> On 9 Apr 2025, at 10:08, David House <[email protected]> wrote: > > So, going through the tutorial. I am confused about the ' designating middle > C. > > This is the coding in the example of page 15 of the tutorial manual which > places c' in within the bass clef staff: > > \relative { > \clef bass > \time 3/4 > \tempo "Andante" 4 = 120 > c,2 e8 c' > g'2. > f4 e d > c4 c, r > } > > Yet this coding using the c' designation places middle C where it is supposed > to be, above the bass clef staff - > > \relative { > \clef bass > c'1 > } >
David, see also https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.24/Documentation/notation/writing-pitches#relative-octave-entry c’ is middle-C in absolute mode, but is “ <relative computed c> shifted one octave up from the relative computed pitch” in relative mode. In the snippet from the tutorial you enter relative mode, start at c-2-octaves-below-middle-c (absolute c,) then go relative to e from that c (ending up at absolute e, then go relative back to a c (absolute c,) and shift that an octave upward ending up at absolute c (one octave below middle c) Your second snippet starts of at middle c (the first note in a \relative without a start-pitch is interpreted as absolute) So in relative mode number of comma- or apostrophes indicate the amount of octaves to shift upward/downward from the computed relative position of the pitch based from the previous note. In absolute mode the number of comma- or apostrophes indicate the absolute octave of the pitch (with a single apostrophe indicating the octave of middle-C) HTH to clarify the effects you see kind regards, Hans
