This was recently discussed here, except the poster wanted the
acciaccaturas to all be slur up, not down. Thomas Morley provided an
excellent solution where basically he created an acciaccatura and
appoggiatura that were always slur up. I just switched it to be slur down:
%%%
\version "2.24.4"
startGraceSlurDown =
#(make-music 'SlurEvent 'direction DOWN 'span-direction START 'spanner-id
'grace)
startAcciaccaturaUpMusic = {
<>\startGraceSlurDown
\temporary \override Flag.stroke-style = "grace"
}
startAppoggiaturaUpMusic =
{
<>\startGraceSlurDown
}
accDown =
#(def-grace-function startAcciaccaturaUpMusic stopAcciaccaturaMusic
(_i "Create an acciaccatura from @var{music}, the @code{Slur} points
down."))
appDown =
#(def-grace-function startAppoggiaturaUpMusic stopAppoggiaturaMusic
(_i "Create an appoggiatura from @var{music}, the @code{Slur} points
down."))
%% Example
{
\voiceOne
\acciaccatura { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4_(
\accDown { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4
\once \slurUp
c'16\=1 ( d'\=1 )
c'16[\=2 ( d']\=2 )
\acciaccatura { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4
\appoggiatura { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4
\appDown { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4
\once \slurUp
c'16\=3 ( d'\=3 )
c'16[\=4 ( d']\=4 )
\appoggiatura { e''8 }
<g' b' d''>4)
}
%%%
--
Knute Snortum
On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 10:06 AM Dirck Nagy <dirckn...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Lilypond
>
> How can I (globally) manipulate the tie / stem direction of acciaccature,
> grace notes, appoggiaturae?
>
> Here are two simplified examples:
>
> The first example (acciaccatura example) is correct
>
>
> The second example uses my simplified piano template. I am unable to get
> the stem direction and tie / slur to display correctly, short of adding
> commands to each individual note.
>
> Is there a problem with my template? Please note that there is no music
> present in any other voice in this example.
>
>
> Changing stem direction also changes the stem direction of the grace note.
>
>
> I have a piece which uses a lot of acciaccature, so changing each of these
> individually would be very time-consuming.
>
> Code for both is at bottom.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> dirck
>
> *Acciaccatura example:*
>
> \header{
> title = "acciaccatura example"
> }
>
> \relative c''
> {
> c1 \acciaccatura g'8 <g g'>4 g g g
> }
>
> \version "2.22.1"
>
> *Simplified piano template*
> \version "2.22.1"
>
> \header {
>
> title = "simplified piano template"
>
> }
>
>
> global = {
> \key c \major
> \numericTimeSignature
> \time 4/4
>
> }
>
> rightOne = \relative c'' {
> \global
>
> % Music follows here.
> c1 \acciaccatura g'8 <g g'>4 g g g
> }
>
> rightTwo = \relative c'' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> rightThree = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> rightFour = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> SpacingVoice = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> leftOne = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
> s1 s1
> }
>
> leftTwo = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> leftThree = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> leftFour = \relative c' {
> \global
> % Music follows here.
>
> }
>
> \score {
> \new PianoStaff <<
> \new Staff = "right" \with {
> midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
> } << \rightOne \\ \rightTwo \\ \rightThree \\ \rightFour \\
> \SpacingVoice >>
> \new Staff = "left" \with {
> midiInstrument = "acoustic grand"
> } { \clef bass << \leftOne \\ \leftTwo \\ \leftThree \\ \leftFour>> }
> >>
>
> }
>
>
>
