The Crocodile

Now I learned how to create a simple song sheet using LilyPond.

1. The dotted notes are created by adding (surprise!) a dot (.) after a note.
2. The rests are indicated exactly like notes except with the name r (for instance, r1 for a semibreve rest, r2 for a minim rest, r4 for a crochet rest and so on).
3. To add lyrics to the song, type \addlyrics followed by lyrics within braces, {type some lyrics here}.
4. LilyPond will align one word under one note (presuming one word contains one syllable). To make alignment correct for polysyllabic words, insert “ -- ” (space, dash, dash, space) between the syllables.

Easy! I took the song that I am practicing on trombone, The Crocodile. For illustration purposes, notation for each bar is written on a separate line.

% ****************************************************************
% The Crocodile (traditional)
% ****************************************************************
\version "2.12.3"
\score {
 \new Staff
{
 \clef bass
 \key bes \major
  bes4 bes4 bes4 d8. ees16
  f8. g16 f8. d16 bes,4 d8. d16
  c4 a8. a16 a4 g4
  f2 r4 f4
  bes4 bes4 bes4 d8. ees16
  f8. g16 f8. d16 bes,4 d8. d16
  c4 f4 e4 g4
  f2 r4 f4
  g4 g8. g16 g4 g8. a16
  f8. f16 f8. f16 f2
  ees4 ees8. d16 ees4 f4
  d2 r4 d8. d16
  c4 c8. c16 ees4. ees8
  f8. f16 f8. f16 a4 f8. f16
  g8. bes16 bes8. g16 bes4 a4
  bes2 r2
}
 \addlyrics {
  One fine day as a la -- dy sailed a -- way
  on the back of a cro -- co -- dile,
  “You see,” said she, “he’s as tame as tame can be
  and I’ll ride him down the Nile.”
  The croc winked his eye as the la -- dy waved good -- bye,
  wea -- ring a hap -- py smile.
  By the end of the ride the la -- dy was in -- side
  and the smile was on the cro -- co -- dile!
 }
}

Here’s the result: