Re: How to put a big number in the upper left or right corner of a score?

[Michael Werner]

Hi Kris,

On Mon, Aug 28, 2023 at 4:44 AM Kris Van Bruwaene <kr...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> (Lilypond version 2.24.1, Guile 2.2).
>
> What is the easiest way to put a big number (e.g. font size 4 bold)  in
> the upper left or right corner of a score? In previous versions I used to
> manage this with a double header, one in \book and one in \score, and
> faking a second "poet" (left corner) or "composer" (right corner), but this
> does not seem to work any more, at least not the way it used to. Moreover
> it isn't a very "clean" solution. Something like a regular (but huge) page
> number would be better.
>

If this is something you'll want on a regular basis I'd do a custom header.
They're pretty simple to define - I've got one I use for a score version. I
used to use either subtitle or subsubtitle, but ran into enough cases where
I actually had need of both that I finally just defined my own header to
use.  It goes into a \paper block, defined before the \header block where
you want to use it. For the docs see
https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.24/Documentation/notation/custom-titles-headers-and-footers
The part about defining your own is about half way down. The entry in the
\paper block for this would be something like:

bookTitleMarkup = \markup {
  \sans {
    \override #'(baseline-skip . 3.5)
    \column {
      \fill-line { \null \null \fontsize #4 \bold \fromproperty
#'header:bignumber }
      \fill-line { \fromproperty #'header:dedication }
      \override #'(baseline-skip . 3) % default 3.5
      \column {
        \fill-line {
          \huge \larger \larger \bold
          \fromproperty #'header:title
        }
        \fill-line {
          \large \bold
          \fromproperty #'header:subtitle
        }
        \fill-line {
          \smaller \bold
          \fromproperty #'header:subsubtitle
        }
        \fill-line {
          { \smaller \fromproperty #'header:poet }
          { \bold \fromproperty #'header:myscoreversion }
          { \smaller \fromproperty #'header:composer }
        }
        \fill-line {
          { \smaller \fromproperty #'header:meter }
          { \large \bold \fromproperty #'header:instrument }
          { \smaller \fromproperty #'header:arranger }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In this case a new header field called bignumber is defined on the fifth
line, placed at the very top of the header block, in the top right corner.
If you want it in the top left corner, change that line to:
\fill-line { \fontsize #4 \bold \fromproperty #'header:bignumber \null
\null }
(BTW, Lilypond's default for this block is in titling-init.ly)  In this
block you can adjust the order and placement of all the headers, not just
your own custom ones. In this example, I've also added myscoreversion (the
one I mentioned earlier), put it where the instrument header used to be,
and moved instrument down a line centered between meter and arranger (a
spot left blank in the default).

To use your newly defined custom header, you set it just like any other
header:

\header {
  title = "Title Goes Here"
  bignumber = "42"
  composer = "Written by Somebody"
  subtitle = "Random subtitle"
}

Also, as this is now a defined header entry, it can be used just like any
other header entry, such as in subsequent page headers:

oddHeaderMarkup = \markup \sans {
  \fill-line {
    \unless \on-first-page
    \fontsize #4 \bold \fromproperty #'header:bignumber
    \unless \on-first-page
    \fromproperty #'header:title
    \unless \on-first-page
    \fromproperty #'page:page-number-string
  }
}

Granted, this all winds up being a fair sized chunk of code. But it's easy
enough to just save it all off into an include file, where it's out of the
way but accessible.
-- 
Michael