LilyPond Notation Reference: 2.6.1 Common notation for wind instruments

### 2.6.1 Common notation for wind instruments

This section discusses notation common to most wind instruments.

#### References for wind instruments

Many notation issues for wind instruments pertain to breathing and tonguing:

- Breathing can be specified by rests or Breath marks.
- Legato playing is indicated by Slurs.
- Different types of tonguings, ranging from legato to non-legato to staccato are usually shown by articulation marks, sometimes combined with slurs, see Articulations and ornamentations and List of articulations.
- Flutter tonguing is usually indicated by placing a tremolo mark and a text markup on the note. See Tremolo repeats.

Other aspects of musical notation that can apply to wind instruments:

- Many wind instruments are transposing instruments, see Instrument transpositions.
- Slide glissandi are characteristic of the trombone, but other winds may perform keyed or valved glissandi. See Glissando.
- Harmonic series glissandi, which are possible on all brass instruments but common for French Horns, are usually written out as Grace notes.
- Pitch inflections at the end of a note are discussed in Falls and doits.
- Key slaps or valve slaps are often shown by the `cross` style of Special note heads.
- Woodwinds can overblow low notes to sound harmonics. These are shown by the `flageolet` articulation. See List of articulations.
- The use of brass mutes is usually indicated by a text markup, but where there are many rapid changes it is better to use the `stopped` and `open` articulations. See Articulations and ornamentations and List of articulations.
- Stopped horns are indicated by the `stopped` articulation. See Articulations and ornamentations.

#### Selected Snippets

Changing \flageolet mark size

To make the `\flageolet` circle smaller use the following tweak.

>     smallFlageolet = \tweak font-size -3 \flageolet

>     \layout { ragged-right = ##f }

>     \relative c'' {
>       d4^\flageolet_\markup { default size } d_\flageolet
>       c4^\smallFlageolet_\markup { smaller } c_\smallFlageolet
>     }

#### See also

Notation Reference: Breath marks, Slurs, Articulations and ornamentations, List of articulations, Tremolo repeats, Instrument transpositions, Glissando, Grace notes, Falls and doits, Special note heads,

Snippets: Winds.

#### Fingerings

All wind instruments other than the trombone require the use of several fingers to produce each pitch. Some fingering examples are shown in the snippets below.

Woodwind diagrams can be produced and are described in Woodwind diagrams.

#### Selected Snippets

Fingering symbols for wind instruments

Special symbols can be achieved by combining existing glyphs, which is useful for wind instruments.

>     centermarkup = {
>       \once \override TextScript.self-alignment-X = #CENTER
>       \once \override TextScript.X-offset =#(lambda (g)
>       (+ (ly:self-alignment-interface::centered-on-x-parent g)
>          (ly:self-alignment-interface::x-aligned-on-self g)))
>     }

>     \score {
>       \relative c'{
>         g\open
>         \once \override TextScript.staff-padding = #-1.0
>         \centermarkup
>         g^\markup {
>           \combine
>             \musicglyph "scripts.open"
>             \musicglyph "scripts.tenuto"
>         }
>         \centermarkup
>         g^\markup {
>           \combine
>             \musicglyph "scripts.open"
>             \musicglyph "scripts.stopped"
>         }
>         g\stopped
>       }
>     }

Recorder fingering chart

The following example demonstrates how fingering charts for wind instruments can be realized.

>     % range chart for paetzold contrabass recorder

>     centermarkup = {
>       \once \override TextScript.self-alignment-X = #CENTER
>       \once \override TextScript.X-offset = #(lambda (g)
>         (+ (ly:self-alignment-interface::centered-on-x-parent g)
>            (ly:self-alignment-interface::x-aligned-on-self g)))
>     }

>     \score {
>       \new Staff \with {
>         \remove "Time_signature_engraver"
>         \omit Stem
>         \omit Flag
>         \consists "Horizontal_bracket_engraver"
>       }
>       {
>         \clef bass
>         \set Score.timing = ##f
>         f,1*1/4 \glissando
>         \clef violin
>         gis'1*1/4
>         \stemDown a'4^\markup {1)}
>         \centermarkup
>         \once \override TextScript.padding = #2
>         bes'1*1/4_\markup {\override #'(baseline-skip . 1.7) \column
>           { \fontsize #-5 \slashed-digit #0 \finger 1 \finger 2
>             \finger 3 \finger 4 \finger 5 \finger 6 \finger 7} }
>         b'1*1/4
>         c''4^\markup {1)}
>         \centermarkup
>         \once \override TextScript.padding = #2
>         cis''1*1/4
>         deh''1*1/4
>         \centermarkup
>         \once \override TextScript.padding = #2
>         \once \override Staff.HorizontalBracket.direction = #UP
>         e''1*1/4_\markup {\override #'(baseline-skip . 1.7) \column
>           { \fontsize #-5 \slashed-digit #0 \finger 1 \finger 2
>             \finger 4 \finger 5} }\startGroup
>         f''1*1/4^\markup {2)}\stopGroup
>       }
>     }

#### See also

Notation Reference: Woodwind diagrams.

Snippets: Winds.

#### LilyPond — Notation Reference v2.22.2 (stable-branch).