\usepackage{a4wide}
\title{Mudela and LilyPond crash course}
\author{Han-Wen Nienhuys}
+\def\file#1{{\texttt{#1}}}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\emph{This document is not complete yet. It's just a brief blurb which
skimps some features of Mudela}
+\section{Who is who}
+
+This document describes two different things
+\begin{description}
+\item[Mudela] A language for defining music.
+
+\item[LilyPond] A package (the only one existing :-) which can
+ read a mudela file and interpret it.
+
+ The name ``LilyPond'' does not have much to do with the purpose of
+ the package, but we have a special emotional attachment with the
+ name. (Of course we are not telling why we chose it; this is an
+ excercise for the reader, most of the vital clues are contained in
+ the documentation and the source code. If you have guess, then let
+ me know)
+\end{description}
\section{Overview}
-Mudela is a language for specifying music. LilyPond is a
-program which converts such a specification into formatted sheet
-music, or MIDI output.
-Please note that some examples not only demonstrate features but also
-some lurking bugs. If can't understand what is happening, it might
-just be my (lack of) programming skills.
+Let's start with a very simple example, we will enter ``twinkle twinkle
+little star.'' We start with the most important part: the notes.
+Imagine being in a music-lesson, and that you made an error playing
+``twinkle twinkle''. Your teacher asks you to read out loud the
+melody of the song, just to verify your eyesight. You would probably
+say something like
+\begin{quote}
+ A quarter note C, Another quarter note C, a quarter G, another one, etc.
+\end{quote}
-\begin[fragment,verbatim]{mudela}
- { c4 e4 g4 }
+Mudela tries to capture this verbal presentation of sheet music, in
+the following way. The first line of twinkle twinkle is written in
+as follows
+\begin{verbatim}
+c4 c4 g4 g4 a4 a4 g2
+f4 f4 e4 e4 d4 d4 c2
+\end{verbatim}
+
+The notes are entered with names (a, b, c) combined with numbers
+(2,4). The names designate the pitches, the numbers the durations: 4
+is a quarter note, 2 a half note, etc.
+
+Now all we have to specify what should be done with the music. We
+want a paper version, so we combine the music with a ``output this on
+paper'' statement. These two are combined in ``score'' block. This
+is the final result with its output. We add a comment (the line
+starting with \verb+%+).
+Put this into a file
+called \file{twinkle.ly}
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+
+% twinkle, v1
+\score {
+ \melodic {
+ c4 c4 g4 g4 a4 a4 g2
+ f4 f4 e4 e4 d4 d4 c2
+ }
+ \paper {}
+}
+\end{verbatim}
+
+there are a few things to note about this example:
+
+The braces are grouping characters. In general, in mudela data entry
+for a data section called ``foobar'' looks like this:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+\foobar { ...... }
+\end{verbatim}
+
+To see if it actually works, we run it through LilyPond. Invoke the
+command
+\begin{verbatim}
+ lilypond twinkle.ly
+\end{verbatim}
+When LilyPond starts working it will produce various ``operator
+pacification'' messages, which you can safely ignore for now. The run
+should have left a file called \file{lelie.tex} in your working
+directory. You can process that file with TeX, and it will look like
+this:
+
+\begin{mudela}
+\score {
+ \melodic {
+ c4 c4 g4 g4 a4 a4 g2
+ f4 f4 e4 e4 d4 d4 c2
+ }
+ \paper {}
+}
\end{mudela}
+As you can see, this is the song that we wanted, albeit a little
+low-pitched. You would probably want a version of the song which has
+all notes an octave higher. This can be done by adding a
+\verb+\octave+ command to the source. This sets the default octave
+for all notes. Another convenience is the default duration: if you do
+not specify a duration with the notename, the last explicitly entered
+is used. The improved version reads thus
-Basics: the \verb+%+ introduces a comment. All music is inside a
-\verb+\score+ block which represents one movement, ie one contiguous
-block of music. Voices are grouped by \verb+{+ and \verb+}+ and
-chords by \verb+<+ and \verb+>+.
\begin[verbatim]{mudela}
+ % twinkle v2
\score {
+ \melodic {
+ \octave c';
+ c4 c g g a a g2
+ f4 f e e d d c2
+ }
+ \paper {}
+}
+\end{mudela}
+
+
+
+\begin[verbatim]{mudela}
+ \score {
\melodic { % {...} is a voice
c'4 g'4 % c and g are pitches, 4 is the duration
% (crotchet/quarter note)
}
\end{mudela}
+
+\begin[fragment,verbatim]{mudela}
+ { c4 e4 g4 }
+\end{mudela}
+
+Basics: the \verb+%+ introduces a comment. All music is inside a
+\verb+\score+ block which represents one movement, ie one contiguous
+block of music. Voices are grouped by \verb+{+ and \verb+}+ and
+chords by \verb+<+ and \verb+>+.
+
+
The \verb+\octave+ command controls the default pitch (octave). If you
do not specify duration, the last one entered is used. The
\verb+\paper+ block contains parameters for spacing and dimensions.
projects / lilypond.git / blobdiff