More staves - GNU LilyPond
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### 2.8 More staves

To print more than one staff, each piece of music that makes up a staff is marked by adding `\new Staff` before it. These `Staff` elements are then combined in parallel with `<<` and `>>`, as demonstrated here

>          <<
>            \new Staff { \clef treble c'' }
>            \new Staff { \clef bass c }
>          >>

The command `\new` introduces a `notation context.' A notation context is an environment in which musical events (like notes or `\clef` commands) are interpreted. For simple pieces, such notation contexts are created automatically. For more complex pieces, it is best to mark contexts explicitly. This ensures that each fragment gets its own stave.

There are several types of contexts. `Staff`, `Voice` and `Score` handle melodic notation, while `Lyrics` sets lyric texts and `ChordNames` prints chord names.

In terms of syntax, prepending `\new` to a music expression creates a bigger music expression. In this way it resembles the minus sign in mathematics. The formula (4+5) is an expression, so -(4+5) is a bigger expression.

We can now typeset a melody with two staves

>          \relative <<
>            \new Staff {
>              \time 3/4
>              \clef treble

>              e'2 d4 c2 b4 a8[ a]
>              b[ b] g[ g] a2.
>            }
>            \new Staff {
>               \clef bass
>               c,,2 e4 g2.
>               f4 e d c2.
>            }
>          >>

For more information on contexts see the description in Interpretation contexts.

This page is for LilyPond-2.8.8 (stable-branch).

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