Re: invisible time signature example unclear (hymnody request)

[Paul Scott]

Ted Walther wrote:
> The example of doing an invisible time signature that is found in the
> lilypond documentation really isn't very clear.
>
> In many hymns, the time signature is 4/4, but it starts off with a bar
> in 2/4, 3/8, or similar.
>
> Oddly, in the second hymn I did, if I did the whole thing as 4/4,
> lilypond complained that it couldn't find good places to break the
> lines.  But when I made the first bar 3/8 and the last bar 5/8, lilypond
> produced something almost identical to the original.  You can see what I
> mean here:
>
>     http://reactor-core.org/~djw/IsraelMarching.pdf
>
> Can someone clarify how to do invisible time signature changes?
>
> Failing that, can we have a "grace measure", similar to how we have
> grace notes?
>
> Ted
>
If I understand you correctly that's what \partial is for (pickups).

\partial s8*3 a8 b c  %for three eight note pickups.

Paul Scott