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Anindya Kundu edited this page Feb 11, 2021 · 1 revision

LilyPond with Music Blocks software

LilyPond is a music engraving program, devoted to producing the highest-quality sheet music possible. It brings the aesthetics of traditionally engraved music to computer printouts. LilyPond is Free/Libre Software (part of the GNU Project). We use it with Music Blocks software in order to export the user-generated music to sheet music.

Overview

We will use Music Blocks to create the music and then convert that to sheet music. For that:

  1. Using Music Blocks create the desired music.
  2. Export the LilyPond code.
  3. Download Lilypond (In order to turn the LilyPond code into Printable Standard Music Notation).
  4. Download Frescobaldi (if desired).

Prerequisites

Downloading LilyPond

Open the LilyPond download page and download the software "For Users" as per your operating system.

Installing LilyPond

Installation for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD

Read GNU/Linux Installation on the Lilypond webpage

  1. Right click the link and save it as filename.sh (for example save as lilypond-2.18.2-1.linux-64.sh)
  2. Open a terminal and go to the directory into which the .sh file was downloaded (by default ~/Downloads), e.g.,
cd ~/Downloads
chmod +x lilypond-2.16.2-1.linux-64.sh
sudo ./lilypond-2.16.2-1.linux-64.sh

Installation for Windows

Read Windows Installation on the Lilypond webpage

Download the .exe file and run it to launch the installation process.

Installation for Mac OS

  1. Open the .tar.bz2 file once it gets downloaded.
  2. Clicking it will, open the Archive Utility and extract it's contents.
  3. After they have been extracted, you will see a LilyPond application file in the directory that pops up.
  4. Drag and drop this file to the Applications on the left pane.
  5. This will now enable you to see the "LilyPond" in your applications, i.e. It will get installed and you can drag and drop it from there to your dock, in order to have a shortcut for LilyPond in the dock.
  6. You can double-click it to run the program.
  7. Alternatively, run it from a terminal with the command open -a LilyPond.

Generating LilyPond files from Music Blocks

<img src='https://rawgit.com/Daksh/guides/master/lywithmb//images/save_as_ly_bt.svg'

save as lilypond block

As you play music in Music Blocks, the notes you play are stored in a cache. The save as lilypond block is used to transcribe the notes in the cache into a .ly file.

Note: Use the <img src="https://rawgit.com/Daksh/guides/master/lywithmb//images/eraser_bt.svg" height="36" (Erase button) to clear the cache before you run your project to ensure you only get the notes from that project.

Microphone Analogy

You can imagine this feature as a microphone. It starts recording as soon as you start the activity. So each time that you play a sound, it gets recorded in memory. When you run the save as lilypond button, a copy of all what it has recorded up until in the specified file.

If you want to clear the memory, press the Erase button on the main menu. Let us imagine a scenario:

tone_played: Do
tone_played: Re
save_button pressed
tone_played: Do
save_button pressed
chunk_played: Mi Fa
save_button pressed
eraser_button pressed
save_button pressed
chunk_played: Mi Fa
save_button pressed

So that would output something like:

Do Re
Do Re Do
Do Re Do Mi Fa


Mi Fa

Hint: Everytime the save button gets pressed, the .ly file gets downloaded

Using LilyPond

For Linux

  1. Open a Terminal
  2. Go to the directory into which you have exported the filename.ly file from Music Blocks (by default ~/Downloads).
  3. Run the command lilypond filename.ly.
  4. This will generate a .pdf file in the same directory.

For Windows

  1. Copy the generated filename.ly file to desktop.
  2. Drag and drop this file on the LilyPond shortcut.
  3. The .pdf and logs are created and can be found on the desktop.

For Mac OS X

Compile (with LilyPad)

  1. Open LilyPond.app by double clicking it.

  2. Close the example file which it opens.

  3. Use File > Open to open your .ly file:

  4. From the menu along the top left of your screen, select Compile > Typeset

  5. A new window will open showing a progress log of the compilation of the file you have just saved.

View output

Once the compilation has finished, a .pdf file will be created with the same name as the original file. This file will be automatically opened in the default PDF viewer and displayed on your screen.

If the .pdf file is not displayed check the window with the progress log for any errors.

You must save any new edits you make to your file before you Compile > Typeset and if you are not using the default Preview PDF viewer that comes with the Mac Operating system and you have the .pdf file generated from a previous compilation open, then any further compilations may fail to generate an update .pdf until you close the original.

##Using Frescobaldi Optionally, you can install frescobaldi a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for LilyPond.

For Linux

  1. Open a terminal and run the command: sudo apt-get install frescobaldi.
  2. To use frescobaldi, run the command frescobaldi.
  3. Drag and drop .ly files onto the window it launches.

For Windows

  1. For Windows a full installer is available, which contains all of the components needed by Frescobaldi (e.g., the "Frescobaldi.Setup.2.x.x.exe" file).

Note: It might be necessary to install the Visual C++ 2008 runtime module from Microsoft.

  1. When the installation is completed, you will see the Frescobaldi icon in the Start Menu.
  2. Once you open the newly installed software, you can just drag and drop your .ly file onto it, to start editing.

For Mac OS X

  1. Download the DMG disk images. (64 bit and 32 bit versions are provided (the "Frescobaldi-2.x.x-x86_64.dmg" and "Frescobaldi-2.x.x-i386.dmg" files, respectively)
  2. Click to open the downloaded .dmg file.
  3. This will open up a pop up in which you can see the Applications shortcut and the Frescobaldi logo, drag the logo onto the Applications shortcut.
  4. Doing that will take you to the Applications folder and you can drop it there.

Alternative install via Homebrew or MacPorts

  1. If you have not already installed Homebrew or MacPorts, choose one of them and install.
  2. You should have LilyPond installed.
  3. To install Frescobaldi, open a Terminal and enter the command for the package manager you installed:
    1. Homebrew: brew install frescobaldi --without-lilypond (if you omit --without-lilypond, Homebrew will install also a copy of LilyPond, but this is not recommended).
    2. MacPorts: sudo port install frescobaldi
    3. After the installation, Frescobaldi’s launcher script will be in your $PATH, so you’ll be able to launch Frescobaldi by entering frescobaldi in a Terminal.

#####Application bundle The installation process generates also the application bundle Frescobaldi.app, that can be used to launch Frescobaldi.

  • Homebrew: you’ll see a couple of commands at the end of the installation process, that you can copy and paste in order to link the application bundle into your ~/Applications or /Applications directory.
  • MacPorts: you can find the application bundle inside the /Applications/MacPorts directory.

If you don’t want the application bundle, you should install with the command:

  • Homebrew: brew install frescobaldi --without-lilypond --without-launcher
  • MacPorts: sudo port install frescobaldi -app

LilyPond and Frescobaldi

If you installed LilyPond in the usual location, i.e. you copied the application bundle LilyPond.app into the /Applications directory, Frescobaldi should automatically recognize it and you should be able to compile your LilyPond source files right away. If for some reasons this doesn’t happen, you need to point Frescobaldi to the correct location: go to “LilyPond Preferences” in Frescobaldi’s preferences, click “Add…” and either click the directory icon and select LilyPond’s application bundle or directly insert its path (the typical value is /Applications/LilyPond.app).

How Frescobaldi and Lilypond work together

Frescobaldi is a lightweight, yet powerful, music and text editor with many features added and enhanced particularly for LilyPond. Major features include point-and-click links between the code and music views, detailed score wizards, built in LilyPond documentation browser, syntax highlighting and automatic completion. Frescobaldi is written in Python, with PyQt4 for its user interface. It acts as a front-end for the Lilypond software, as it helps in editing the input file given to be processed and helps to check the output pdf simultaneously. The conversion at the back of Frescobaldi, is done with LilyPond itself.

Editing LilyPond Files

Editing the header

You can customize your LilyPond output by adding your own name, the title of your musical creation, and your intended copyright to the .ly file. To do so, open filename.ly in a text editor and change the header, e.g.,

\header {
   dedication = "To my best friend Someone"
   title = "The Last One"
   subtitle = "Breathless"
   instrument = "Guitar"
   composer = "Mr. ABC XYZ"
   copyright = "Mr. Mouse (c) 2015 -- CC-BY-SA"
   tagline = "Made from Music Blocks v.0.9"
}

Editing other fields

Similarly, you can change the meter, add MIDI instruments, add a Guitar Tab Section, and add MIDI Section. Note: Comments in .ly files are made by using a % at the start of a line of text.

References

More customization details are found in the .ly file. Further references include:

Example: Making a .ly file from Music Blocks and Output

<img src='https://rawgit.com/Daksh/guides/master/lywithmb//images/example.svg'

The save as lilypond block will transcribe your composition. The output of the program above is saved to ~/Downloads/hotdog.ly.

\version "2.18.2"

mouse = {
c'8 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'4 c'4 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'4 g'4 a'8 a'8 a'8 a'8 a'4
a'4 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'4 g'4 f'8 f'8 f'8 f'8 f'4 f'4 e'8 e'8 e'8 e'8
e'4 e'4 d'8 d'8 d'8 d'8 d'4 d'4 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'4 c'4
}

\score {
<<
\new Staff = "treble" {
\clef "treble"
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"mouse" \mouse
}
>>
\layout { }
}

<img src='\images\sheetmusic.png'

Example: Blank .ly file

\version "2.18.2"

% <comments removed>
\header {
   dedication = "Made with LilyPond and Music Blocks (https://musicblocks.sugarlabs.org)"
   title = "My Music Blocks Creation"
%   subtitle = "Subtitle"
%   instrument = "Instrument"
   composer = "Mr. Mouse"
%   arranger = "Arranger"
   copyright = "Mr. Mouse (c) 2015 -- CC-BY-SA"
   tagline = "Made from Music Blocks v.0.9"
}

meter = {
   \time 3/4
   \key c \minor
   \numericTimeSignature
   \partial 4 
   \tempo "Andante" 4=90
}

\score {
   <<


% GUITAR TAB SECTION
% Delete the %{ and %} below to include guitar tablature output.
%{
      \new TabStaff = "guitar tab" 
      <<
         \clef moderntab
      >>
%}

   >>
   \layout {}

% MIDI SECTION
% Delete the %{ and %} below to include MIDI output.
%{
\midi {
   \tempo 4=90
}
%}

}

% MUSIC BLOCKS CODE
% Below is the code for the Music Blocks project that generated this Lilypond file.
%{

[[0,["start",{"collapsed":false,"xcor":0,"ycor":0,"heading":0,"color":0,"shade":50,"pensize":5,"grey":100}],250,150,[null,null,null]],
[1,["pitch",{}],705.5,128.5,[null,2,3,null]],
[2,["solfege",{"value":"sol"}],779,128.5,[1]],
[3,["number",{"value":4}],779,160,[1]],
[4,["savelilypond",{}],324.5,363.5,[null,5,null]],
[5,["text",{"value":"tada.ly"}],458,363.5,[4]]]
%}

Testing

You can use the following two files test1.ly and test2.ly to check if LilyPond and Frecobaldi installed properly:

test1.ly

\version "2.18.2"
{
  c' e' g' e'
}

test2.ly

\version "2.18.2"

mouse = {
c'8 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'4 c'4 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'4 g'4 a'8 a'8 a'8 a'8 a'4
a'4 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'8 g'4 g'4 f'8 f'8 f'8 f'8 f'4 f'4 e'8 e'8 e'8 e'8
e'4 e'4 d'8 d'8 d'8 d'8 d'4 d'4 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'8 c'4 c'4
}

\score {
<<
\new Staff = "treble" {
\clef "treble"
\set Staff.instrumentName = #"mouse" \mouse
}
>>
\layout { }
}

License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Contributors:

Daksh Shah - 2015

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