Re: Lyrics / staffs/ contexts - which way is best for me

[Mats Bengtsson]

andrew Black wrote:
> Going back to the SATB example (2 stave)
>
>         \context ChoirStaff <<
>            \context Lyrics = sopranos { s1 }
>            \context Staff = women <<
>               \context Voice =
>                 sopranos { \voiceOne << \global \sopMusic >> }
>               \context Voice =
>                 altos { \voiceTwo << \global \altoMusic >> }
>            >>
>            \context Lyrics = altos { s1 }
>            etc
>        \context Lyrics = sopranos \lyricsto sopranos \sopWords
>
> This says you ahve some lyrics, a Staff (with 2 voices) some more 
> Lyrics.  Then you jump back into the "Lyrics = sopranos" and say what 
> the words actually are, and that it links to the soprano.
>
> One of the things that confused me about this is that "sopranos" is both 
> a name of a Lyric context and a Voice context.   Presumably each has its 
> own name space.
Right!

> Final questions - what is the s1 in "\context Lyrics = sopranos { s1 }".
> My assumption is that is is "skip semibreve".  Why do you need to tell 
> the lyrics how long the notes are - doesn't it get the lengths from 
> corresponding music?

This is just a trick needed since:
- The contexts are ordered vertically in the printed score in the
  order they first appear in \score{...}
- You can only use \lyricsto "myvoice" ... after the Voice context
  "myvoice" has already appeared in \score{...}
- A context is removed at a point in the score if it doesn't have
  any more contents later in the piece.
The trick to be able to place the soprano lyrics above the first
stave, is to first define the Lyrics context but without any contents,
then the stave with the music, then use the \lyricsto to actually fill
the Lyrics context with some contents.
The s1 is used to make sure to keep the context alive long enough that
the \lyricsto starts to fill it with something useful.
However, see also
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-devel/2005-05/msg00025.html
and http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-devel/2005-05/msg00090.html

   /Mats