Creating a sequence of notes on various pitches

Revision as of 22:39, 26 October 2025 by Jean Abou Samra (talk | contribs) (Import snippet from LSR)
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In music that contains many occurrences of the same sequence of notes at different pitches, the following music function may prove useful. It takes a note, of which only the pitch is used.

This example creates the rhythm used throughout Mars, from Gustav Holst's The Planets.

\version "2.24.0"

rhythm =
#(define-music-function (p) (ly:pitch?)
   "Make the rhythm in Mars (the Planets) at the given pitch"
  #{ \tuplet 3/2 { $p 8 8 8 } 4 4 8 8 4 #})

\new Staff {
  \time 5/4
  \rhythm c'
  \rhythm c''
  \rhythm g
}