>>
@end lilypond
+@cindex note column
+@cindex shift commands
+@funindex \shiftOff
+@funindex \shiftOn
+@funindex \shiftOnn
+@funindex \shiftOnnn
+
+Closely spaced notes in a chord, or notes occuring at the same
+time in different voices, are arranged in two, occasionally more,
+columns to prevent the noteheads overlapping. These are called
+note columns. There are separate columns for each voice, and
+the currently specified voice-dependent shift is applied to the
+note column if there would otherwise be a collision.
+
+The @code{\shiftOn}, @code{\shiftOnn}, @code{\shiftOnnn}, and
+@code{\shiftOff} commands specify the degree to which notes and
+chords of the voice should be shifted if a collision
+would otherwise occur. By default, the outer voices (normally
+voices one and two) have @code{\shiftOff} specified, while the
+inner voices (three and four) have @code{\shiftOn} specified.
+When a shift is applied, Voices one and three are shifted to
+the right and voices two and four to the left.
+
+@code{\shiftOnn} and @code{\shiftOnnn} define further shift
+levels which may be specified temporarily to resolve collisions
+in complex situations -- see
+@c FIXME failed link
+@c @ref{Real music example}.
+
@node Voices and vocals
@subsection Voices and vocals
quite limited. For more complex music, you must introduce the
lyrics in a @code{Lyrics} context using @code{\new Lyrics} and
explicitly link
-the lyrics to the notes with @code{\lyricsto@{@}}, using the
+the lyrics to the notes with @code{\lyricsto@{@}}, using the
name assigned to the Voice.
@lilypond[quote,verbatim,fragment]
s1*0^\markup {[MABEL] }
s1*0_\markup {\italic {Cue: ... it is yours}}
R1*30
+\emptyText
c4^\markup {CHORUS} d f c
@end lilypond
+@noindent
+Text attached to a skip note in this way is left-aligned to the
+position where the note would be placed in the bar, and placed
+above the bar count numeral, but because the bar length is
+determined by the length of the text, the text will appear to be
+centered. If two (or more) texts are
+attached to skip notes in a bar the bar length is determined by
+the longer text, and the shorter text is then clearly
+left-aligned, as shown in the second bar above. If the shorter
+text of two marks is short enough to fit it will be placed
+alongside and to the left of the bar count numeral.
@seealso