Re: How to Make Slurs Ignore Stems

[David Wright]

On Mon 02 Mar 2026 at 07:06:00 (-0500), Gabriel Ellsworth wrote:
> I am experimenting with ways to optimize the placement of slurs in stemless
> music (where note heads do not have stems).
> 
> My score has the following code:
> 
> \layout {
>   \context {
>     \Voice
>     \consists Melody_engraver
> *    \omit Stem*
>     % \remove Stem_engraver makes slurs look better
>     % but also leads to tons of error messages that say:
>     % programming error: note-column has no direction
>   }
> }

I find it easier to read the notes when the slurs are kept out of the
way of the lyrics, by setting their direction to UP. I guess that's
why I don't see that error with \omit Stem.

I've tried adopting Timothy's suggestion, and have attached PDFs
of a sample, with (T) and without it.

Cheers,
David.

\version "2.24.0" % 2016-05-04

%% Sets up \plainlayout which is local, designed not to interfere
%% with the TOP-LEVEL layouts which are cumulative.
%% Used for interspersing plainsong sections with normal music.

plainlayout = \layout {
  indent = 0
  ragged-right = ##t
  \context {
    \Score
    timing = ##f
    \override SpacingSpanner.shortest-duration-space = #3.0
  }
  \context {
    \Staff
    \omit TimeSignature
    \override BreathingSign.text = #(make-musicglyph-markup "scripts.tickmark")
  }
  \context {
    \Voice
    \omit Stem
    \omit Flag
    \override Slur.direction = #UP
    \override NoteHead.stem-attachment = #'(0 . 0)
  }
  \context {
    \Lyrics
    \override LyricHyphen.minimum-distance = #1.0
  }
}

desertT.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document

desert.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document