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Centered measure numbers

Scores of large ensemble works often have bar numbers placed beneath the system, centered horizontally on the measure’s extent. This snippet shows how the Measure_counter_engraver may be used to simulate this notational practice. Here, the engraver has been added to a Dynamics context.

This snippet presents a legacy method: starting from LilyPond 2.23.3, \set Score.centerBarNumbers = ##t is enough.

\layout {
  \context {
    \Dynamics
    \consists #Measure_counter_engraver
    \override MeasureCounter.direction = #DOWN
    \override MeasureCounter.font-encoding = #'latin1
    \override MeasureCounter.font-shape = #'italic
    % to control the distance of the Dynamics context from the staff:
    \override VerticalAxisGroup.nonstaff-relatedstaff-spacing.padding = #2
  }
  \context {
    \Score
    \remove "Bar_number_engraver"
  }
}

pattern = \repeat unfold 7 { c'4 d' e' f' }

\new StaffGroup <<
  \new Staff {
    \pattern
  }
  \new Staff {
    \pattern
  }
  \new Dynamics {
    \startMeasureCount
    s1*7
    \stopMeasureCount
  }
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