GNU LilyPond

-- --

Ambitus

The term ambitus denotes a range of pitches for a given voice in a part of music. It also may denote the pitch range that a musical instrument is capable of playing. Most musical instruments have their ambitus standardized (or at least there is agreement upon the minimal ambitus of a particular type of instrument), such that a composer or arranger of a piece of music can easily meet the ambitus constraints of the targeted instrument. However, the ambitus of the human voice depends on individual physiological state, including education and training of the voice. Therefore, a singer potentially has to check for each piece of music if the ambitus of that piece meets his individual capabilities. This is why the ambitus of a piece may be of particular value to vocal performers.

The ambitus is typically notated on a per-voice basis at the very beginning of a piece, e.g. nearby the initial clef or time signature of each staff. The range is graphically specified by two noteheads, that represent the minimum and maximum pitch. Some publishers use a textual notation: they put the range in words in front of the corresponding staff. Lilypond currently only supports the graphical ambitus notation.

To apply, simply add the Ambitus_engraver to the Voice context, as shown in the below example:

     upper = \notes \relative c {
       \clef "treble"
       \key c \minor
       as'' c e2 bes f cis d4 e f2 g
     }
     lower = \notes \relative c {
       \clef "treble"
       \key e \major
       e'4 b g a c es fis a cis b a g f e d2
     }
     \score {
       \context ChoirStaff {
         <
           \context Staff = one { \upper }
           \context Staff = three { \lower }
         >
       }
       \paper {
         \translator {
           \VoiceContext
           \consists Ambitus_engraver
         }
       }
     }
     

The shape of the note heads to use can be changed via the note-head-style property, which holds the glyph name of the note head (see also Ancient note heads). The vertical line between the upper and lower head can be switched on or off via the join-heads property. Example:

     \translator {
       \VoiceContext
       \consists Ambitus_engraver
       Ambitus \set #'note-head-style = #'noteheads-2mensural
       Ambitus \set #'join-heads = ##f
     }
     

By default, the ambitus grob is put before the clef. You can control this behaviour through the breakAlignOrder property of the score context by redefining the order, e.g. with the following addition to the paper block:

     \translator {
       \ScoreContext
       breakAlignOrder = #'(
         instrument-name
         left-edge
         span-bar
         breathing-sign
         clef
         ambitus
         key-signature
         staff-bar
         time-signature
         custos
       )
     }
     

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Copyright (c) 1997--2002 Han-Wen Nienhuys and Jan Nieuwenhuizen.

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