts to attach notes with different durations to the same stem will cause errors.

The following example shows how simultaneous expressions can generate multiple staves implicitly:

>     % no single first note
>     << { a4 b g2 } { d4 g2 c,4 } >>

Here different rhythms cause no problems.

#### Clusters

A cluster indicates a continuous range of pitches to be played. They can be denoted as the envelope of a set of notes. They are entered by applying the function `\makeClusters` to a sequence of chords, e.g.,

>     \makeClusters { <g b>2 <c g'> }

Ordinary notes and clusters can be put together in the same staff, even simultaneously. In such a case no attempt is made to automatically avoid collisions between ordinary notes and clusters.

#### See also

Music Glossary: cluster.

Snippets: Simultaneous notes.

Internals Reference: ClusterSpanner, ClusterSpannerBeacon, Cluster_spanner_engraver.

#### Known issues and warnings

Clusters look good only if they span at least two chords; otherwise they appear too narrow.

Clusters do not have a stem and cannot indicate durations by themselves, but the length of the printed cluster is determined by the durations of the defining chords. Separate clusters need a separating rest between them.

Clusters do not produce MIDI output.

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