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Manual syllable durations

In some complex vocal music, it may be desirable to place lyrics completely independently of notes. In this case do not use \lyricsto or \addlyrics and do not set associatedVoice. Syllables are entered like notes – but with pitches replaced by text – and the duration of each syllable is entered explicitly after the syllable.

Hyphenated lines may be drawn between syllables as usual, but extender lines cannot be drawn when there is no associated voice.

Here are two examples:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" \relative {
    c''2 a f f e e
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    c4. -- a -- f -- f -- e2. -- e
  }
>>

<<
  \new Staff {
    \relative {
      c''2 c2
      d1
    }
  }
  \new Lyrics {
    \lyricmode {
      I2 like4. my8 cat!1
    }
  }
  \new Staff {
    \relative {
      c'8 c c c c c c c
      c8 c c c c c c c
    }
  }
>>

This technique is useful when writing dialogue over music, see Dialogue over music.

To change syllable alignment, simply override the self-alignment-X property:

<<
  \new Voice = "melody" \relative {
    \time 3/4
    c'2 e4 g2 f
  }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
    \override LyricText.self-alignment-X = #LEFT
    play1 a4 game4
  }
>>

See also

Notation Reference: Dialogue over music.

Internals Reference: Lyrics, Voice.