break line after some number of measures in lilypond

Question

I have this as a sample notation example. How would I specify to have exactly 4 measures per line, throughout the whole piece. I searched the whole documentation and did not find such a simple feature. Am I missing something?

\version "2.18.2"

% comment line

\header {
    title = "Ruska narodna pesma."
    composer = "Narodna pesma"
    subtitle = "-za gitaru-"
}

melody = {
    \key c \major
    \time 3/4

    e' f e |
    e, gis b |
    d c b |
    a c e |
}

\score {
    \relative c' <<
        \new Staff \melody
    >>
    \layout {
    }
}

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 01 '14 at 01:01

Ok, I have found the answer on mailing lists.. so here it is as a future reference for those who might have it in need.. *(thanks David)

\version "2.18.2"

% comment line

\header {
    title = "Ruska narodna pesma."
    composer = "Narodna pesma"
    subtitle = "-za gitaru-"
}

melody = {
    \key c \major
    \time 3/4

    e' f e |
    e, gis b |
    d c b |
    % **EDIT** use manual breaks where you want them to appear
    a c e | \break
}

\score {
    \relative c' <<
        \new Staff \melody
    >>
    \layout {
    % **EDIT** also here, specify ragged-right property
    ragged-right = ##f
    }
}

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 23 '14 at 08:32

You should have found the answer first on the documentation. If you go to the index of the Notation Reference and search for "line break" you'll get to the relevant chapter. And if you scroll down you can see another way of adding line breaks, i.e. using a voice containing spacing rests (so invisible) and place the line breaks there. This strategy, further explained in this section, has the advantage of letting you toggling on/off the manual line break.

break line after some number of measures in lilypond

2 Answers2