Simple way to have occasional different lyrics in choir

[Mark Pim]

Hi,

 

I've discovered what I think is a really simple and elegant way of coping with the occasional need in choral music to split from one line of lyrics to many.

 

It hinges on creating a new Voice context which contains the notes during which the lyrics differ. Take the example below.

 

Hopefully this will help people on this seemingly quite common problem.

 

Mark

 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

 

\version "2.8.6"

 

sopMusic = \relative c'' {
    g4 a b c

\context Voice = "sopDiff" { d4 d e2 }

    d4 c b a

}

 

sopDiffWords = \lyricmode {
    This is strange
}

 

altoMusic = \relative c' {
    e4 e e e
    f4 f f f
    e4 e e e
}

 

altoWords = \lyricmode {
    Here are some words
    These look fun -- ny
    Back to norm -- al
}

tenorMusic = \relative c' {
    a4 g a g

\context Voice = "tenorDiff" { f4 f f8 f f4 }

    g4 a a g
}

 

tenorDiffWords = \lyricmode {
    These are diff -- er -- ent
}

bassMusic = \relative c {
    c4 c b b

\context Voice = "bassDiff" { a8 a a4 c8 c a4 }

    c4 c b b
}

bassDiffWords = \lyricmode {
    Bass -- es are diff -- er -- ent
}

 

\score {
   
    \new ChoirStaff <<
 
 \new Lyrics = sopranos { s1 }
 
 \new Staff <<
     <<
  \new Voice = "sopNorm" {\voiceOne \skip 1 * 3 }
  \new Voice = "sopDiff" {\voiceOne \skip 1 * 3}
  \new Voice = "alto" {\voiceTwo \skip 1 * 3}
     >>
    
     \context Voice = "sopNorm" \sopMusic
     \context Voice = "alto" \altoMusic
 >>
 
 \new Lyrics = altos { s1 }
 \new Lyrics = tenors { s1 }
 
 \new Staff <<
     \clef "bass"
     <<
  \new Voice = "tenorNorm" {\voiceOne \skip 1 * 3 }
  \new Voice = "tenorDiff" {\voiceOne \skip 1 * 3}
  \new Voice = "bassNorm" {\voiceTwo \skip 1 * 3}
  \new Voice = "bassDiff" {\voiceTwo \skip 1 * 3}
     >>
    
     \context Voice = "tenorNorm" \tenorMusic
     \context Voice = "bassNorm" \bassMusic
 >>
 
 \new Lyrics = basses { s1 }
 
    % Note which voice this is the lyrics to
 \context Lyrics = sopranos \lyricsto sopDiff \sopDiffWords
 \context Lyrics = altos \lyricsto alto \altoWords
 \context Lyrics = tenors \lyricsto tenorDiff \tenorDiffWords
 \context Lyrics = basses \lyricsto bassDiff \bassDiffWords
 
    >>
}