Philip’s Music Writer

A Music Typesetting Program

by

Philip Hazel

This edition documents PMW 4.10

September 2005

Copyright  Philip Hazel 2005

 Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Terminology 2
3. Installing PMW 3
3.1 Including the music fonts in the output file 3
3.2 Viewing PMW output on the screen 4
3.3 Antialiasing and the screen display 4
3.4 PDF files 4
3.5 Printing PMW output on a non-PostScript printer 5
3.6 Printing PMW output on a PostScript printer 5
3.7 Uninstalling PMW 5
4. The command for running PMW 6
4.1 Setting default options 10
4.2 Information about the piece 10
4.3 PMW input errors 11
5. Getting started with PMW encoding 12
6. More about notes 16
6.1 Note types 16
6.2 Rests 16
6.3 Repeated rest bars 16
6.4 Beams 16
6.5 Triplets 16
6.6 Accents and ornaments 17
6.7 Chords 17
7. Bar lengths and bar numbers 18
7.1 Bar lengths 18
7.2 Bar numbers 18
7.3 Bar counting 18
8. More about underlay (lyrics) 20
8.1 Multi-note syllables 20
8.2 Special characters and font changes 20
8.3 Spacing 21
9. Other kinds of text 22
10. Macros 23
11. Ties, slurs, and glissandos 24
12. Repeats 25
13. Hairpins 26
14. Staves and systems 27
14.1 Stave spacing 27
14.2 System gap 27
14.3 Brackets and braces 27
14.4 Initial text 28
15. Keyboard staves 29
15.1 Overprinted staves 29
15.2 The [reset] directive 30
15.3 Invisible rests 30
15.4 Coupled staves 30
16. Heads and feet 32

i
17. Page layout 34
18. Magnification 35
19. Extracting parts from a score 36
20. Reference section 38
21. Format of PMW files 39
22. Preprocessing directives 41
22.1 *Comment 41
22.2 *Define 41
22.3 Macros with arguments 41
22.4 *Include 43
22.5 Conditional preprocessing directives 43
23. Identification and counting of bars 45
24. Movements 46
24.1 Headings and footings 46
25. Dimensions 48
26. Horizontal and vertical justification 49
27. Time signatures 50
28. Key signatures 51
29. Transposition 52
29.1 Transposition of chord names 52
30. Incipits 53
31. Text fonts 54
32. Font sizes, aspect ratios, and shearing 55
33. Paper size 56
34. Text strings 57
34.1 Unicode and UTF-8 encoding 57
34.2 Backwards compatibility for character strings 58
34.3 Escaped characters 58
34.4 Page numbers 59
34.5 Comments within strings 59
34.6 Transposing chord names 59
34.7 Musical characters 60
34.8 Font changes 60
34.9 Sizes of text strings 61
34.10 Kerning 61
35. Stave 0 63
36. Temporarily suspending staves 64
37. Drawing facilities 65
37.1 Stack-based operations 65
37.2 Drawings with arguments 66
37.3 Arithmetic operators 67
37.4 Truth values 67
37.5 Comparison operators 67
37.6 Bitwise and logical operators 67
37.7 Stack manipulation operators 68
37.8 Coordinate systems 68
37.9 Moving the origin 69
37.10 Graphic operators 69

ii
 37.11 System variables 70
37.12 User variables 71
37.13 Text strings in drawings 72
37.14 String operators 72
37.15 Drawing subroutines 73
37.16 Blocks 73
37.17 Conditional operators 73
37.18 Looping operators 73
37.19 Drawing in headings and footings 74
37.20 Drawing at stave starts 74
37.21 Testing drawing code 74
37.22 Example of use of system variables 74
37.23 Example of inter-note drawing 76
38. Heading directives 78
38.1 Accadjusts 78
38.2 Accspacing 78
38.3 Bar 78
38.4 Barcount 78
38.5 Barlinesize 79
38.6 Barlinespace 79
38.7 Barlinestyle 79
38.8 Barnumberlevel 80
38.9 Barnumbers 80
38.10 Beamendrests 80
38.11 Beamflaglength 80
38.12 Beamthickness 80
38.13 Bottommargin and topmargin 81
38.14 Brace and Bracket 81
38.15 Bracestyle 82
38.16 Breakbarlines 82
38.17 Breakbarlinesx 82
38.18 Breveledgerextra 82
38.19 Breverests 82
38.20 Caesurastyle 82
38.21 Check 82
38.22 Checkdoublebars 83
38.23 Clefsize 83
38.24 Clefstyle 83
38.25 Clefwidths 83
38.26 Copyzero 83
38.27 Cuegracesize 83
38.28 Cuesize 83
38.29 Dotspacefactor 84
38.30 Doublenotes 84
38.31 Draw 84
38.32 Endlinesluradjust and endlinetieadjust 84
38.33 Endlineslurstyle and endlinetiestyle 84
38.34 Extenderlevel 84
38.35 Fbsize 84
38.36 Footing 85
38.37 Footnotesep 85
38.38 Footnotesize 85
38.39 Gracesize 85
38.40 Gracespacing 85
38.41 Gracestyle 86
38.42 Hairpinlinewidth 86
38.43 Hairpinwidth 86

iii
 38.44 Halvenotes 86
38.45 Heading 86
38.46 Hyphenstring 88
38.47 Hyphenthreshold 88
38.48 Join and joindotted 88
38.49 Justify 88
38.50 Key † 89
38.51 Keysinglebar and keydoublebar 89
38.52 Keywarn 90
38.53 Landscape * 90
38.54 Lastfooting 90
38.55 Layout 90
38.56 Leftmargin 90
38.57 Linelength and pagelength 91
38.58 Longrestfont 91
38.59 Magnification * 91
38.60 Maxbeamslope 91
38.61 Maxvertjustify * 91
38.62 Midichannel 91
38.63 Midkeyspacing 93
38.64 Midtimespacing 93
38.65 Musicfont * 93
38.66 Nobeamendrests 93
38.67 Nocheck 93
38.68 Nocheckdoublebars 93
38.69 Nokerning * 93
38.70 Nokeywarn 93
38.71 Nosluroverwarnings 94
38.72 Nospreadunderlay 94
38.73 Notespacing 94
38.74 Notime † 94
38.75 Notimebase 94
38.76 Notimewarn 95
38.77 Nounderlayextenders 95
38.78 Overlaydepth 95
38.79 Overlaysize 95
38.80 Page * 95
38.81 Pagefooting 95
38.82 Pageheading 95
38.83 Pagelength * 96
38.84 Playtempo 96
38.85 Playtranspose 96
38.86 Playvolume 96
38.87 PMWversion 96
38.88 Printtime 96
38.89 Psfooting 97
38.90 Psheading 97
38.91 Pslastfooting 97
38.92 Pspagefooting 97
38.93 Pspageheading 97
38.94 Pssetup * 97
38.95 Rehearsalmarks 97
38.96 Repeatbarfont 98
38.97 Repeatstyle 98
38.98 Selectstave(s) 98
38.99 Sheetdepth, Sheetwidth, and Sheetsize * 98
38.100 Shortenstems 99
38.101 Sluroverwarnings 99

iv
 38.102 Smallcapsize 99
38.103 Startbracketbar † 99
38.104 Startlinespacing 99
38.105 Startnotime † 100
38.106 Stavesize(s) 100
38.107 Stavespacing 100
38.108 Stemlengths 101
38.109 Stemswap 101
38.110 Stemswaplevel 101
38.111 Suspend † 102
38.112 Systemgap 102
38.113 Textfont * 102
38.114 Textsize(s) 102
38.115 Thinbracket 102
38.116 Time † 103
38.117 Timebase 103
38.118 Timefont 103
38.119 Timewarn 103
38.120 Topmargin 103
38.121 Transpose † 103
38.122 Transposedacc 103
38.123 Transposedkey 104
38.124 Trillstring 104
38.125 Tripletfont 104
38.126 Tripletlinewidth 104
38.127 Underlaydepth 104
38.128 Underlayextenders 105
38.129 Underlaysize 105
38.130 Underlaystyle 105
38.131 Unfinished † 105
38.132 Vertaccsize 105
39. Stave data 106
40. Non-note characters in stave data 107
40.1 Bar lines 107
40.2 Repeated sections 107
40.3 Hairpins 108
40.4 Caesurae 109
40.5 Dotted bar lines 109
41. Notes and rests 110
41.1 Chords 110
41.2 Note pitch 110
41.3 Bracketed and moved accidentals 111
41.4 Moved accidentals 111
41.5 Accidentals above and below notes 111
41.6 Transposed accidentals 111
41.7 Rests 112
41.8 Length of notes and rests 112
41.9 Horizontal movement of augmentation dots 113
41.10 Vertical position of augmentation dots 113
41.11 Whole bar rests 113
41.12 Repeated rest bars 114
41.13 Note expression and options 114
41.14 Stem lengths 116
41.15 Moving accents and ornaments 116
41.16 Masquerading notes 116
41.17 Expression items on rests 117

v
 41.18 Changing rest levels 117
41.19 Triplets and other irregular note groups 117
41.20 Ties and short slurs 119
41.21 Editorial and intermittent ties 119
41.22 Hanging ties 119
41.23 Glissando marks 120
41.24 Input short cuts 120
42. Note beaming 121
42.1 Beam breaking 121
42.2 Beaming over bar lines 121
42.3 Beaming across rests at beam ends 122
42.4 Accelerando and ritardando beams 122
42.5 Beams with notes on both sides 122
43. Stem directions 124
43.1 Preliminary 124
43.2 Rules for non-beamed notes and chords 124
43.3 Rules for beamed groups 124
44. Text strings in stave data 125
44.1 Horizontal alignment 126
44.2 Enclosed text 127
44.3 Text sizes 127
44.4 Rotated text 127
44.5 PostScript text 127
45. Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics) 128
45.1 Underlay syllables 128
45.2 Underlay and overlay fonts 130
45.3 Underlay and overlay levels 130
45.4 Underlay and overlay spreading 130
45.5 Other uses of underlay and overlay 130
46. Rehearsal markings 133
47. Stave directives 134
47.1 Repeated expression marks 134
47.2 Repeated bars 135
47.3 [1st], [2nd], etc. 135
47.4 [All] 135
47.5 [Alto] 136
47.6 [Assume] 136
47.7 [Baritone] 136
47.8 [Barlinestyle] 136
47.9 [Barnumber] 136
47.10 [Bass] 137
47.11 [Beamacc] 137
47.12 [Beammove] 137
47.13 [Beamrit] 137
47.14 [Beamslope] 137
47.15 [Bottommargin] 137
47.16 [Bowing] 137
47.17 [Breakbarline] 137
47.18 [cbaritone] 137
47.19 [Comma] 138
47.20 [Contrabass] 138
47.21 [Copyzero] 138
47.22 [Couple] 138
47.23 [Cue] 139
47.24 [Deepbass] 139

vi
47.25 [Dots] 139
47.26 [Draw] 139
47.27 [Endcue] 139
47.28 [Endline] 139
47.29 [Endslur] 139
47.30 [Endstave] 139
47.31 [Ensure] 139
47.32 [Fbfont] 140
47.33 [Fbtextsize] 140
47.34 [Footnote] 140
47.35 [Hairpins] 141
47.36 [Hairpinwidth] 141
47.37 [Hclef] 141
47.38 [Justify] 141
47.39 [Key] 141
47.40 [Line] 142
47.41 [Linegap] 142
47.42 [Mezzo] 144
47.43 [Midichannel] 144
47.44 [Midipitch] 144
47.45 [Midivoice] 145
47.46 [Move] 145
47.47 [Name] 145
47.48 [Newline] 146
47.49 [Newmovement] 146
47.50 [Newpage] 147
47.51 [Nocheck] 147
47.52 [Noclef] 147
47.53 [Nocount] 147
47.54 [Noteheads] 147
47.55 [Notes] 148
47.56 [Notespacing] 148
47.57 [Octave] 148
47.58 [Olevel] and [olhere] 149
47.59 [Oltextsize] 149
47.60 [Omitempty] 149
47.61 [Overdraw] 149
47.62 [Overlayfont] 150
47.63 [Page] 150
47.64 [Percussion] 150
47.65 [Playtranspose] 150
47.66 [Printpitch] 150
47.67 [Reset] 151
47.68 [Resume] 151
47.69 [Rlevel] 151
47.70 [Rmove] 152
47.71 [Rsmove] 152
47.72 [Rspace] 152
47.73 [Sghere] and [sgnext] 152
47.74 [Skip] 152
47.75 [Slur] 153
47.75.1 Normal slurs 153
47.75.2 Additional control of slur shapes 154
47.75.3 Editorial and dashed slurs 154
47.75.4 Wiggly slurs 155
47.75.5 Split slurs 155
47.75.6 Overlapping nested slurs 156
47.75.7 Tagged slurs 156

vii
 47.76 [Slurgap] 156
47.77 [Smove] 157
47.78 [Soprabass] 157
47.79 [Soprano] 157
47.80 [Space] 157
47.81 [Sshere] and [ssnext] 157
47.82 [Stave] 158
47.82.1 Text at stave starts 158
47.82.2 Drawings at stave starts 159
47.83 [Stavelines] 159
47.84 [Stemlength] 160
47.85 [Stems] 160
47.86 [Suspend] 160
47.87 [Tenor] 161
47.88 [Text] 161
47.89 [Textfont] 161
47.90 [Textsize] 162
47.91 [Tick] 162
47.92 [Ties] 162
47.93 [Time] 162
47.93.1 Staves with differing time signatures 162
47.94 [Topmargin] 163
47.95 [Transpose] 163
47.96 [Transposedacc] 163
47.97 [Treble] 163
47.98 [Trebledescant] 163
47.99 [Trebletenor] 164
47.100 [TrebletenorB] 164
47.101 [Tremolo] 164
47.102 [Triplets] 164
47.103 [Ulevel] and [ulhere] 165
47.104 [Ultextsize] 165
47.105 [Unbreakbarline] 165
47.106 [Underlayfont] 165
47.107 [Xline] 166
47.108 [Xslur] 166
48. Characters in text fonts 167
49. The PMW musical font 173
50. The PMW-Alpha font 177
50.1 Use of PMW-Alpha from within PMW 177
50.2 Use of PMW-Alpha in other programs 177
50.3 Characters in the font 178
51. Syntax summary 181
51.1 Preprocessing directives 181
51.2 Heading directives 181
51.3 Note and rest components 183
51.4 Special characters in stave data 185
51.5 Stave text item options 185
51.6 Character string escapes 186
51.7 Underlay strings 187
51.8 Bracketed stave directives 187
51.9 Slur options 189
51.10 Default values 190
Index 193

viii
 1. Introduction

Philip’s Music Writer (PMW) is a computer program for typesetting music. It is not a music processor
or a sequencer. Its sole objective is the production of high quality printed sheet music.
PMW operates by reading an input file containing an encoded description of the music; such a file can
be constructed using any text editor or wordprocessor. Although a textual input method may not be
considered as ‘user-friendly’ as pointing and dragging on the screen, it can be be a much faster way of
inputting music, once the format of the input file has been learned. In addition, the usual facilities of a
text editor, such as cutting and pasting, can be used to speed up entry, and PMW is also able to
provide text-based features such as macros and included files.
The output of PMW is a PostScript file. This can be previewed on screen using GhostScript or similar
software. If you have a PostScript printer, PMW output can be printed directly; otherwise, conversion
software such as GhostScript is required.
This edition of the manual describes PMW version 4.10. Version 4.00 was the first version for Unix
and Unix-like systems. Previous versions are called Philip’s Music Scribe, and have been running on
Acorn’s RISC OS operating system since the early 1990s. From version 4.10 onwards, PMW interprets
text strings as UTF-8 encoded Unicode, giving access to all the available characters in the PostScript
fonts. Section 34.2 discusses the issues of backwards compatibility with previously-existing PMW
input files.
As well as PostScript output, PMW can also write a MIDI file. This can be played by an application
such as Timidity. It is not very sophisticated, and is intended for ‘proof-hearing’ purposes only.
PMW comes with a PostScript font called PMW-Music, which contains all the musical shapes (notes,
rests, accidentals, bar lines, clefs, etc.) that PMW requires. I acknowledge with gratitude the help of
Richard Hallas, who originally created some of the characters in this font and improved many others.
He also contributed a second font called PMW-Alpha which contains additional characters that are
useful when printing music (see chapter 50).
The PMW input encoding is designed to be easy for a musician to remember. It makes use of as many
familiar musical notations as possible within the limitations of the computer ’s character set. Normally
it will be input by a human using any available word processor or text editor. There is no reason,
however, why PMW input should not form the output of some other computer program that captures
(or generates) music in another fashion.
The next chapter is a short summary of the musical and other terminology used in this manual. The
following chapters describe how PMW should be installed and operated.
Chapters 5 to 19 are an introduction to the PMW input encoding. They cover most of the more
common requirements, with examples, in an introductory manner.
The bulk of the manual (from chapter 20 onwards) is reference material for the PMW input encoding;
much of the information in earlier chapters is repeated, together with additional specialist information.
Finally, there are chapters giving details of text fonts, the PMW musical fonts, summaries of the
syntax of input files, and an index.

Introduction 1
 2. Terminology

The word ‘default’ occurs frequently in this manual. It means some value or option setting that is used
when the user doesn’t supply any alternative. For example, if no key signature is given for a piece, the
default that is used is C major.
The word ‘parameter ’ is used in discussions about PMW directives to refer to the various values that
are given as part of the directive. For example, the directive to set the page length has to be followed
by one number; this is called its parameter.
Some formal musical terminology is also used; it is summarized here for the benefit of readers who
may not be fully familiar with it. I use the British names for notes: breve, semibreve, minim, crotchet,
quaver, semiquaver, etc.
A beam is a thick line that is used to join together a number of quavers or shorter notes, instead of
each note having its own separate flags.
A brace is a curly sign that is used to join together two staves that are to be played on a single
instrument, for example the two staves of conventional keyboard music.
A bracket is another sign used for joining staves together. It is like a large square bracket and is used
to join together staves of music for different instruments, for example, the four staves needed for a
string quartet.
A caesura is a pause mark that appears between notes; it is normally printed as two short sloping lines
through the top line of the stave.
A fermata is the pause mark that is placed over or under notes, consisting of a semicircle with a dot at
its centre.
A flag is the name used for the additional marks added to the stem of a note to indicate that it is
shorter than a crotchet. A quaver has one flag, a semiquaver has two, and so on.
Overlay is the word used to describe text that is printed above a stave in a vocal part. Usually, words
are printed below the stave, and are called underlay (see below), but occasionally alternative words are
printed above.
A stave is a single set of lines on which notes are printed. The normal stave contains five lines, but
other numbers of lines are sometimes used, for example, a single horizontal line for percussion parts.
The stem of a note is the vertical line that is drawn either upwards or downwards from the notehead,
for all notes shorter than a semibreve.
A system is a single line of music, comprising one or more staves, and usually joined at the left-hand
edge in some way. For example, the systems of a string quartet each contain four staves.
Underlay is the word used to describe text that is printed under a stave in a vocal part, that is, the
words which are to be sung. The less formal term ‘lyrics’ is often used for this in the context of
popular songs.
In the PMW documentation the word ‘stave’ is used as the singular of ‘staves’. However, the program
itself accepts ‘staff ’ as a synonym of ‘stave’ under all circumstances.

2 Terminology
 3. Installing PMW

The reader is assumed to be familiar with using shell commands on Unix-like systems. PMW is
installed from source in the same way as many other applications. First, download the tarball into a
suitable directory. You should end up with a file with a name like this:
pmw-4.10.tar.gz
Uncompress the file with gunzip and then unpack the archive:
gunzip pmw-4.10.tar.gz
tar -xf pmw-4.10.tar
This creates a directory called pmw-4.10, containing a number of files and directories. Of interest for
later are the doc directory, which contains documentation, and the contrib directory, which contains
files that have been contributed by PMW users in the hope they may prove useful to others. Each of
these contributed files has comments at the top, explaining what its contents are.
To build and install PMW, make the source directory current, and then issue the conventional
configure and make commands:
cd pmw-4.10
./configure
make
make test
make install
By default, this installs into the /usr/local directory. If you want to install PMW somewhere else, you
can specify a different ‘prefix’ when configuring. For example:
./configure – prefix=/usr/local/pmw
The files that are installed in the prefix directory are as follows:
• bin/pmw is the PMW command.
• man/man1/pmw.1 is a short ‘man’ page that describes the command options for PMW.
• share/pmw/PSheader is a PostScript header file for PMW output.
• share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Music.pfa is the main PostScript music font. As of release 4.03 it is a
Type 1 PostScript font – hence the .pfa extension.
• share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Alpha is an auxiliary music font. This is still a Type 3 PostScript font
(so no extension).
• share/pmw/fontmetrics/ is a directory that contains font metric files giving character widths and
kerning information for the standard PostScript fonts and the PMW music fonts.
Once you have installed PMW, you can use the pmw command to generate PostScript from input files,
as described in chapter 4 below. However, before you can print pages or view the output on the screen,
you need to arrange for the PostScript music fonts to be available for your printer or viewer. You can
either cause the fonts to be included in every output file, or configure your printer or viewer so that it
knows where to find them. Exactly what you have to do varies between systems. I hope the following
instructions will give enough hints to cover most cases.

3.1 Including the music fonts in the output file

If you use the -includefont option on the pmw command line, or put it in your .pmwrc file, PMW
includes the music fonts in every output file that needs them. This means that the output files are
freestanding PostScript files that should be printable or viewable without any special action. However,
the output files are larger by about 30-40K for each of the two fonts. If you do not mind this overhead,
this is the easiest approach to take.

Installing PMW 3
3.2 Viewing PMW output on the screen
The GhostScript application can be used to view PMW output on screen. As well as the basic gs
command, there are some front-end applications with names such as ghostview, gview, or gv, which
package the user interface to GhostScript in various more friendly ways. Make sure you have one of
these installed.
If you have not used the -includefont command line option, GhostScript needs to be told where the
PostScript music fonts are before it can display a PMW output file. Typically, you need to install
symbolic links from a suitable font directory to the two fonts that were installed in share/psfonts. You
can find out which directories GhostScript searches for its fonts by running the following command:
gs -h
For example, for GhostScript running on Debian Linux, the links to the font files can be placed in
/var/lib/defoma/gs.d/dirs/fonts, so you might use these commands:
ln -s /usr/local/share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Music.pfa \
/usr/lib/defoma/gs.c/dirs/fonts/PMW-Music.pfa
ln -s /usr/local/share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Alpha \
/usr/lib/defoma/gs.c/dirs/fonts/PMW-Alpha
On Redhat Linux, something like this is appropriate:
ln -s /usr/local/share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Music.pfa \
/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript/PMW-Music.pfa
ln -s /usr/local/share/pmw/psfonts/PMW-Alpha \
/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript/PMW-Alpha
In addition to creating these links, you need to add this line to the file called Fontmap.GS that is
found in the GhostScript font directory:
/PMW-Music (PMW-Music.pfa) ;
This tells GhostScript that the font called ‘PMW-Music’ is to be found in the file called PMW-
Music.pfa.
Once you have made these links and edited Fontmap.GS, you can test whether GhostScript is
working correctly by attempting to display the expected output from the test files. There are six such
files in the testdist/outfiles directory of the PMW distribution. For example (assuming you have the gv
command installed):
gv testdist/outfiles/Test01.ps
This is a page of a Mozart mass. If the fonts are not correctly installed, you should see an error
message.
Hint for when you are creating your own input: the gv command has a useful option called ‘watch
file’; it causes the file to be re-displayed whenever it changes. If you set this and leave gv running, you
can edit the input and reprocess it with PMW, and gv will notice the updated output file and re-display
it at the same position.

3.3 Antialiasing and the screen display

When it is interpreting PostScript for display on the screen, GhostScript can be run with or without
antialising, which is a technique for making text look better by adding pixels in various shades of grey
round the edges of characters, to fool the eye into seeing less jagged outlines. Before the PMW-Music
font was converted to a Type 1 font, this could give problems with some of the straight-edged shapes.
With the Type 1 font, there should be no problem with antialiasing. However, the PMS-Alpha font is
still a Type 3 font; if you make use of PMW-Alpha, the screen display of some characters may be odd.
Fortunately, this problem applies only to screen display. Printers have a much higher pixel resolution,
and antialising would not be needed even if it were possible (which it definitely is not on black-and-
white printers).

3.4 PDF files

You can use a command such as ps2pdf (which comes with GhostScript) to turn a PostScript output
file from PMW into a PDF file. If you are using release 8 or later of AFPL GhostScript, characters
from the PMW-Music font are included as outlines, which means that the PDF can be displayed nicely

4 Installing PMW
at any size on the screen. Earlier releases of GhostScript include the musical characters as bitmaps,
which does not give such a good display. Characters from the PMW-Alpha font are still included as
bitmaps, because it is a Type 3 font.

3.5 Printing PMW output on a non-PostScript printer

If you do not have a PostScript printer, or one that can interpret PostScript directly, you have to use an
application such as GhostScript to interpret the output of PMW and convert it for your printer.

3.6 Printing PMW output on a PostScript printer

Unless you use the -includefont command line option, the PostScript output that PMW generates is
not totally freestanding. It expects the PMW PostScript music font to be loaded into the printer in
advance. If this has not been done, an error will occur.
If you have full control of the printer, you can load the Music font(s) into it once, and then send any
number of music files to be printed. To do this, you need to know the printer ’s password. Then you
must make a copy of the PMW music fonts with the password included, for sending to the printer. The
fonts are distributed in the psfonts directory in the PMW distribution. Near the top of each font file
you will find these lines:
%%BeginExitServer: 000000
%%serverdict begin 000000 exitserver
%%EndExitServer
The value 000000 is the default password which new PostScript printers have. If you haven’t changed
it, all you need to do is to remove the two percent signs (which are PostScript comment characters) at
the start of the second line, so that it reads as follows:
serverdict begin 000000 exitserver
Then if you ‘print’ this file, the font will be permanently loaded into the printer (until it is powered
off). Note: you must not make this change on the copy of the font that is to be used by GhostScript,
because GhostScript does not cope with such lines.
When a font is loaded into a PostScript printer, it generates a warning message which may be returned
to you. The message is
%%[ exitserver: permanent state may be changed ]%%
This is perfectly normal and can be ignored.
If you do not have full control over the printer, or do not want to load the fonts permanently, you
should always use the -includefont option on the PMW command line, or put it in your .pmwrc file,
so that the music fonts are included in the PMW output.

3.7 Uninstalling PMW

If you want to uninstall PMW, you can use the command
make uninstall
This removes the files that were installed. It does not remove directories.

Installing PMW 5
 4. The command for running PMW

The PMW command has the following form:

pmw [<options>] [<input file>]
where the items in square brackets are optional. If no file name is given, input is read from the
standard input and by default the output is written to the standard output. When a file name is given,
the default output file name is the input file with the extension .ps replacing any existing extension, or
being added if there is no extension. The default output destination can be overridden in all cases by
using the -o option.
Error messages and verification output are written to the standard error file, which can be re-directed
in the usual way. Here are some examples of PMW commands:
pmw sonata 2>errors
pmw -p 3-4 mozartscore
pmw -format A5 -a5ona4 -pamphlet myscore
pmw -s 3 -o quartet.ps-viola quartet.pmw
The available options are as follows:
-a4ona3
The sheetwidth and sheetdepth parameters define the size of the page images PMW produces (see
chapter 33). In the common case, this size is identical to the size of paper that is being used, in which
case one image fits exactly on one piece of paper. However, PMW also supports two-up printing, in
which two page images are printed next to each other on a larger piece of paper. This option specifies
that the images are A4-sized, but are to be output two-up, assuming A3 paper.
-a5ona4
The pages are A5-sized; print them two-up, assuming A4 paper.
-a4sideways
The paper is A4, but the printer feeds it sideways, so rotate the page images before printing.
-c <number>
Set the number of copies to be printed as <number>. This number is honoured by PostScript printers.
It may not be honoured by other programs that interpret PostScript.
-debug
Write debugging information to the standard error file (not currently very comprehensive).
-duplex
Set the ‘duplex’ option in the generated PostScript output. This should be honoured by PostScript
printers that can print on both sides of the paper (see also -tumble).
-eps
Write the output as encapsulated PostScript (useful if this is an illustration that is going to be included
in some other document).
-F <directory>
Use the given directory as the fontmetrics directory, instead of the default that was set up when PMW
was built.
-f <name>
Specifies a format name, used when the input file is set up to output in several different formats. The
format can be tested the *if directive in a PMW input file. This mechanism is used when different
forms of the output are being generated from a single input file. For example, a piece might be
arranged for either flutes or recorders. The user chooses words to describe each different format, and
specifies the appropriate one here. Details of how to set up the input so that different headings etc. are
printed when different staves or formats are selected are given in chapter 19.

6 The command for running PMW

-H <file>
Use the given file as the PostScript header file, instead of the default that was set up when PMW was
built.
-help
Output a list of options, then stop. No file is read.
-includefont
This option causes PMW to include the music font within the PostScript output that it generates. (If
the PMW-Alpha font is used, that is also included.) If you use this option, there is no need to install
the font(s) for GhostScript (or any other display program), nor do you need to download them
separately to a PostScript printer. However, it does mean that each PMW output file is bigger by 37K
for PMW-Music and 31K for PMW-Alpha.
-MP <file>
Use the given file as the MIDIperc file, instead of the default that was set up when PMW was built.
This file contains translations between names and MIDI ‘pitches’ for untuned percussion voices. Apart
from comment lines (starting with #) and empty lines, each line in the file must begin with three
digits, followed by a space, and the instrument name, without any trailing spaces. For example:
035 acoustic bass drum
036 bass drum 1
037 side stick
038 acoustic snare
-MV <file>
Use the given file as the MIDIvoices file, instead of the default that was set up when PMW was built.
This file contains translations between names and MIDI voice numbers. Apart from comment lines
(starting with #) and empty lines, each line in the file must begin with three digits, followed by a
space, and then the instrument name, without any trailing spaces. The same number may appear more
than once. For example:
001 piano
001 acoustic grand piano
002 hard piano
002 bright acoustic piano
003 studio piano
003 electric grand piano
-manualfeed
Set the ‘manualfeed’ option in the generated PostScript. Most PostScript printers interpret this to mean
that the paper should be taken from an alternate input tray or slot. Some also require the user to push a
button before each page is printed.
-midi <file>
This option specifies that MIDI output should be written to the given file. This is in addition to the
PostScript output. Only a single movement can be output as MIDI; when the input file contains
multiple movements, the -midimovement option (synonym -mm) can be used to select which one this
is. The stave selection specified by -s applies, and the bars that are output can be selected by
-midibars (synonym -mb). The page selection option does not apply to MIDI output.
A number of directives whose names all start with ‘midi’ are available for controlling the allocation of
MIDI voices and channels to staves. The midichannel heading directive is used to specify the
allocation of a MIDI voice and/or particular PMW staves to a MIDI channel, and the [midichannel],
[midivoice], and [midipitch] directives are used to change the setup in the middle of a piece. For
percussion staves, where the playing pitch selects different instruments, the [printpitch] directive can
be used to force the printed notes to a single pitch.
If the input file contains no MIDI-specific directives, all notes are played through MIDI channel 1. The
voice allocation on the channel is not changed, so whatever MIDI voice is assigned to the channel is
used.

The command for running PMW 7

The ‘velocity’ parameter for each note corresponds to the volume setting, since ‘velocity’ controls the
volume on many MIDI instruments. If relative volumes are set by means of the playvolume or
[playvolume] directives, the overall volume is multiplied by the relative volume and then divided by
15 (the maximum relative volume). Thus, for example, if the overall volume is 64 and a stave has a
relative volume of 10, its notes are played with a ‘velocity’ of 42.
-midibars <start>-<end>
Limits the bars that are written to a MIDI file to the specified range (-mb is a synonym). If this option
is not given, the entire movement is included in MIDI output. The page selection option does not
apply to MIDI output. If the end bar number is omitted, but the hyphen is present, output continues to
the end of the movement. If just one number is given, just one bar is output.
-midimovement <number>
This option specifies which movement is to be output as MIDI (-mm is a synonym). Only one
movement can be output in this manner. The default is the first movement in the file.
-norc
If this option is used, it must be the very first option that follows the pmw command name. It causes
PMW not to read the user ’s .pmwrc file (see section 4.1 below).
-norepeats
When generating a MIDI output file, do not repeat repeated sections of the music (-nr is a synonym).
-nowidechars
This option stops PMW from using the 100-point wide stave characters when printing staves. Instead,
staves are constructed entirely from the 10-point wide characters. This option is provided because it
seems that some PostScript interpreters cannot deal correctly with the very wide characters. Using the
standard 5-line stave, a 310-point stave is normally printed as the string FFFC. With -nowidechars,
it is printed as CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC. -nw is an abbreviation for
-nowidechars.
-o <file>
Send the PostScript output to the given file, or, if a single hyphen is given as the file name, to the
standard output.
-p <list>
Output only the specified pages. These can be individual page numbers, or pairs of numbers separated
by a hyphen, to specify a range. Use commas to separate items in the list. For example,
pmw -p 4,6,7-10,13
specifies that pages 4, 6, 7 to 10, and 13 are to be output. The page selection does not apply to MIDI
output; use midibars and midimovement instead.
-pamphlet
The pamphlet page ordering option is useful when a two-up page output format is selected. In
pamphlet mode, the piece is notionally extended with blank pages, if necessary, so that the number of
the last page is a multiple of four. Page 1 is then paired with the last page, page 2 with the second last
page, and so on. The odd-numbered page of the pair is always output on the right.
If the first page of the piece has a number greater than 1, then earlier pages are simply output as
blanks, as are any internal missing pages (which can be created by using page increments other than
one, or by explicitly skipping pages).
Outputting both sides at the same time in pamphlet mode is useful for producing master copies for
reproduction elsewhere. If you want to produce a final two-sided copy directly, then use -pamphlet
with -printside 1 to output all the first sides, and then use -printside 2 to output the second sides for
printing on the backs of the same sheets.
When selecting individual pages to output with the pamphlet option, you should select only one
member of each pair. The partner page is automatically added to each selected page, so selecting both
pages will result in two copies being output.

8 The command for running PMW

For two-up printing, PMW automatically centres the page images in the half pages in which they
appear, except that in pamphlet mode they are abutted together in the middle. This means that, when
the sheetsize is smaller than half the paper size, any marks printed outside the sheetsize (crop marks,
for example) are visible.
-printadjust <x> <y>
Experience has revealed that not all printing methods position the image in exactly the same position
on the page. These two values specify a movement of the image on the page, in printers’ points (1/72
of an inch). The movement is relative to the normal reading orientation of the page images (which
may be rotated on the paper). The first value is left-to-right, and the second is up and down. Positive
values move the image to the right and upwards, respectively, while negative values move it in the
opposite directions.
-printgutter <x>
This option specifies a distance by which righthand (recto) page images are moved to the right, and
lefthand (verso) page images are moved to the left, thus creating a “gutter” for binding when the
images are printed doublesided. The -printgutter setting applies only when pages are being printed
1-up. It is ignored for any of the 2-up printing styles.
-printscale <n>
Scale the output image by <n>.
-printside <n>
Output only odd or only even pages; <n> must either be 1 or 2. The side selection options make it
easy to print on both sides of pages by feeding them through the printer twice, without having to set
up an explicit page selection each time. When pamphlet mode is selected, it is the lower of the two
page numbers that is tested. When a 2-up non-pamphlet mode is selected, this option is disabled, and
all selected pages are always output.
-reverse
Output the pages in reverse order. The default order is in ascending sequence of page number if no
pages are explicitly selected; otherwise the order is as selected by the user. Reverse order is precisely
the opposite of this. It is useful for printers which stack face-up, and also in some two-sided printing
operations.
-s <list>
Output only the specified staves. These can be individual stave numbers, or pair of numbers separated
by a hyphen, to specify a range. Use commas to separate items in the list. For example:
pmw mozart -s 1,3-5,9-12
Setting values here is how you select one or more individual parts to be printed from a score. For
example, in a work for choir and orchestra, to create a vocal score by printing only the voice parts,
one might specify 11– 14 if the vocal parts were on staves 11– 14. More often, just a single number is
given, in order to print out an individual instrumental part.
-t <number>
Specify a transposition, in semitones. A positive number specifies upwards transposition, and a
negative one downwards transposition. A transposition of zero may also be entered; this is not the
same as no transposition at all. For more details about transposition, see chapter 29.
-tumble
When -duplex is set, -tumble sets the PostScript option for ‘tumbled’ duplex printing.
-V
Output the PMW version number to the standard output, then stop. No file is read.
-v
Output verification information about the typesetting to the standard error file. The information is
described in the next section.

The command for running PMW 9

4.1 Setting default options
There is a simple facility for specifying options that you always want to be set. When PMW starts up,
it looks in the user ’s home directory for a file called .pmwrc. If this file exists, its contents are read
and used to modify the PMW command line. White space (spaces, tabs, or newlines) in the file are
used to separate items. Each item is added to the command line, before the given arguments. Thus, for
example, if you always want to make use of the -nowidechars option, all you need to do is to create a
.pmwrc file that contains
-nowidechars
and the effect is as if you type -nowidechars immediately after pmw every time you run it. If you
insert an option that requires data, the data item must also be given in the .pmwrc file. For example,
the file might contain
-midi /usr/tmp/pmw.midi
if you always want to create MIDI output and write it to a fixed file name. Omitting the file name
causes an error.
Note that PMW does not allow options to be repeated, so if an option is present in the .pmwrc file, it
cannot also be given on the command line. There is no way to override individual options that are set
in the .pmwrc file. However, if the first option on the command line is -norc, the .pmwrc file is not
used.

4.2 Information about the piece

To understand all of this section, you need to be familiar with the way PMW handles pitches and
dimensions. It is placed here because it follows on from the command line options, but it is best
skipped on a first reading.
Here is an example of the information which is output when -v is selected:
Data store used = 76K (stave data 37K)
MOVEMENT 1
Stave 1: 51 bars; range E’ to A’’ average A’
Stave 2: 51 bars; range $B to D’’ average E’
Stave 3: 51 bars; range E’ to F’’ average $B’
Stave 4: 51 bars; range F‘ to D’ average D
PAGE LAYOUT
Page 1 bars: 1-4 5-8 (3) 9-12
Space left on page = 131 Overrun = 61
Page 2 bars: 13-17 18-22 23-25 (10) 26-28
Space left on page = 5
Page 3 bars: 29-31 32-34 35-38
Space left on page = 159 Overrun = 33
Page 4 bars: 39-42 (15) 43-46 47-48 49-51
Space left on page = 5
For each movement within the piece, PMW displays a bar count for each stave, the pitch range of
notes on the stave, and the average pitch. The count includes only properly counted bars; if there are
any uncounted bars, they are shown in brackets with a plus sign. For example, if a piece starts with an
uncounted, incomplete bar, the bar count might be shown as ‘24(+1)’.
The pitches are specified at octave zero, that is, starting at the C below middle C. The average pitch of
a vocal part is some kind of measure of the tessitura.
If there is more than one movement in a piece, the overall pitch ranges and average pitches for each
stave are given at the end.
The ‘page layout’ section shows how PMW has laid out the music on the pages. In the example
above, three systems have been put on page 1, containing bars 1– 4, 5–8, and 9– 12, respectively. If
any system is too short to be stretched out to the full line length (or if stretching was not requested) an
asterisk is printed after it.

10 The command for running PMW

After the range of bars for each system, the amount of horizontal overrun is given in brackets,
provided it is less than 30 points. The overrun is the distance by which the linelength would be
exceeded if another bar were added to the system.
The first line in the example above means that bars 5– 9 were three points too long for the linelength,
which is why the second system was ended after bar 8. This information can be useful when you are
trying to alter the way the bars are allocated to systems.
‘Space left on page’ is the amount of vertical space left on the page. It is the amount by which stave
or system spacings can be increased without causing the bottom system to be moved over to the next
page.
‘Overrun’ is the amount of extra space that is needed to fit another system onto the page. It is the
amount by which stave or system spacings would have to be reduced in order for the first system of
the next page to be brought back onto the bottom of this page. It is not shown if the value is greater
than 100 or if the page break was forced.

4.3 PMW input errors

When PMW detects an error in the input file, it writes an error message to the standard error file. In
most cases it carries on processing the input file, so that as many errors as possible are detected in the
run. As is the case in many programming languages, certain kinds of error can cause it to get confused
and give misleading subsequent messages. If you don’t understand all the error messages, fix those that
you do, and try again.
It is very easy to make simple typographic errors that leave a bar with the wrong number of notes in
it. An example of the message that PMW outputs is as follows:
** Incorrect length for bar 1, stave 1 - too long by 1 quaver
** Near line 17:
rrf’-g |
<
In this case a minus sign (indicating a quaver) had been omitted after the note g, which is therefore
taken as a crotchet. The input line in which the error was detected is shown, and the character ‘<’ is
output underneath the position where the error was detected. In this example, PMW has just reached
the bar line.
The line number is given using the phrase ‘near line n’ because sometimes PMW has read on to the
next line before detecting the error.
Most errors cause PMW to stop processing before it writes anything to the main output. However,
there are a few errors which do not prevent output. An example is the detection of a bar that is too
wide for the page; PMW diagnoses this, and then squashes it to fit.

The command for running PMW 11

 5. Getting started with PMW encoding

In this and the next few chapters we will cover the basic facilities of the way PMW input is encoded,
omitting some of the more exotic features in order to keep the explanations simple. Full information is
given in the reference section, which starts at chapter 20.
We start with the first six bars of the British National Anthem. It is suggested that you try out these
examples as you read this section. First, use your favourite text editor to create a file containing this
example:
heading "|National Anthem"
breakbarlines
underlaysize 9.5
notespacing *1.1
key G
time 3/4
[stave 1 treble 1 text underlay]
"God save our gra-cious Queen,"
g g a | f. g- a |
"Long live our no-ble Queen,"
b b c’ | b. a- g |
"God save the Queen."
a g f | G. |
[endstave]
[stave 2 bass 0]
g` b` c | d. e- f | g e c | d. #d- e | c d d | G`. |
[endstave]
You may use any name you like for the file, and you should put it in any convenient directory. Let’s
suppose it’s called natanth. Now run the file through PMW via this command:
pmw natanth
Assuming you have not made any typing mistakes, there will be no output on the screen, but a new
file called natanth.ps will have been created. You can view this on screen by a command such as:
gv natanth.ps
(or by using any other PostScript viewer). The output should look like this:

National Anthem
♯
6 6 6 5? 7 5
! 4 5 5 5 @ 5? 7 5 @
° FFFFCCC
@ @ @ 5 5 5 @ 3? C@B
3
B@
B@ ♯
God save our gra - cious Queen, Long live our no - ble Queen, God save the Queen.
6 6
6? 8 6 5 5? ♯7 6 5 5
@ 4 5 5 5 @
FFFFCCC
±" @ @ @5 @ 3? C@B
3

If you have made a mistake, one or more error messages will be written to the standard error file, and
should therefore appear on your screen. The messages should be self-explanatory. Correct the error(s),
and try again.
If you did not make any typing mistakes, you might like now to deliberately introduce one or two, to
gain familiarity with error handling. Omitting one of the | characters is a common mistake.
We now proceed to explain what the different parts of this input file mean to PMW. The data is in two
parts: first there is heading information, such as the printed heading and key and time signatures for
the piece, and then the music for each stave is given separately.
The heading in this example contains six heading directives. They have been put on separate lines for
readability, but this is not a requirement; you can have several directives on one line if you like.
The first directive,

12 Getting started with PMW encoding

 heading "|National Anthem"
gives a text heading for the piece, and the text itself must be supplied inside double quote marks.
Heading lines normally consist of a left part, a centred part, and a right part. The division between
these is marked by a vertical bar character in the text. This example prints nothing at the left (because
there is nothing before the vertical bar), and nothing at the right (because there isn’t a second vertical
bar).
The second directive,
breakbarlines
causes PMW to make a break in the bar lines after each stave. Without this, the bar lines would be
drawn continuously from the top of the first stave to the bottom of the second. It is conventional not to
have bar lines between staves when there is vocal underlay (lyrics), as they can get in the way of the
words.
In orchestral pieces you may want to have bar line breaks between different groups of instruments, and
this can be achieved by listing the stave numbers after which you want the breaks, like this:
breakbarlines 4, 8, 12
The third directive,
underlaysize 9.5
sets the font size for the underlay text (i.e. the words). Font sizes are given in points, the traditional
measure of type size used by printers. The default size for all text in PMW is 10 points; choosing a
slightly smaller size for underlay is often helpful in fitting in the words.
Please note that the music shown above and in all the following examples in this manual is shown at
0.8 times its proper size, so the type sizes you see here are smaller than they will be if you print the
example yourself.
The fourth directive,
notespacing *1.1
is an instruction to PMW to increase its normal horizontal note spacing by a factor of 1.1 (the asterisk
is being used as a multiplication symbol). The standard note spacing is suitable for instrumental music.
When vocal underlay is involved, it often improves the layout if the spacing is increased by 1.1 or 1.2.
PMW automatically increases the space between two notes in a bar if this is necessary to avoid two
underlaid syllables colliding, but if this happens a lot, the spacing of the notes can look very strange. It
is best to set the note spacing sufficiently wide that most of the layout is determined by the music,
with only the occasional adjustment for the words.
The fifth directive,
key G
sets the key signature. If no key signature is given, C major is assumed. Minor keys are given by
adding the letter ‘m’, for example, Am. Sharp and flat key signatures are given using the standard
accidental notation in PMW. A sharp is represented by the character #, which is easily remembered.
Unfortunately, there are no keys on the computer keyboard which resemble flats or naturals, so instead
the two keys that are next to # on some keyboards were chosen: $ for a flat and % for a natural. The
key signatures C sharp minor and G flat major are coded as C#m and G$ respectively.
The sixth directive,
time 3/4
sets the time signature. If no time signature is given, 4/4 is assumed. As well as the usual numeric
time signatures, the letters C and A can be given, signifying ‘common’ and ‘alla breve’ time. These are
printed as C and _ respectively.
The stave data starts with the first line that begins with a square bracket,
[stave 1 treble 1 text underlay]
You will notice that a bit further down there is a line containing
[endstave]

Getting started with PMW encoding 13

This marks the end of the data for the first stave. Each stave’s data is always contained between
[stave] and [endstave] in this way.
The data itself consists of a mixture of encoded music, words, bar lines, and so on, and stave
directives. To make it clear what is what, the stave directives are always enclosed in square brackets,
and we will show them in brackets whenever they are mentioned in the text. Several stave directives
can appear in succession within a single pair of brackets.
The number following the word ‘stave’ in the [stave] directive gives the number of the stave. The top
stave of a system is numbered 1, the next one down is numbered 2, and so on. PMW can handle up to
63 staves.
Usually, a clef-setting directive comes next, as in both staves of this example, where the first stave
uses the treble clef and the second stave the bass clef. The number which follows the clef name sets
the current octave for the notes of the stave.
PMW octaves run from C up to B, and octave number 1 starts at middle C. It is usual, therefore, to set
the current octave to 1 when using the treble clef, and to 0 when using the bass clef, as has been done
here.
There is only one other stave directive in this example, and that is
[text underlay]
What this is doing is to set the default type for any text strings encountered in the first stave. PMW
supports several different kinds of text, as we shall see later, and one of them can be set as the default
for a stave. Instances of strings of other types then have to be marked as such. When a stave has vocal
underlay in it, it is usual to set the default as above, because by far the majority of the text will consist
of the underlay.
So at last we come to the music and words of the first stave:
"God save our gra-cious Queen,"
g g a | f. g- a |
"Long live our no-ble Queen,"
b b c’ | b. a- g |
"God save the Queen."
a g f | G. |
The vocal underlay is given as several text strings, each preceding the notes to which it relates. You
can split up underlay into strings that are as long or as short as you like. PMW automatically
distributes the syllables to the notes that follow. Single hyphens are used to separate the different
syllables of the words, as in ‘gra-cious’ and ‘no-ble’, and PMW supplies as many printed hyphens as
necessary to fill the space between them when they are printed. Text strings are not restricted to just
the characters on the computer keyboard; see section 34.3 for details of how to access other characters.
The music itself is divided up into bars by the vertical bar character. PMW checks that the contents of
a bar agree with the time signature, and complains if there are too many or too few notes.
The notes themselves are encoded using their familiar letter names. Because we set the current octave
to be octave 1, the letter g in the first bar represents the G above middle C. The only note on this
stave that does not lie in octave 1 is the last note of the third bar, the C above middle C. It is encoded
as c′ because each quote that follows a note letter raises the note by one octave.
The duration of a note is primarily determined by whether a capital (upper case) letter or small (lower
case) letter is used. A lower case letter stands for a crotchet, while an upper case one is used for a
minim, as in the last bar of this stave.
Further characters are used to adjust the duration: a minus sign (hyphen) after a lower case letter turns
the crotchet into a quaver, the hyphen being mnemonically like the flag used to distinguish a printed
quaver from a crotchet. A dotted note is coded simply by adding a full stop, as in the second, fourth,
and last bars.
Turning now to the second stave,
g` b` c | d. e- f | g e c | d. #d- e | c d d | G`. |
we see two new features. The first two notes, and the last one, are below the current octave for this
stave, which was set as octave 0 (one below middle C). To lower a note by one octave, a grave accent
is used, because it is a symbol which is the ‘opposite’ of an ordinary quote.

14 Getting started with PMW encoding

In bar four there is a note with an accidental. Accidentals are entered before note letters because they
print before notes. The characters used for accidentals were described above when discussing key
signatures, but to remind you,
# is used for a sharp
$ is used for a flat
% is used for a natural
Should you need double sharps or double flats, just type the character twice.
The spacing used in this example was chosen to make it easy to read. PMW does not require spaces to
appear between notes or before bar lines, so the first two bars of the first stave could equally well
appear as
gga|f.g-a|
However, spaces must not be used between any of the characters that make up the encoding for one
note. For example, # c would not be recognized because of the space between the # and the c.
Normally, you should put in spaces where it helps you to see the various items in a bar, and wherever
one space is allowed, you may put as many as you like.
You may also start a new line in the input wherever a space is allowed, for example, between notes, or
between text strings and notes. Most people try not to have a line break in the middle of the notes of a
bar, as this makes the file easier to read.
When you start entering longer pieces, you may find it helpful to annotate the input file to make it
easier to find your way around it. PMW recognizes the character @ as a ‘comment character’ –
anything on an input line that follows @ is completely ignored. So, for example, you could have a line
such as
@ This is the pedal part
at the start of a stave. It is also a good idea to put a bar number in the input at the end of each input
line, like this:
g g a | f. g- a | @2
b b c’ | b. a- g | @4
a g f | G. | @6
We have now covered everything in the National Anthem example. In the following chapters we will
introduce other features of the PMW encoding, but without showing the complete file every time. It
particular, the [stave] and [endstave] directives will normally be omitted.

Getting started with PMW encoding 15

 6. More about notes

This chapter describes some more common facilities used when printing notes.

6.1 Note types

PMW can handle eight different kinds of note, from breves to hemi-demi-semiquavers. The encoding
for crotchets, quavers, and minims was introduced in the previous chapter. For notes longer than a
minim the + character is used to double the duration, and for those shorter than a quaver, the character
= is used for ‘two flags’. The complete set is as follows:

˘ 2 3 5 7 9 vJ;|JL vxvJ;|;x;v|JL
|;x
!
FFFCCCCC ;x;v|x @
G++ G+ G g g- g= g=- g==

6.2 Rests
Rests are specified in the same way as notes, but using the letter R instead of a note letter. The length
of the rest is indicated by the case of the letter and following plus, minus, or equals characters, exactly
as for notes.
There is one additional character that can follow the letter R, and that is an exclamation mark. This
indicates that the rest is equal to the bar length, whatever the time signature may be.

6.3 Repeated rest bars

A whole bar rest can be repeated any number of times by putting a number in square brackets before
the rest. For example,
[24] R! |
is the code for 24 bars’ rest. In fact, this kind of repetition is not confined to rest bars; it can be used
to repeat any single bar.

6.4 Beams
Notes that are shorter than a crotchet are automatically beamed together, unless they are separated by a
beam breaking character. A semicolon breaks the beaming completely, while a comma breaks all but
the outermost beam. Beams carry on across rests that are shorter than a crotchet, but they are always
broken at the end of a bar, unless a continuation over the bar line is explicitly requested (see
chapter 42.)

JL 5 7 8 JL . JL 5 JL 5 JL JL 5 JL
! JL JL
FFFF JL 5 C@
g- a- b- c’-; g- a-; b-; c’-; g- r- b- c’-; g= a= g=, g= a= g=

There must not be any space between the last note of a beam and the breaking character (semicolon or
comma), but there can be spaces (and other items of data) between the notes themselves.

6.5 Triplets
Triplets are encoded by enclosing a set of notes in curly brackets. If the notes are beamed, just the
number ‘3’ is printed, alongside the beam. Otherwise, a longways ‘bracket’ is drawn:
6 6 6 6 8
3 3 3 3
JJL 5 JJL JL 5? 7 5 JL? JL 5
FFFF
! JL JL 5 C@
3 3
{a- b- a-} {f’ g’ f’} {g’ f’-}; {f= g= a- b-} {g. a- g} {g-. a= b-}
However, you can change this by putting options after the opening curly bracket. If you put /a the ‘3’
will be drawn above the notes, while /b forces it below the notes. In both cases the longways bracket
will also be drawn.

16 More about notes

 6 KL
K 6 6 KL
K 6 6 KL
K 6
3
J JJL 5 JJL
3

!
FFFF JL C@
3 3
{f’- g’- f’-}; {/a f’- g’- f’-}; {/b f’- g’- f’-}; g- {/a a= c’= a=}
The last set of notes shows that triplets are beamed onto adjoining notes unless a beam breaking
character is present.
PMW supports other irregular note groupings as well as triplets, and has several more options for
controlling the form and placing of the marking. Details are given in sections 38.125, 38.126, 41.19,
and 47.102.

6.6 Accents and ornaments

The coding for accents and ornaments is always placed between two backslash characters immediately
following a note. For example, a note with a staccato dot is followed by \.\. The most common
Q O
accents and ornaments are:
>6 ħ 6 U
6 6 6 6 6 KL
’ ’’ ’’’ K
!
FFFF C@
f’\.\ f’\-\ f’\>\ f’\~\ f’\~|\ f’\/\ f’\//\ f’\///\
Y W œ ) †6 S ˆ g e
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
!
FFFFC@
f’\v\ f’\V\ f’\’\ f’\f\ f’\o\ f’\t\ f’\tr\ f’\u\ f’\d\

The codes \v\ and \V\ are used for small and large ‘vertical wedge’ accents because of the
similarity of shape, though the accents themselves may be the opposite way up to the coding letters,
depending on whether they appear above or below the note. The other mark which looks like the letter
V is a string ‘up bow’ marking, which is why \u\ is used to represent it.
Other controlling options are also given between the same pair of backslash characters, for example, to
force the stem of a note to point upwards or downwards, the encodings \su\ or \sd\ are used,
respectively. When there is more than one item between the backslashes, spaces may be used to
separate them. Details of all the various options are given in several sections from 41.13 onwards.

6.7 Chords
Chords in which all the notes are the same length are encoded by enclosing a number of separate notes
in round brackets. If the chord has an accent, or any other special option, this must be given with the
first note in the brackets. The notes can be given in any order.
)
2
3?? J E 5
5L JL 5
5 C@
! 5
FFFF 3
♭3 ? }
L
J L ♯J
♭ 5 } 2 JL
=5 =3?
U
(cg) (C’.G.$E.C.) (f-g-) (c’\>\$e#fa) (G+\f\G’+) (g-b-) (a-c’-)

More about notes 17

 7. Bar lengths and bar numbers

7.1 Bar lengths

PMW checks that the notes given for a bar match the current time signature, and generates an error
message if they do not. However, there are times when this checking needs to be disabled.
For a piece that has variable-length bars without time signatures, or indeed for printing the kind of
examples that appear in this manual, the checking can be entirely suppressed by using the heading
directive nocheck. However, if there is more than one stave, each one must still contain the same total
note length for each bar.
The length check can also be disabled for a single bar only. This is done by using the [nocheck] stave
directive in the bar concerned, in each stave. The most common occurrence of this is at the start or
end of a piece where there is an incomplete bar. For example,
time 3/4
[stave 1 treble 1]
[nocheck] g | c’fg |

7.2 Bar numbers

The barnumbers heading directive is used to request the printing of bar numbers above the top stave
of systems. There are several options which control where these appear and in what form.
barnumbers line
causes PMW to print a bar number at the start of each line of music, except the first. Alternatively,
barnumbers 10
causes PMW to print a bar number every 10 bars. You can choose any number you like; specifying 1
causes a number to be printed on every bar. If the word ‘boxed’ appears after the directive name, the
numbers are enclosed in a rectangular box. You may also specify the point size of the font after the
word ‘line’ or the count. Thus,
barnumbers boxed line 9
requests bar numbers at the start of each line, in boxes, using a 9-point font. The default font size is 10
points. Finally, you can specify the font to be used for printing the number:
barnumbers 5 italic
requests bar numbers in italic, every five bars, using the default font size of 10 points.

7.3 Bar counting

When a piece starts with an incomplete bar, it is conventional not to count it for bar-numbering
purposes. Bar number 1 is normally the first complete bar of the piece. PMW does not do this
automatically, but it does have the [nocount] stave directive, which causes a bar not to be counted for
numbering purposes. This can be used anywhere in the piece, not only in the first bar. Chapter 23
explains how PMW identifies uncounted bars if it needs to refer to them, for example, in an error
message.
This example shows the use of the directives that have been described in this chapter:
barnumbers boxed 2 italic
time 4/4
[stave 1 treble 1]
[nocount nocheck]
b`-; c-d- | e.d-; e-a-g-e- | d-c-a`.c-; e-f- | @2
g. a-; g-e-c-e- | Dr-; b`-; c-d- | @4
2 4

J 5L
J J @ ? 75 J J J @ .
!4
FFFF @ ?
=7 =JL 5 5 7 JL JL 5 =JL =w JL 5 @5 JL JL
= JL 3
C@
=7 =JL 5
=JJL? =7
4

18 Bar lengths and bar numbers

There are further options for forcing or suppressing individual bar numbers, and for moving them. For
details, see the [barnumber] stave directive in the reference section.

Bar lengths and bar numbers 19

 8. More about underlay (lyrics)

PMW supports overlay (words printed above the stave) as well as underlay, though this is much less
common. To avoid too many repetitions of ‘underlay or overlay’, this manual mainly describes
underlay, on the understanding that all the facilities are also available for overlay as well.

8.1 Multi-note syllables

In the National Anthem example in chapter 5, each syllable of the underlay was associated with just
one note. When this is not the case, equals characters are used to continue a syllable over as many
notes as necessary. For example,
"glo-========ri-a in=="
a-e-a- | b-c’=b=a=b= | c’-c’-b- | g-a-b- |

5 J 5 @KKL KKL KKL 6 KKL @KKL KKL 6 @JL JL 5 @

FCCCCCCCCCC
! JL
glo - - - - - ri - a in ______

If the continued syllable is not the last one in a word, the equals characters are input following the
hyphen. PMW prints a string of hyphens or an extender line, as appropriate, depending on whether the
syllable is at the end of a word or not.
PMW does not treat tied notes specially when distributing underlaid syllables to notes, and so an
equals character must be used when a syllable is associated with a tied note.
An underlay string must be followed by all the notes to which it relates. This includes continued notes
that are indicated by equals characters. Consider the following example:
"the cat sat=" g- | gg_ |
"on the mat" ge-f- | gr |
This example is not correct, because the first string provides words for four notes (three syllables plus
a continuation), but only three notes follow before the next string. If, as in this example, you start
another underlay string before the previous one is all used up, the second string is treated as a second
verse.

8.2 Special characters and font changes

The computer keyboard does not contain all the characters that are needed for printing underlay, and
there is often a requirement to use different fonts (for example, italic). To cope with both of these,
PMW treats the backslash character specially if it is found in a quoted string. (This applies to all
strings, not just underlay.) Backslash is known as the ‘escape character’ because it allows an escape
from the string in order to give some control information.
Characters following a backslash are interpreted specially. There are a number of ‘escape sequences’
that allow you to specify characters that are not on the keyboard. For example,
\a′ prints á
\a` prints à
\a. prints ä
\a^ prints â
\ss prints ß
Changes of font are specified by giving a two-letter font code between a pair of backslashes:
\it\ change to italic
\rm\ change to roman
\bf\ change to bold face
\bi\ change to bold italic
For example, the input string "\it\sch\o.ner" prints as schöner. There is an in-depth discussion
of text fonts and character encodings in section 34.1. Section 34.3 has more details about escape
sequences, and there is a list of available text characters and their escape sequences in chapter 48.

20 More about underlay (lyrics)

8.3 Spacing
Within a bar, PMW ensures that the syllables of the underlay text do not crash into each other, by
spreading out the notes if necessary. Sometimes you may want to make additional adjustments to the
spacing. The [space] directive is used to insert additional space between notes. The units used for
space in PMW are printers’ points, of which there are 72 to the inch. For example, the input
a [space 7] b
ensures that the two notes are 7 points (about 0.1") further apart than they would otherwise be. Any
underlay that is attached to the notes is also moved appropriately.
There are also two facilities for altering the position of an underlay syllable relative to its note. The
character #, if it appears in an underlay string, prints as a space, but is treated as part of a syllable.
Since syllables are centred on their notes, putting # characters at the start of a syllable moves it to the
right, while putting them at the end moves it left.
Finally, if the character ^ appears in an underlay syllable, only those characters to the left of it are
used for finding the centre of the string; the character itself does not print. This example shows the use
of # and ^ affects the positioning of syllables:
"music ##music music## mu^sic"
G+ G+ G+ G+

! 2
FCCCCCC 2 2 2 C@
music music music music

The # and ^ characters are treated specially only in underlay (and overlay) strings.

More about underlay (lyrics) 21

 9. Other kinds of text

Text strings that are not part of the underlay are normally followed by one of the options /a or /b,
indicating that the string is to be printed above or below the stave, respectively. (If [text underlay] has
not been set for the stave, then unqualified strings are treated as if /b were present.)
Such strings are normally aligned so that they start at the position of the following note, or at the bar
line if there are no subsequent notes in the bar. However, if the option /e is given, the string is
aligned so as to end at the subsequent note or bar line.
The position of any string can be adjusted by following it by one or more of the options /u (up), /d
(down), /l (left), or /r (right) and a number, which is a distance in printers’ points.
The initial font for non-underlay strings is italic, but the escape sequences described above can be used
to change it as necessary. Here are some examples:
"X"/a g "X"/a/u4 g "X"/a/l6 g |
"rall."/a gab | "\bi\ff"/b A. |
G. "\rm\May, 1994"/b/e |
X X

5 5 5 @ 5 5 5 @ 3?
X rall.

!
FFCC @ 3? C@B
ff May, 1994
Musical characters (such as notes) are available for use in strings, and there are a number of escape
sequences for the most common cases. For example:
\*m\ prints a minim
\*c\ prints a crotchet
These are most useful in strings of the form "\*c\ \rm\= 45", which prints as
5 = 45
Rehearsal marks are a special kind of string which are coded by placing the string in square brackets:
["A"]
PMW prints such strings in a fairly large font, enclosed in a rectangular box; there are options to
control this if necessary.

22 Other kinds of text

 10. Macros

A macro is a concept found in computer programming languages and in some kinds of wordprocessing
systems. The idea is very simple: whenever there is a sequence of input characters that are going to be
repeated several times in a file, they are given a name. Then simply giving the name calls up the
required characters.
There are several advantages in using macros. Not only does it save typing, but it also guarantees that
the same input string is used every time, thus ensuring consistency. In addition, if a change needs to be
made to the string, it only has to be done once.
Simple macros are introduced here because they are frequently used for text strings that are repeated in
a piece – typically strings such as mf, ff, etc. Consider the following input line:
*define mf "\it\m\bi\f"/b
This is a directive which defines a macro whose name is mf. It is an example of a preprocessing
directive, which is a third kind of directive, in addition to heading directives and stave directives.
Preprocessing directives may occur anywhere in a PMW input file. They always occupy a complete
input line by themselves, and are identified by starting with an asterisk. The *define directive must be
followed by the name of the macro being defined. The replacement text for the macro consists of the
rest of the input line, which may be empty.
After the definition above has been processed, an occurrence of the characters &mf anywhere in the
input is replaced by the text
"\it\m\bi\f"/b
There must not be any space between the introductory & character and the name of the macro that is
being inserted.
This particular example specifies a text item for the string mf, where the m is printed in italic and the f
in bold italic, as is commonly done. It also specifies that the string is to be printed below the stave. If
other options are needed for instances of the string, they can be added after the macro call; in
particular, adding /a will cause the text to be printed above the stave, as when both /b and /a
appear, the rightmost one is used. Here are some examples of possible uses of this macro:
&mf abc | &mf/a efg | cg &mf/d6 d |
Macros can be used for any string of input characters; their use is not confined to text items. A full
description of all the macro facilities is given in chapter 22.

Macros 23
 11. Ties, slurs, and glissandos

Single notes and chords are tied together by entering an underscore character at the end of the first
note, or following the closing bracket of the first chord. For single notes, ties are normally drawn on
the opposite side of the noteheads from the stems, but can be followed by /a or /b to force them
above or below the noteheads. These options can also be used for chords.
6 6 6 6
6
6 6
6 6
6 6
6
! 5 7 3 5
FFF 6 6 6 6C@

g_ g- G_/a g (fac’f’)_ (fac’f’) (fac’f’)_/b (fac’f’)

When two single notes of different pitches are connected by a slur, the same notation (an underscore)
can be used. However, for chords, the [slur] directive (see below) is required to draw slurs, because if
two chords are joined by an underscore, the notes in each that are of the same pitch are joined by a tie
mark, any other notes being left alone.
The underscore is also used for glissandos between single notes; following it with /g causes a
glissando line to be drawn instead of a short slur.
6 6 6 J}
5L 5
5
! 5
FFCC 5 5 5 5C@
g_ c’ g_/a c’ f_/g e’ (fbc’)_ (fac’)

For slurs involving chords or more than two single notes, the [slur] and [endslur] (or [es]) directives
are used. The notes which are to be covered by the slur appear between them. The slur is drawn above
the notes unless /b is given.
[slur]
d-. [slur] d=_; d=c=a-; [es]
[slur/b] %d’\-\ a-\sd\ b_b- [es]
[endslur]
ħ
♮6
! 5? 5 JL
FCCC 86 8
C@
=5 =w=JL

This example shows that slurs can be ‘nested’ inside one another if necessary, each [endslur] directive
relating to the most recent [slur]. There are options for handling more complicated cases, and there are
also options for adjusting the positions and shapes of slurs. See section 47.75 for details.

24 Ties, slurs, and glissandos

 12. Repeats

Conventional musical repeat marks are encoded using the input strings (: and :) which may occur in
the middle of a bar as well as at the start or end. When there is a first time and a second time ending,
the directives [1st] and [2nd] are used to indicate it, with the directive [all] marking the bar where all
the endings are complete.
b-f’-e’-; d’_c’- | [1st] g-d’-d’- g. :) |
[2nd] c’=b=c’-a- b. | [all] (: d’-c’-b- a_g- |

K L
1 2
L
K 6 8 J 5 5 KL KL 6
6 K 5?
KL KL KL 6 6?
!
FFFCCCCCCCC @ JL xI@@
BK K K @@xI
B 5 7
C@

The [all] directive is not used when the second time bar is the final bar of a piece.
Instructions such as Da capo are given as text strings, and the music font contains the two conven-
tional signs used in conjunction with Dal segno. They correspond to the letters c and d, and can be
printed in text strings as follows:
"\mf\c" prints c

"\mf\d" prints d

The escape sequence \mf\ changes to the music font, full details of which are given in chapter 49.

Repeats 25
 13. Hairpins

Crescendo and decrescendo ‘hairpins’ are coded using the characters < and > in pairs. The hairpin
starts at the note following < or > and ends at the note before the next one. Hairpins are drawn below
the stave by default, but the directive [hairpins above] can be used to cause them to be drawn above.
Either end of a hairpin can be moved by following the angle bracket with /u (up), /d (down), /l
(left), or /r (right), and a number, which gives a distance in points. Any up or down movements
specified at the start of a hairpin apply to the whole hairpin, but any that are specified at the end apply
only to the end – by this means, sloping hairpins can be drawn. For example,
< abc’d’ < </d4 abc’d’ </l10 </r4/d8 abc’d’ </u10

6 6 6
! 5 5 6
FFCCCCCCC 5 5 6 5 5 6 C@

If the beginning or ending character is followed by /h, then the corresponding end of the hairpin is
moved to the right to be halfway between the note where it would otherwise be, and the next note, or
the bar line if there are no more notes in the bar. Additional left and right movements can be specified,
and are relative to this point.
There are some other options for changing the position and form of hairpins. The full description is in
section 40.3.

26 Hairpins
 14. Staves and systems

This chapter gives some introductory information about setting up staves and systems. The reference
chapters describe additional facilities for use in complicated cases.

14.1 Stave spacing

The default spacing between staves is 44 points. This is the distance between the bottom line of one
stave and the bottom line of the one below it. The stavespacing heading directive is used to alter this.
It is followed by a list of stave numbers and spacings, each pair being separated by a slash. The
spacings are the distances to the stave below. For example,
stavespacing 2/60 4/54
specifies that the spacing between staves 2 and 3 is to be 60 points, while that between 4 and 5 is to
be 54 points. The remaining spacings will take the default value of 44 points.
PMW does not make any alterations to stave spacings by itself. However, there is commonly a
requirement to make a change in the spacings for one particular system, usually when one stave has
particularly high or low notes. This can be done by using the [sshere] directive. When this is
encountered, it causes the spacing for the current stave to be changed, for the current system only.
A completely new value can be given, but if a number is given preceded by a plus or minus sign, it
causes a change in the spacing of that amount. Thus
[sshere +4] increases the spacing by 4 points
[sshere -2] decreases the spacing by 2 points
[sshere 48] sets the spacing to 48 points

14.2 System gap

The distance between systems is called the ‘system gap’, and is set by the systemgap heading
directive. Again, the default is 44 points. However, since PMW normally puts additional space
between systems so that the bottom stave is at the bottom of the page, the system gap value is really a
minimum distance between systems. (See the justify directive if you want to stop PMW from doing
this vertical justification.)
There is an [sghere] directive for changing the system gap for a single system, and it works in exactly
the same way as [sshere].

14.3 Brackets and braces

By default, PMW joins together the staves that comprise a system with a bracket, as can be seen in the
National Anthem example. The other kind of joining sign (used most often for two staves for one
instrument) is the brace, which is a large version of the { character.
There are two heading directives, bracket and brace, which specify which staves are to be joined with
each of these signs. Each of these directives is followed by a list of stave ranges. For example,
bracket 1-4, 8-11
brace 5-6
causes the system to be divided into three sets of staves. Two of the groups, staves 1– 4 and 8– 11, are
each joined by a bracket, while staves 5–6 are joined by a brace.
If you don’t want any staves at all to be bracketed, as might be the case when setting a keyboard
piece, you need to include the directive
bracket
with nothing after it, in order to cancel the default setting, which is to bracket all the staves of the
system.

Staves and systems 27

14.4 Initial text
At the start of an instrumental piece it is common to print the names of the instruments. This is done
in PMW input by giving a string in quotes as part of the [stave] directive, for example,
[stave 1 "Clarinet" treble 1]
The text can be split up into several lines by including vertical bar characters; each vertical bar causes
a line break. For example,
[stave 5 "Horn|in F" treble 1]
Options are available for changing the form and layout of this text; for details, see section 47.82.

28 Staves and systems

 15. Keyboard staves

Keyboard music is one of the more complicated kinds of music to typeset, especially if it is a
reduction of an instrumental score. It is usually a good idea to study the manuscript carefully to decide
exactly how it is to be encoded before you start.
A brace is normally used to join the staves of keyboard music, and the name of the instrument is
printed mid-way between the two staves. This can by done by adding /m to the relevant string.

15.1 Overprinted staves

There are two ways of tackling pieces which have two parts on one stave, with stems pointing in
different directions. If most of the piece is like this, then the best approach is to use two different
PMW staves, but specify a stave spacing of zero so that the staves print on top of each other. Use can
be made of the directives [stems up] and [stems down] to force the stem directions of all notes. The
directives [ties above] and [ties below] can also be used to force the default direction of all ties.
In the following example, two PMW staves have been used for each printing stave, and the stave
spacings have been set accordingly. The spacing after stave 2 has been increased to avoid clashes of
stems between the two staves.
time 3/4
bracket
brace 1-4
stavespacing 1/0 2/48 3/0
[stave 1 "Piano"/m treble 1 stems up ties above]
Ae’ | d’_af | e_fe | D. |
[endstave]
[stave 2 treble 1 stems down ties below]
e_da | A#d | [smove 6] %<d_#cc | D. |
[endstave]
[stave 3 bass 0 stems up ties above]
Ac’ | D’b | g_ag | F. |
[endstave]
[stave 4 bass 0 stems down ties below]
[smove 6] Gg | Fb‘ | $b‘_a‘a‘ | D. |
[endstave]

3 3 5 5
FFCCCC
@
! 4 6 6 6 @4 5 ♯6
5 @ ♮56 5 5 @3? @B
♯=6 =6 4?
@ @ @ @ @B
@ 5
= 3
=
6 @4 5 @ 5 5 5 @ ? @B
Piano
3
3 4 3?
FFCCCC
@
" 4 @ 6 @ ♭6 6 6 @4 @B

In this example there are two additional items which have not yet been explained; both are connected
with handling the case when a note on one stave would partially obscure a note on the overprinting
stave.
PMW is not clever enough to detect that two notes are going to interfere in this way, so the input must
contain explicit instructions to move one of the notes. Consider the very first pair of notes on the
bottom stave; they are A and G and so would collide if printed at the same horizontal position. To
prevent this, the directive [smove 6] has been used. This directive has two effects:
• It moves the following note (in this case, the G) 6 points to the right, without affecting the
position of anything else.
• It inserts an additional 6 points of space after the next note. That is, everything after the next
note is moved 6 points to the right.

Keyboard staves 29
Each of these effects can be realized independently, by means of the [move] and [space] directives;
[smove] is a composite of the two, provided because they are so frequently required together in this
situation.
The second additional item can be seen in the third bar of stave 2. The D natural has been moved to
the right by means of [smove] but by itself this would have caused its accidental to collide with the E
that we are trying to avoid. The < character after the percent sign (which is the code for a natural) has
the effect of moving the accidental 5 points to the left. This is sufficent to get it clear.

15.2 The [reset] directive

If a printing stave can mostly be encoded using only a single PMW stave, but there are one or two
bars where stems in opposite directions are required, the [reset] directive can be used. This has the
effect of resetting to the beginning of the bar, so that a second set of notes can be specified for the bar.
For example, the first bar of the right-hand part in the example above could be encoded on a single
PMW stave like this:
[stems up] Ae’ [reset] [stems down] e_/b da |
This technique is not recommended except for the occasional bar or two.

15.3 Invisible rests

When using overprinting staves for keyboard pieces, it is frequently the case that one ‘part’ does not
contain enough notes to fill the bar. The note letter Q can be used to make the bar up to its correct
length. This letter (which can be thought of as standing for ‘quiet’) acts exactly like the rest letter R,
except that it does not print anything at all. It is often referred to as an ‘invisible rest’.

15.4 Coupled staves

Keyboard music sometimes includes sets of beamed notes that extend over both staves. These can be
printed using a technique known as ‘coupling’:
[stave 1 treble 1 couple down]
g-e-c-g`-e`-c`- | e’-\sd\c’-g-g`-\sw\e`-c`-
[endstave]
[stave 2 bass 0]
Q! | Q! |
[endstave]
KL KL
JL J K K KL
°!
@
FF L =5 @ C@
B@ Jww Jw
|Jw |w Jw @ @
w| Jww w| @ J J @
B@ JL |J J L
J
L JL JL JJL
±"
@
FF @ C@

The upper stave has been ‘coupled’ downwards to the lower one. When this is done, any note in the
upper stave that is lower than middle C is printed on the lower stave. Notice the use of invisible rests
on the lower stave to fill the bars without printing anything.
An alternative approach is to use [couple up] to get notes from the lower stave that are higher than
middle C printed on the upper stave. Simultaneous coupling of two staves in both directions is
permitted.
Warning: Coupling only works properly if the upper stave is using the treble clef and the lower one is
using the bass clef, and if the distance between them is a multiple of four points.
The second bar of this example shows how to get notes printed on both sides of a beam, a facility
which is often needed when using coupled staves. The \sd\ option on the first note of the beam
forces its stem to be downwards. Normally, this would mean that all the other notes in the beam would
also have downward pointing stems. However, the fourth note has the option \sw\, which has the
effect of swapping the stem direction for the remaining notes.

30 Keyboard staves
For a stem direction swap to work, the two nearest notes have to be fairly far apart, as these two are.
If stem swapping is tried in the middle of the first bar of this example, PMW generates an error,
because there isn’t room to fit the beam in between the two sets of notes.
The coupling state can be changed as often as necessary in a piece: [couple off] turns it off.

Keyboard staves 31
 16. Heads and feet

We introduced the heading directive in the discussion of the National Anthem example in chapter 5.
You may have as many heading directives as you like at the start of a piece. By default, the first two
will be printed in larger type than the remainder. However, you can specify an explicit font size by
giving a number before the string:
heading 13 "|Scherzo"
specifies a size of 13 points, for example. After printing a heading, the ‘current point’ is moved down
the page by a distance equal to the font size, so a second heading after the one above would print 13
points below it. You can control this distance by giving a number after the string:
heading 16 "|Mass" 24
specifies a type size of 16 points, and a subsequent space of 24 points.
One special case of this is to specify a distance of zero so that the next heading prints at the same
level. This makes it possible to print in different sizes on the same line, for example:
heading 16 "|Piece" 0
heading 12 "Words: J. Smith||Music: A. Jones" 24
As the first heading consists of centred text, while the second has only left-hand and right-hand parts,
with nothing in the middle, they won’t overlap.
The footing directive is of exactly the same form as heading; it specifies what is to be printed at the
bottom of the first page. The escape sequence \c) is useful in footings; it prints as .
Both heading and footing apply to the first page of a piece only. To print heads and feet on other
pages, you must use the pageheading and pagefooting directives. The pageheading directive applies
to all pages except the first, while pagefooting applies to all pages, unless overridden for the first page
by a footing directive.
The most common use of these directives is for printing page numbers, either at the top or the bottom
of each page. There are three escape sequences for printing page numbers:
\p\ prints the current page number
\pe\ prints the current page number only if it is even
\po\ prints the current page number only if it is odd
A directive such as
pagefooting "|\p\"
causes the page number to be printed centrally at the foot of each page (unless there is also a footing
directive, which then controls what is printed on the first page), while
pageheading "\pe\||\po\"
causes page numbers to be printed at the top of each page other than the first, alternately on the left
and right. Even numbers are printed on the left, and odd ones on the right.
When heading or footing text contains left-hand and right-hand parts, these line up with the left and
right edges of the musical staves. When printing page numbers it is sometimes desirable to have these
print outside the normal margins.
The easiest way to do this is to make use of one of the special characters in the music font. These are
characters that cause no marks to be made on the page, but which move the current printing position.
They are provided for use by PMW when building up complicated shapes from simpler ones, but they
can be used for other purposes as well.
Full details of the music font are given in chapter 49. The character of interest here is character
number 123, which corresponds to the { character in text fonts. It causes a leftwards movement of
0.33 times the font’s size (e.g. 3.3 points for a 10-point font). Consider a heading line such as
pageheading "\mf\{{{{\rm\\pe\||\po\\mf\{{{{"

32 Heads and feet

The escape sequence \mf\ changes to the music font. The string of four { characters causes a
leftwards movement of the printing position, so that the even page number will be printed to the left of
the normal margin (\rm\ changes back to the roman font).
At the end of the line, the backwards spacing must follow the page number. At first sight it looks odd
to end a string with spacing characters, but because this is a right-aligned string that must end at the
right-hand margin, the backwards movement has the effect of causing the odd page numbers to print to
the right of the normal margin, so that the subsequent leftwards movement brings the current printing
point back to the margin.
Another common requirement is to print page numbers higher up the page than PMW normally starts
printing. This can be achieved by using a pageheading directive with an empty text string and a
negative downwards movement. For example,
pageheading "" -10
has the effect of moving up the page by 10 points.

Heads and feet 33

 17. Page layout

The horizontal length of musical systems can be set by means of the linelength directive, and the
vertical length of pages by the pagelength directive. The default values are equivalent to the directives
linelength 480
pagelength 720
These are suitable values for printing on A4 paper while leaving fairly generous margins, especially at
the sides.
The linelength can be increased to as much as 520 for A4 paper without getting too near the edges.
The music is printed centrally on the page, so changing the line length changes both margins
symmetrically.
PMW assumes that you are printing on A4 paper, but it can support other paper sizes as well. The
sheetsize directive can be used to set A3, while the sheetwidth and sheetdepth directives can be used
to set the dimensions of the paper independently.
The value given for the page length sets the space used for headings and for printing musical systems.
However, it does not include the space for footings, which are always printed starting 20 points below
the page length distance down the page.
By default, PMW fills up each system with as many bars as it can within the given line length, and
then fills up each page with as many systems as it can. Sometimes this means that the music takes up
more or fewer pages than required, or does not end tidily at the end of a page.
If you know in advance what layout is required, you can use the layout heading directive to specify
how many bars there are in each system and how many systems there are on each page. Otherwise,
when using the default filling mechanism, the following stave directives can be used to influence the
layout:
• The [newline] directive causes PMW to start a new line of music (a new system) with the bar in
which it appears. It need appear only in one stave.
• The [newpage] directive causes PMW to start a new page with the system in which it appears. It
need appear only in one stave.
• The notespacing directive can be used to spread out or to compress the music.
We introduced the notespacing directive in the National Anthem example; it causes the spacing
between notes to be multiplied by a given factor. For example,
notespacing *0.92
reduces all the distances by a factor of 0.92. However much you reduce the notespacing, PMW will
not allow notes to print on top of each other. Quite small changes of note spacing can sometimes make
dramatic changes to the layout of a piece, by causing the assignment of bars to systems to change. At
other times, for example when bars are very long, a large change might be needed to have any effect.
Occasionally it is helpful to change the notespacing for part of a piece only. This can be done by using
the [notespacing] directive (abbreviation [ns]). This should always be given at the start of a bar; it
then affects the current bar and subsequent ones. If it is given without a value, the spacing is reset to
what it was at the start of the piece. Therefore, to reduce the spacing for one bar only, one might have:
[ns *0.8] g=a=b=g=; b=a=g=b= |
[ns] D |
This should be given in the first stave because PMW processes the staves in order, for each bar, and
any previous staves would be processed using the old value. That is also why resetting the value
should be done in the next bar; if [ns] were at the end of the first bar, the reset values would be used
for the following staves.
Another way of fitting a piece onto a given number of pages is to change the magnification, as
described in the next chapter.

34 Page layout
 18. Magnification

The standard size of music printed by PMW has a distance of 4 points between stave lines. The
magnification heading directive can be used to cause it to print bigger or smaller staves. This should
not be confused with the zoom factor, which is an additional magnification setting used when viewing
music on the screen. The zoom factor applies only to the screen display, whereas the magnification
applies to all forms of output. For example,
magnification 1.5
has the effect of increasing the gap between stave lines to 6 points, while
magnification 0.75
reduces it to 3 points. Everything else that is printed is magnified or reduced in proportion. There are
no restrictions on the values that can be given for the magnification.
When a magnification other than 1.0 is set, the distances given in PMW directives are all magnified
too. This means that if a vertical distance is specified as 4 points, it is always equal to the distance
between stave lines. Thus, changing the magnification does not require changes to the musical data.
However, the values given for the linelength and pagelength directives are not magnified or reduced.
They specify the real dimensions of the page, and so do not have to be changed if the magnification is
changed.

Magnification 35
 19. Extracting parts from a score

When a score file has been created, individual parts can be extracted by using the -s command line
option, as described in section 4. For example, if the input were a string quartet, selecting stave 2
would cause just the second violin part to be output.
Usually, you will want to make some changes when a part is printed. At the very least, the headings
will probably be different, and you may want to print cue notes in parts but not in the score. You may
also want to print parts at a larger magnification, and force page or line breaks at particular places.
This is where the PMW conditional directives come in. These are preprocessing directives that allow
you to skip parts of the input file under certain conditions. For example, the heading portion of a file
might contain
*if score
magnification 0.9
*else
magnification 1.3
*fi
Because they are preprocessing directives, *if, *else, and *fi must appear each on a line by itself. In
the example above, *if tests to see whether a full score is being printed, and if so, sets the
magnification to 0.9. Otherwise it sets it to 1.3. PMW considers that a score is being printed if no
staves are selected by the -s command line option.
The *if directive can also test for individual stave selections, and this is the way to print appropriate
headings:
*if stave 1
heading "Violin I"
*fi
*if stave 2
heading "Violin II"
* fi
*if stave 3
heading "Viola"
*fi
*if stave 4
heading "Violoncello"
*fi
The ‘stave’ test succeeds if the given stave, and only the given stave, is selected, but it is possible to
give a list or range of staves (and to use the plural ‘staves’):
*if staves 1-2
heading "Violins"
*fi
Finally, the *if directive can be used to test for an arbitrary format name defined by the user. You
specify the format using the -f option in the PMW command line. It can be any word that you like.
For example, if you wanted to print out the string parts from a score, instead of explicitly specifying
the stave numbers each time, you could specify ‘strings’ as the format, and use input such as
*if strings
selectstaves 4-9
*fi
(The selectstaves directive has the same effect as selecting staves in the Staves options item, provided
it precedes any tests on the stave selection.) This facility can be put to many other uses for varying the
format of the output.
It is not necessary to indent the directives that appear between *if and *fi, but it helps make the input
more readable.

36 Extracting parts from a score

Because these conditional directives are preprocessing directives, they can appear anywhere in a PMW
file, not just in the heading portion. Here is an example that shows how to print rest bars in a score,
but cue bars in a part:
[stave 6 "Trumpet" treble 1]
[20] R! |
*if score
[2] R! |
*else
"(flute)"/a [cue] g’f’e’ | [cue] C’. |
*fi
The [cue] directive specifies that the remaining notes in the bar are to be printed at the cue note size.

Extracting parts from a score 37

 20. Reference section

The preceding chapters describe the basic features of the PMW music encoding in an introductory
manner, in an order suitable for this purpose. Using only the material therein, you should be able to
typeset a wide variety of music.
However, there are many special-purpose features which have not yet been covered. The remainder of
this book is written in the form of a reference manual. It gives a complete description of PMW input
files, in an order which is more suitable for looking up individual features than for straight reading.
When describing the syntax of directives, use is often made of one or more italic words in angle
brackets, for example,
tripletfont <fontsize> <name>
What this means is that the items in angle brackets must be replaced by some specific instance of what
they describe (in this case, values for the font size and the font name), when the directive is used. An
example of the use of tripletfont is
tripletfont 8 italic
Frequently, when the required value is a single number, <n> or some other single letter is used. In the
example above, <fontsize> was replaced by a single number; however, more complicated ways of
specifying the size of a font are possible, as described in chapter 32 (Font sizes, aspect ratios and
shearing).
The next two chapters describe the form of PMW input files, and the preprocessing directives. Then
follow a number of chapters giving general information, with references to particular directives.
Complete descriptions of the directives themselves are not given here; they may be found, in
alphabetical order, in the Heading directives and Stave directives (chapters 38 and 47). The chapters in
between, starting with Stave data (chapter 39) contain the specification of all items other than
directives that may appear as part of a stave’s data.

38 Reference section
 21. Format of PMW files

A file containing input for PMW is an ordinary text file that can be constructed using any available
text editor or wordprocessor.
There is only one circumstance in which the use of a space is necessary, and that is to delimit items on
a line when there would otherwise be ambiguity, for example, when a word is followed by another
word. However, spaces are allowed between items, and can be profitably used to increase the
readability of the file. Other than in quoted strings, a sequence of spaces is equivalent to one space.
The character @ is a comment character; if it appears outside a quoted string the rest of the input line
is ignored. This provides a way of annotating PMW input files. The first line of a file is very often
something like
@ Created by Christopher Columbus, October 1492
Within the file, line breaks are equivalent to spaces, except in three cases:
• When a line contains a comment (see above), the comment continues to the end of the line.
• Preprocessing directives always take up a complete line of their own (see the next chapter) and
may not continue onto subsequent lines.
• When a directive takes a number of numerical arguments, these can be separated by commas
and/or spaces. However, if the list of numbers continues onto the next line, the final one on the
first line must be followed by a comma.
The character & is an insert character and is recognized at any point in the file. It must be followed by
the name of a previously-defined macro, the contents of which are inserted at that point – for details,
see the description of the *define preprocessing directive in section 22.2. If a literal & character is
actually required in the input, it must be entered as &&.
PMW is case-sensitive. That is, it distinguishes between capital (upper case) letters and small (lower
case) letters. The only places where case does not matter are
• The names of directives (KEY is equivalent to key),
• The names of key signatures (E$M is equivalent to e$m),
• The ‘common’ and ‘cut’ (alla breve) time signatures (C and A are equivalent to c and a).
• Format words used to specify alternative forms of output.
• Words following the *if preprocessing directive.
A PMW file starts off with a number of items collectively known as the heading. These give
information which applies to the whole piece of music, such as its title, and they may also change
default parameters which control the final layout on the page (for example, the line length). The
heading is terminated by the first opening square bracket in the file, and may be completely empty.
Following the heading there is information for each stave, beginning with an item of the form
[stave <n> <additional data>]
and ending with an item of the form
[endstave]
A description of the [stave] directive is given in section 47.82. There may be up to 63 staves,
numbered from 1 to 63. They are output in numerical order down the page. If a stave numbered n is
present, then all the staves with numbers lower than n are automatically supplied as empty staves if
they do not appear in the input. For example, if only staves 2 and 4 are given, empty staves 1 and 3
are manufactured.
In addition to staves numbered 1–63, data for stave 0 may also be specified. This is treated specially
and is not a normal stave. It is always selected for printing, and by default it overprints the topmost
stave of each system. Any notes, key signatures, time signatures and clefs specified are not printed, but
text and other items are. Stave 0 can be used to print tempo descriptions and other marks above the
topmost stave, whichever staves are selected for printing.

Format of PMW files 39

It is also possible, by means of the copyzero directive, to specify that stave zero should overprint
more than one stave in each system. This can be useful in large scores where it is helpful to print
things like tempo directions and rehearsal letters at several levels. Further details of stave 0 are given
in chapter 35.
A PMW input file need not contain any stave data; in this circumstance the only output will be the
headings and footings, on a single page. This is a slightly eccentric way of printing concert posters. As
the heading section is also optional, it follows that a completely empty file is also valid; its output is
one blank page.
If the headings fill up a lot of the page, there may be insufficient room for the first system of music,
which is therefore printed on the next page. This gives a way of producing a title page followed by
pages of music, all from a single input file.
A PMW file may contain more than one musical movement, that is, the piece may be split up into
several independent sections, each with its own title. It is worth doing this if there is some possibility
of not having to start a new page for each movement, which is sometimes the case when instrumental
parts are being printed. If you know that each movement will always start on a new page, it is usually
best to keep each movement in a separate file, unless there are only a few, short movements.
The start of a new movement is indicated by an item of the form
[newmovement]
following any stave’s information. After this there may appear a new set of heading items, followed by
the staves for the new movement.
The general format of a complete PMW input file is therefore as follows:
<Heading information>
<First stave of first movement>
<Second stave of first movement>
...
<Last stave of first movement>
[newmovement]
<Supplementary heading information>
<First stave of second movement>
<Second stave of second movement>
...
etc.
The contents of headings and stave data are separately described in detail in subsequent chapters.

40 Format of PMW files

 22. Preprocessing directives

Preprocessing directives may occur at any point in an input file; in the heading, in the middle of a
stave’s data, or between staves. Most of them have the effect of modifying the subsequent input text in
some way. They are called preprocessing directives because they take effect before any other process-
ing of the input lines.
A preprocessing directive must be at the start of a line, preceded by an asterisk (spaces before the
asterisk are permitted), and it occupies the whole line.

22.1 *Comment
This directive causes the remainder of the input line to be written to the PMW verification output (the
standard error stream). It may be useful for outputting reminders to the user.

22.2 *Define
The *define directive is used to define macros. A macro is a name for a string of characters; usually
the name is much shorter and easier to type than the string it represents. The format of *define for a
simple macro is
*define <name> <rest of line>
The rest of the input line, starting from the first non-space after the name, is remembered and
associated with <name>, which must consist of a sequence of letters and digits. It may start with a
letter or a digit, so names such as ‘8va’ can be used, and upper and lower case letters are considered
different in macro names. The rest of the line may consist of no characters at all, in which case
<name> is associated with an empty string.
If there is a comment character @ on the input line, outside double quote marks, it terminates the
string which is being defined. That is, comments are permitted on *define directives, provided they
contain either no quotes, or matched pairs of quotes. If you use macros to generate partial strings, with
unmatched quotes in the defining lines, then the use of the @ character should be avoided.
The character & is used as a flag character to trigger the substitution of the remembered text. Wherever
it appears in the input (except when it follows the @ comment character), it must be followed by a
name that has previously been set up by *define. The sequence &<name> in the input is replaced by
the remembered text. If a genuine ampersand is required in the input, it must be input as &&.
To avoid ambiguity, a semicolon character can optionally be used to terminate the name in a
substitution, for example, if the immediately following character is a letter or digit. It is removed from
the text when the substitution takes place. If a semicolon is required in the input following a
substitution, then two semicolons should be entered.
If an undefined name is encountered following &, PMW issues an error message, and substitutes an
empty string. It is possible to test whether a name has been defined or not (see below).
An example of the use of a simple macro is given in chapter 10.

22.3 Macros with arguments

There are times when it is useful to be able to vary the text which is inserted by a macro. The word
argument is used in mathematics and computer programming to describe values that are passed to
functions and macros on each call, and that term is adopted here.
The use of arguments is best explained by an example. Suppose a piece of music has many ‘hanging
ties’, that is, ties which extend to the right of a note but which end in mid-air rather than on the next
note. The input to achieve this (for a given note) could be
[slur/rr15] g’ [es]
A macro with an argument can be defined in order to shorten the input, as follows:
*define hang() [slur/rr15] &&1 [es]

Preprocessing directives 41
The brackets after the macro name tell PMW that this macro has one or more arguments, and the
characters &&1 in the replacement text indicate the place where the first argument is to be inserted.
This macro can be used for many different notes, for example:
&hang(g’) &hang(B++) &hang(e’-)
In each case, the text that forms the argument is substituted into the replacement text where &&1
appears. The argument is supplied immediately after the macro name, enclosed in round brackets. Any
number of arguments may be used. The example macro could be extended to make use of a second
argument as follows:
*define hang() [slur/rr15&&2] &&1 [es]
Now it is possible to use a second argument to specify that the tie is to be below the note, for
example:
&hang(g,/b)
As this example shows, arguments are separated from each other by commas. All the characters
between the brackets and commas form part of the argument; if, for example, there is a space after a
comma, it forms part of the next argument. Arguments may contain no characters; this is not an error.
An argument can be inserted many times in the replacement text. If the following character is a digit,
the argument number must be followed by a semicolon as a terminator. This means that if the
following character is a semicolon, two semicolons are required.
There are times when it is necessary to include commas and brackets as part of an argument. The
following rules make this possible:
• No special action is necessary if an argument contains matched brackets. Within the brackets,
commas are not recognized as terminating the argument. For example:
&hang((fac’))
• To include an unmatched bracket or a comma that is not within brackets, the character & is used
as an escape character. For example, if a note with a bracketted accidental is used with the hang
macro, the input is
&hang(#&)c’)
Without the & preceding it, the accidental bracket would be interpreted as terminating the
argument list.
• If an argument contains matched double quote characters, commas and brackets (matched or
unmatched) within the quotes are not treated specially. An unmatched double quote character can
be included by escaping it with &.
In fact, the appearance of & before a non-alphanumeric character anywhere in a macro argument
always causes the next character to be taken literally, whatever it is. To include an & character itself
within the text of an argument, it must be specified as &&.
Macro arguments may contain references to other macros, to any arbitrary depth. An & followed by an
alphanumeric character in an argument is interpreted as a nested macro reference. It is also possible to
have macro substitions in the definition of another macro.
If a macro which is defined with argument substitutions is called without arguments, or with an
insufficient number, nothing is substituted for those that are not supplied, unless defaults have been
provided.
Default values for arguments are supplied as an argument list in the macro definition. For example:
*define hang(g’,/a) [slur/rr15&&2] &&1 [es]
The rules for the default argument list are the same as for argument lists when calling macros, except
that, if & is required to escape a character, it must be written twice. This is necessary because macro
definition lines are themselves subject to scanning for macro substitution before they are interpreted.
For example:
*define hang(#&&)g’) [slur/rr15] &&1 [es]
It follows that, if an & character is actually required in a default argument, &&&& must be typed.

42 Preprocessing directives
22.4 *Include
This directive can be used to include one file within another. For example, the same standard heading
file could be used with a number of different pieces or movements that require the same style. The
name of the included file is given in quotes, for example,
*include "std-setup"
If the name does not start with a slash, it is interpreted relative to the directory containing the current
input file, unless the current input is the standard input, in which case a non-absolute path name is
taken relative to the current directory. Included files may be nested. That is, an included file may
contain further *include directives.

22.5 Conditional preprocessing directives

The conditional preprocessing directives are *if, *else, and *fi. Their purpose is to arrange for certain
sections of the input file to be included or omitted under certain circumstances.
The *if directive is followed by a condition, which consists of a word, possibly followed by more data.
It the condition is met, then subsequent lines of the input, up to *else or *fi, are processed. If the
condition is not met, these lines are skipped. When *else is used to terminate the block of lines after
*if, then the lines between it and a subsequent *fi are obeyed or skipped depending on whether the
first block of lines was skipped or obeyed. An example will make this clearer:
*if score
magnification 0.9
*else
magnification 1.2
* fi
Each *if must have a matching *fi, but there need not be an *else between them. It is permitted to nest
conditional directives, that is, a complete sequence of *if → *fi may occur within another. This
provides a way of testing that a number of conditions are all true.
The word ‘or ’ can be used to test whether either one of two (or more) conditions is true, for example:
*if staves 1-3 or stave 7
*if violin or viola
If a condition is preceded by the word ‘not’, then the sense of the condition is negated. For example,
*if not score
magnification 1.2
*fi
We now describe the various conditions that can be tested using *if:
If the word that follows *if or *if not is ‘score’, then the condition is true only if no stave selection
option is specified on the PMW command line, and the selectstave directive has not been used earlier
in the file.
If the word is ‘part’ then the condition is true if and only if a stave selection option is given on the
command line, or via the selectstave directive earlier in the file.
If the word is ‘stave’ (or ‘staff ’ or ‘staves’), it must be followed by a list of staves. In this case, the
condition is true if the listed staves, and no others, are selected. The intended use is for varying the
headings of the piece when different combinations of staves are selected for printing.
If the word is ‘undef’ then this must be followed by a name, and the condition is true only if the given
name has not yet been defined as a macro using the *define directive.
If the word is ‘format’, the condition is true if the -f command line option has been used to specify a
named format, and false otherwise.
If the word following *if is not one of the above, then the condition is false, unless the -f command
line option was used to specify the same word that follows *if or *if not as a format name. The
comparison of the words is done in a case-independent manner.
Some examples of the use of the conditional preprocessing directives are as follows:

Preprocessing directives 43
 *if score @ print full score reduced
magnification 0.8
*else @ print part(s) magnified
magnification 1.1
systemgap 60
*fi
*if stave 1
heading "Flute"
*fi
*if staves 2-3
heading "Violins"
*fi
*if undef topspace
*define topspace 20
*fi
*if large
magnification 1.5
*fi
The last example would be triggered by including
-f large
in the PMW command line. Only one format word can be set at a time in this way. It must begin with
a letter and consist of letters and digits only.

44 Preprocessing directives
 23. Identification and counting of bars

PMW identifies bars in its messages using the same number as would be printed as a bar number on
the music. This applies both to error messages and to the bar numbers which are used to verify the
layout of systems on the page.
This change makes it easy to associate messages with the actual bars of the music, but it requires some
special notation for identifying bars containing the [nocount] directive.
If the first bar of a stave contains a [nocount] directive (which is the most common use of [nocount])
it is identified as bar number zero, provided that the bar directive has not been used. If there is more
than one such bar at the start of a stave, they are identified as ‘0’, ‘0.1’, ‘0.2’, etc.
Bars other than at the start of a stave which contain [nocount] directives are identified by the number
of the previous counted bar, followed by ‘.1’, ‘.2’, etc. as needed. This also applies to bars at the start
of a stave if [bar] has been used to set an initial bar number other than one.
For example, the following input contains five bars that would be identified in messages as ‘0’, ‘1’,
‘2’, ‘2.1’, and ‘3’:
[stave 1 treble 1]
[nocount] a | gggg | cd [nocheck] :) |
[nocount nocheck] ef | gggg |
The number of bars in each stave is included as part of the information that appears as a result of
specifying -v on the PMW command line. (See section 4.2 for further information on this.) The count
is given as the number of bars that do not contain [nocount], followed by the count of bars that do
contain [nocount], if any, enclosed in brackets and preceded by a plus sign. The count for the example
above would be ‘3(+2)’.

Identification and counting of bars 45

 24. Movements

Several different musical movements may be typeset in a single PMW run by using [newmovement]
to separate them, as described in chapter 21. The term ‘movement’ is something of a misnomer. All it
means to PMW is that another piece of music is to follow, possibly on the same page as the previous
one. A ‘movement’ may be as short as a few bars of a musical example for insertion in a book.
PMW starts a new page for a new movement unless there is enough room on the page for the headings
and the first system of the new movement, or, if the first system contains only one stave, two such
systems. This can be overridden by options on the [newmovement] directive (see section 47.49).
In general, most parameters which can be set by heading directives persist from movement to
movement, but key, layout, notime, startbracketbar, startnotime, suspend, time, transpose, and
unfinished apply only to the movement for which they are specified. Notespacing persists in one of
its forms, but not the other.
If notespacing is used to set absolute note spacings at the start of a movement, for example,
notespacing 33 30 24 18 14 12 10 10
these spacings are reset as the defaults at the start of subsequent movements. However, if notespacing
is used to multiply the note spacings by a factor, for example
notespacing *1.2
this change does not persist into the next movement.
Of the parameters whose values persist, most may be changed by heading directives at the start of the
new movement. However, the following directives may appear at the start of the first movement only:
landscape, magnification, maxvertjustify, musicfont, nokerning, page, pagelength, pssetup,
sheetdepth, sheetsize, sheetwidth, and textfont.

24.1 Headings and footings

Page headings and footings persist from movement to movement, but new ones can be specified if
required. New page headings and footings completely replace those of the previous movement, and are
used at the first page break of the new movement.
For all movements, if no footing is given, but there is a pagefooting (either given for the movement
or carried on from the previous one) then the page footing is printed at the bottom of the first page as
well as on all subsequent pages.
One exception to the above is when a new movement continues on the same page as one or more
previous movements. If a footing was specified for a previous movement but has not yet been printed
(i.e. this is still the first page of that movement) and the subsequent movements do not themselves
have overriding footing directives, then that footing is printed on the page.
If, for example, a copyright footing is defined at the start of the first movement, it will be printed at
the bottom of the first page, even if the second movement starts on that page, provided the second
movement does not itself contain any footing directives.
If the start of a new movement coincides with the top of a new page, the page heading is printed,
followed by the heading for the new movement. This means that, for example, if page numbers are
specified in the first movement by a pageheading directive, they will be printed by default on all
subsequent pages.
Sometimes it is required to suppress page headings at the start of a new movement, for example if
they are being used to print the name of the movement at the top of each page. This can be done by
adding the keyword ‘nopageheading’ to the [newmovement] directive. For example:
[newmovement nopageheading]
This option can be used with or without the ‘newpage’ option; it takes effect only if the new
movement actually starts at the top of a page.
When a new movement starts at the top of a page there is sometimes a requirement for a special
footing to be printed on the last page of the preceding movement. This can be requested by the use of

46 Movements
 [newmovement uselastfooting]
which then uses the lastfooting setting for this purpose. It can then be reset for the new movement if
necessary.

Movements 47
 25. Dimensions

The unit of length used by PMW is the printer ’s point. As defined by the PostScript language this is
equal to 1/72 of an inch (the true printer ’s point is slightly smaller). Thus one millimetre is 2.835
points. Whenever a dimension is required in a PMW directive, its units are always points. For
example,
linelength 720
specifies a line length of 720 points, that is, 10 inches. PMW works internally in millipoints (that is,
thousandths of a point), and any dimension can be given with a decimal point and a fractional part,
though any digits after the third decimal place are ignored. For example,
barlinespace 3.5
specifies that the space after bar lines should be 3.5 points.
When the output is being magnified (or reduced), dimensions specified by the user refer to the
unmagnified (or unreduced) units, with the exception of the line length, page length, sheet depth, and
sheet width, which are always in absolute units. Thus, for example, if the line length is set to 480
points, it remains 480 points at a magnification of 1.5, but if the distance between staves is set to 50
points, the staves are actually printed 75 points apart at this magnification. This means that a change of
magnification does not require other dimensions in the input to be changed.
The following dimension information (in points) is given to help users who want to position items
manually on the page:
distance between stave lines 4
width of note heads 6
default text baseline level below stave 10
default text baseline level above stave 4
The solid vertical line of the bracket that is used to join the staves of a system together is 2 points
wide. This is another useful reference when trying to make dimensional judgements.

48 Dimensions
 26. Horizontal and vertical justification

The word ‘justification’ is used in a typesetting context to describe the way in which a line of text is
arranged within its boundaries. ‘Left justified’ means that the line begins hard up against the left-hand
edge; ‘right justified’ means it is hard up against the right-hand edge. If both left and right justification
are required, then the line must be stretched out so that it fits exactly between the boundaries.
There is also a concept of ‘vertical justification’, in which the lines of a page are spread out so that the
page is exactly filled, instead of leaving blank space at the bottom.
In typesetting music, similar considerations apply, with musical systems taking the place of lines.
Normally, systems are stretched to fill out the entire width required, but there are occasions when this
is not required, or would look silly because the line is very short. Similarly, it is often necessary to
spread systems vertically so that the bottom stave is at the same level on each page.
PMW supports both horizontal and vertical justification. By default, both are enabled, but the justify
and [justify] directives allow the user to control the justification of each page and each system if
required. The topmargin and bottommargin directives offer some further flexibility in the page
layout.

Horizontal and vertical justification 49

 27. Time signatures

Time signatures are specified to PMW by separating the two numbers with a slash. For example, 3/4
specifies waltz time. There are two special time signatures that are specified as letters:
• The letter C specifies ‘common time’ – equivalent to 4/4 but printed using the conventional
character C.
• The letter A specifies ‘alla breve’ – equivalent to 2/2 but printed using the conventional ‘cut
time’ character _.
A time signature can be preceded by a number and an asterisk. This has the effect of multiplying the
number of notes in the bar for the purposes of checking bar lengths. However, the time signature is
printed as given. Thus, for example, the time signature 2*C prints as C, but expects there to be four
minims rather than four crotchets in a bar, while 2*3/4 prints as 3/4 but expects three minims in
a bar.
There are options for suppressing the printing of time signatures at various places, and there is a
directive (printtime) which can be used to specify exactly how certain time signatures are to be
printed. For example, 8/8 can be printed as 3+3+2/8, or only a single, large number can be printed.
By default, numerical time signatures are printed using the bold font. However, the timefont heading
directive can be used to specify an alternative. In addition, if printtime is used, the normal font-
changing escape sequences can be used in the strings that are specified.
PMW imposes no limitations on the values of the numbers used in time signatures.
It is possible to print music where different staves have different time signatures. For compatible cases
(e.g. 3/4 vs 6/8) no special action is necessary. For other cases (e.g. 2/4 vs 6/8) the [time] stave
directive has to be used to specify the conversion.

50 Time signatures
 28. Key signatures

Key signatures are specified by key letter, followed by a PMW accidental character if necessary, and
possibly the letter m to indicate a minor key. PMW uses the sharp character (#) to indicate a sharp, but
because there is nothing resembling a flat on a computer keyboard, the key that is adjacent to sharp on
some keyboards, the dollar sign ($) is used. Thus:
a means A major
c#m means C sharp minor
B$ means B flat major
CM means C minor
All the standard key signatures are supported. See the next chapter for a discussion of key signatures
after transposition.

Key signatures 51
 29. Transposition

Octave transposition can be specified for each stave, to simplify the input notation. See the [octave]
and the various clef directives ([treble], etc).
In addition, general transposition can be specified for the whole piece or for individual staves. PMW
can transpose up or down by an arbitrary number of semitones.
A transposition for the whole piece can be specified externally, via the -t command line option, or
within the input file by the transpose heading directive. Transposition for individual staves is specified
with [transpose]. If more than one transposition is present, the effect is cumulative.
PMW transposes key signatures as well as notes. Thus a piece which is to be transposed should be
input with its original key signature(s) specified in the normal way. When [transpose] is used to
transpose a single stave, only those key signatures which follow the directive in the input are
transposed.
The key signature of F♯ major is used in transposed output only if specially requested via the
transposedkey directive, G♭ being used by default. A number of other keys are also not used by
default but can be specially requested. The complete list is as follows:
C♭
D♭ C♯
B major instead of major

G♭ F♯
major " major

G♯ A♭
major " major

B♭ A♯
minor " minor

E♭ D♯
minor " minor
minor " minor
The transposedkey directive also has uses when transposing music where the key signature has fewer
accidentals than the tonality.
If a note is specified with an accidental, then an accidental will always be present by default after
transposition, whether or not it is strictly necessary. This ensures that ‘cautionary accidentals’ are
preserved over transposition. There is an option to suppress this for individual notes, and the
transposedacc directive can be used to suppress it throughout a piece.

29.1 Transposition of chord names

PMW can automatically transpose the names of chords in text strings. This is achieved by means of a
special escape sequence \t. For example, in the string
"Sonata in \tE$"
the sequence \tE$ is replaced by E and a flat sign when no transposition is taking place and by F
with a transposition of +2. Full details of string escape sequences, including chord name transpostion,
are given in chapter 34.

52 Transposition
 30. Incipits

The word incipit is the name given to stave notation that appears before the first bar of a piece, as
commonly seen in scholarly editions. This notation is often used to show the original clef and other
information about the piece. Here is a typical example:
♭ ♭♭ 6
C 4 ° @!♭ ♭ C , 6
FCCCCCCCC @
#
B@ @
B @ ♭
@ @
2 ♭ ♭ 6
#♭C ± @! ♭ C 3 5
FCCCCCCCC @

This example was produced by using the startbracketbar directive to ‘indent’ the joining bracket.
The input was as follows:
startbracketbar 1
[stave 1 soprano 1 key F time C nocheck]
A | [treble 1 key a$ time c] Rc’d’ |
[endstave]
[stave 2 tenor 1 key F time C nocheck]
C\M+\ | [treble 1 key a$ time c] Ead’ |
If an incipit is required on one stave only, for example, to print a single voice introduction at the start
of a liturgical item, then the other staves can be completely suppressed by making use of the
[omitempty] directive.
Another style of incipit leaves blank space between the incipit stave and the start of the piece proper.
With a little bit of trickery, PMW can cope with this as well. The incipit and the rest of the piece must
be input as separate ‘movements’, separated by
[newmovement thisline]
The incipit movement must be specified as left justified, and the start of the next movement as right
justified, switching to left and right justification on the second system. If necessary, [newline] can be
used to control the number of bars that are printed in the first system.

Incipits 53
 31. Text fonts

PMW supports the use of a number of different fonts, or typefaces, for use when printing text. As well
as the standard four (roman, italic, bold face, and bold-italic), the use of a symbol font and of the
music font in text is supported. In addition, up to twelve other fonts can be defined by the user.
The different kinds of text (e.g. underlay or bar numbers) each have a default font, and there are
directives to change these. The fonts are referred to by the following names:
roman the roman font
italic the italic font
bold the bold face font
bolditalic the bold-italic font
symbol the symbol font
music the music font, at 0.9 size
bigmusic the music font, at full size
extra <n> the the <n>th extra font
The textfont heading directive is used to define exactly which fonts correspond to these names. By
default, the Times series of fonts are used for text, and the Symbol font for symbols. PMW needs
access to the ‘fontmetrics’ file of every text font that it uses. Fontmetrics files for the standardly
available PostScript fonts are supplied with PMW. If you want to use other fonts, you will need to
obtain the appropriate fontmetrics files and install them in PMW’s fontmetrics directory.
The music font is available at two different relative sizes, because the musical characters look too
large if printed alongside text at the same point size, for example, when printing tempo markings.
The next chapter describes how font sizes are specified, and the following one explains how text
strings are coded, including how the font may be changed within any string.

54 Text fonts
 32. Font sizes, aspect ratios, and shearing

Many PMW directives allow you to specify a size for a font. For example, when defining a heading by
a line such as
heading 15 "|Sonatina" 30
the first number (15) specifies that the text is to be printed using a 15-point font. There are further
parameters that you can specify to control the size and shape of any text font. These are coded as two
additional numbers, separated from the main size value by slashes. For example:
heading 15/1.3/10 "|Sonatina" 30
The first additional parameter is a horizontal stretching factor which alters the aspect ratio of the font.
If it is greater than one, the resulting font appears short and fat; if it is less than one, the appearance is
tall and thin. Stretching a font horizontally makes it look larger without using up any more vertical
space.
This 10-point font is neither stretched nor compressed.
This 10-point font is stretched horizontally by 1.2.
This 10-point font is compressed horizontally by 0.8.
The second additional parameter is a shearing angle, measured in degrees. It specifies the angle
between the true vertical and what were originally vertical lines in the font. A positive shear angle
causes the font to slope to the right. Sheared roman fonts are sometimes used instead of italic fonts.
For example,
heading 14/1/20 "Slanted text"
prints the heading with a 20° shear.
This 10-point font is sheared by 20 degrees.
The stretching and shearing parameters can be specified in all the places where a text font size can be
specified.

Font sizes, aspect ratios, and shearing 55

 33. Paper size

PMW assumes by default that printing is to take place on A4 paper and so its default is to create a
page image of that size. If a different size is required, the sheetwidth and sheetdepth directives can
be used to specify what its dimensions are.
For standard page sizes, it is not normally necessary to use sheetwidth and sheetdepth, because the
sheetsize directive, which takes as its argument the name of a page size, can be used instead. All the
sheet... directives may appear only in the first movement of a file.
Sheetsize takes as its argument one of the words ‘A3’, ‘A4’, ‘A5’, or ‘B5’, and it has the effect of
setting the sheet width and depth to the correct values for the given size. It also sets the page length
and line length parameters to appropriate default values for the page size, but these can be changed by
subsequent appearances of the linelength or pagelength directives if necessary.
Sheetsize should therefore be given at the top of the file before any use of linelength or pagelength,
and also before any use of the landscape directive.
In the most common case, the page image size is the same as the actual size of paper being used, but
PMW does also support two-up printing, in which two page images are printed next to each other on a
larger piece of paper. Details of this may be found in chapter 4.

56 Paper size
 34. Text strings

Text strings (often just called ‘strings’) are used in a number of different places in PMW to define text
that appears on the page with the music. They must always be enclosed in double-quote characters.
The double-quote character itself cannot appear in a string (but can be printed using a character
number, if necessary). There is no limit to the length of a string.
Three characters are treated specially in all strings:
• The quote character ′ and the grave accent character ` are converted into (single) closing and
opening quote characters, respectively, except when using the music or Symbol fonts. A closing
quote character is the same as an apostrophe.
• The backslash character \ is an escape character (see below).
In vocal underlay strings, which are described in detail in chapter 45, a number of additional
characters are treated specially.
In headings and footings, the vertical bar | serves to separate the left-hand, middle and right-hand
parts of the text. In text that appears at the start of a stave, it serves to delimit individual lines.

34.1 Unicode and UTF-8 encoding

This section is rather technical. Unless you need to know some of the deep details of character
handling, you can probably skip it and the following section, and go to section 34.3 (Escaped
characters) below.
The PostScript fonts contain many more characters than are available on a computer ’s keyboard. The
basic computer character set, commonly known as ASCII, comprises 95 characters (including space),
whose code values lie between 32 and 126, inclusive. These are the characters you can type on the
keyboard. Codes less than 32, together with code 127, are for control functions such as ‘new line’ and
‘delete’. Codes greater than 127 are not defined in the ASCII character set.
When people needed more than 95 characters, a number of different codes were defined, including
several called ISO-8859-n (for different values of n). These all kept the same meanings for codes
0– 127, but added different sets of characters for the values 128– 255. The most widely used of these is
ISO-8859-1 (‘Latin1’), which contains many of the accented characters used in Western European
languages.
Before release 4.10, PMW interpreted each byte in a text string as a single character, with a value in
the range 0– 255. Values less than 128 were interpreted as ASCII, and values in the range 160– 255
were taken from ISO-8859-1. Some of the values in the range 128–159 were subverted for additional
characters such as endash and emdash that are not defined in ISO-8859-1. Access to non-ASCII
characters was available via escape sequences. Thus, a PMW input file could contain only ASCII
characters and still use all the ISO-8859-1 characters, though in practice input files in ISO-8859-1 code
were used by some people.
The problem with using many different character codes is that it is hard to switch between them. Even
when printing music, where there is not much text, the name of the composer may be in one language,
requiring a certain set of accents, and the rest of the text may be in another, requiring different accents.
The long-term solution to this problem is Unicode, which is a single encoding for all the world’s
characters. Unicode character values are no longer constrained to lie in the range 0–255, thus enabling
the character sets from many languages to be simultaneously defined. However, this means that no
longer can every character fit into one byte of memory.
The Unicode encoding copies ISO-8859-1 for the first 256 characters. Furthermore, there is a way of
encoding these characters called UTF-8 which keeps the byte values 0– 127 as the encoding for those
character values. For character codes greater than 127, a multibyte encoding is defined. Thus, if a file
uses only the original ASCII characters, it is a valid UTF-8 encoded Unicode file.
From version 4.10 onwards, PMW treats the bytes that make up quoted strings as UTF-8 encoded
Unicode character sequences. For example, the following byte sequence (where each byte is expressed
in hexadecimal) encodes two characters:
41 C2 A6

Text strings 57
The first byte, with a decimal value of 65, is less than 128, and is therefore an entire character on its
own. The remaining two bytes together encode the value 166. If you have a text editor that can create
files using UTF-8 encoding for Unicode characters, you can use these characters directly in PMW
strings. There is a complete list of the available characters in chapter 48.

34.2 Backwards compatibility for character strings

Some byte values are invalid in UTF-8 strings. In particular, a single byte with a value greater than
127 that is between two bytes whose values are less than 128 cannot occur. When PMW encounters
such a byte in a string, it interprets it as a single-byte encoding of a character in the range 128– 255.
This is done for backwards compatibility so that input files for PMW releases prior to 4.10 that made
use of the ISO-8859-1 encoding directly can still be processed. The output is likely to be correct in
most cases; only when there are several high-valued bytes in a row, and they happen to form a valid
UTF-8 character, will things go wrong. Thus:
• If an existing PMW input file uses only ASCII characters, and does not (by means of escape
sequences) refer to characters in the range 128– 159 by number, it should continue to work as
before.
• If an existing PMW input file contains bytes with values in the range 160–255, but these are
always isolated between characters with values less than 128, it should also continue to work as
before.
• An existing PMW input file that contains sequences of two or more bytes with values greater
than 159 may or may not work, depending on the exact byte values.
• An existing PMW input file that uses characters in the range 128–159 by any method will
definitely have to be updated, as the codes for those characters have changed.
For maximum portability of PMW input files, it is recommended that only ASCII characters be used.

34.3 Escaped characters

From PMW release 4.10 onwards, it is possible (as described above) to use UTF-8 encoding to
directly represent Unicode character values in text strings. However, it is also possible to use just the
set of ASCII characters in PMW input files, without loss of functionality.
The backslash character is used as a means of including characters that are not in the normal computer
character set, for specifying changes of font, and for some other special effects. For example, the
following sequences are available to represent some of the commonly accented characters in European
languages:
\a’ prints á
\a` prints à
\a^ prints â
\a. prints ä
Many other accented characters are available, and there are other escape sequences for other special
characters:
\c) prints as 
\c] prints as  (but see below)
\ss prints as ß
\? prints as ¿
\\ prints as \
\’ prints as ′ (because ’ on its own prints as ’ )
\` prints as ` (because ‘ on its own prints as ‘ )
\-- prints as –
\--- prints as —
A complete list of all the available special characters and their escape sequences is given in chapter
48. Other escape sequences are summarized in chapter 51.
The normal way to print a copyright symbol is to use \c) because this prints it in the current font.
However, some older PostScript printers do not have a copyright symbol in every font. The alternative
escape sequence \c] is provided to print a copyright symbol from the PostScript Symbol font.

58 Text strings
Characters that are not on the keyboard can also be included in strings by giving the character number,
in hexadecimal preceded by x or in plain decimal, enclosed between two backslashes. For example,
\xb7\ or \183\ prints a bullet character.
Characters that are treated specially in text strings can also be printed by this means. For example,
\x22\ prints a double-quote character, which cannot appear literally in a string.
The interpretation of string escape sequences happens after a string has been split up into different
parts for headings or for underlay text. Therefore it is possible to print the splitting characters, should
they ever be wanted, by specifying their character number. For example, the sequence \x7c\ can be
used to print a vertical bar in a heading line.
Characters from the PostScript Symbol font are also available for use in text strings. This font contains
some large brackets which are sometimes useful. To include a single character from this font, specify
its hexadecimal character number preceded by sx or its decimal character number preceeded by s and
enclosed in backslashes. For example, \s212\ prints character 212, which is the  trademark
symbol.

34.4 Page numbers

There are three escape sequences that are different to the others in that they do not generate a
particular fixed character:
\p\ prints the current page number
\po\ prints the current page number if it is odd
\pe\ prints the current page number if it is even
If the page number is even, \po\ prints nothing, and if it is odd, \pe\ prints nothing. These are
made available for use in heading and footing lines, to enable page numbers to be printed on the right
or left as appropriate.
There is an additional facility for skipping parts of the string depending on the value of the page
number. Any characters between two occurrences of the substring \so\ are skipped if the page
number is odd, and similarly for \se\ if the page number is even. This makes it possible to specify
page headings of the form
pageheading "\so\page \p\\so\||\se\page \p\\se\"
which will print ‘page <n>’ on the left or right of the page, depending on the value of the page
number.

34.5 Comments within strings

There is a facility for in-string comments. Any characters between the string \@ and the next
backslash are ignored. This can be useful when an entire piece’s underlay is being input as a single,
very long string. However, if such a comment in an underlay string is surrounded by spaces, it acts as
an empty syllable.

34.6 Transposing chord names

A special escape sequence is provided to define the names of chords that should be changed if the
piece (or stave, for strings associated with a stave) is being transposed. This makes it straightforward
to transpose pieces that show chord names above a line of music.
The escape sequence is \t, and it must be followed by one of the letters A–G, in upper case. This
may optionally be followed by one of the characters #, $, or (for completeness) %. Such a sequence
has two effects; firstly, the chord name is transposed in the same way as its base note would be
transposed, and secondly, if the new chord name involves a sharp or a flat, the correct sign is used,
with appropriate spacing adjustment. Thus, even without transposition, this notation is a convenient
way of specifying chord names that involve accidentals.
Natural signs are never used on transposed note names. The rules for transposing real notes can yield a
new note with double sharp or a double flat. When this happens for a chord name, the enharmonic
name is substituted. For example, G is used for F double-sharp.
When a string that involves a transposable chord name appears in a header or footer line, only
transpose heading directives that are earlier in file are applied to it, because the transposition is
performed when the string is read.

Text strings 59
34.7 Musical characters
The backslash character can also be used to include single musical ‘characters’ in textual output.
Typical uses of this are for indicating tempo by printing a note followed by an equals sign and its
metronome marking, or for printing sharps and flats in the names of instruments. To include a note
from the musical font, the following special sequences can be used:
\*b\ prints a breve
\*s\ prints a semibreve
\*m\ prints a minim
\*c\ prints a crotchet
\*Q\ prints a quaver
\*q\ prints a semiquaver
Any of the above can include a dot after the note letter to print the dotted form of the note, e.g.
\*c.\. The accidental characters are available as follows:
\*#\ prints a sharp
\*$\ prints a flat
\*%\ prints a natural
A typical example of a tempo marking which uses this facility might be
"Maestoso \*c\ = 60" @ 60 crotchets per minute
which prints as

Maestoso 5 = 60
Musical characters included in character strings with a single asterisk in this way are printed using a
musical font which is 9/10 the nominal size of the surrounding text characters. This is an appropriate
size for items such as tempo markings. Thus, if a 10-point text font is being used, a 9-point music font
is used with it.
The music font which is used to print the actual music being typeset is a 10-point font, and it is
sometimes useful to be able to print musical characters at full size. If two asterisks are present in an
escape sequence for a musical character, the character is taken from a music font which is the same
size as the text font. Since the default text fonts are the same size as the standard music font, this
gives music characters at the same size as those being set by PMW.
There are a number of ‘characters’ in the music font that do not actually cause any marks to be made
on the page. However, ‘printing’ these characters has the effect of moving the current printing
position, thus affecting the placing of the following characters. The following sequences (which may
also be used with two asterisks) access some of these special characters:
\*u\ moves up by 0.2 times the font’s size
\*d\ moves down by 0.2 times the font’s size
\*l\ moves left by 0.33 times the font’s size
\*r\ moves right by 0.55 times the font’s size
\*<\ moves left by 0.1 times the font’s size
\*>\ moves right by 0.1 times the font’s size
Thus, for example, in a 9-point music font, \*u\ moves up by 1.8 points. This is half the distance
between stave lines for a 9-point music font.
If more than one ‘escaped sequence’ starting with an asterisk is required in succession, they can all
appear between a single pair of backslashes, for example, \*#*c\. However, you cannot mix single
and double asterisks between the same pair of backslashes.
It is possible to print any single character from the musical font by specifying its hexdecimal character
number preceded by x or just its decimal number, preceded by one or two asterisks, between
backslashes. A list of the available characters is given in chapter 49. For example, the sequence
\*45\ prints a crotchet rest.

34.8 Font changes

Roman, italic, bold and bold-italic fonts are available for all text printed by PMW. By default, these
use the Times series of fonts but can be changed by the textfont heading directive. In addition, the

60 Text strings
user may define up to twelve additional fonts via textfont. If any of these is used without being
defined, the roman font is substituted.
The initial font setting at the start of each character string is roman for all text that is not part of any
stave’s data. Within a stave, the default depends on whether the text is underlay, overlay, figured bass,
or other text. For underlay, overlay, and figured bass the default is roman, while for other text it is
italic. These defaults can be changed on a per-stave basis (see the [underlayfont], [overlayfont],
[fbfont], and [textfont] stave directives).
Within a text string, the following special character sequences are used to change font:
\rm\ change to roman
\it\ change to italic
\bf\ change to bold face
\bi\ change to bold-italic
\sc\ change to small caps
\sy\ change to the Symbol font
\mu\ change to the music font at 0.9 size
\mf\ change to the music font at full size
\x1\ change to the first extra font
...
\x12\ change to the twelfth extra font
For example:
"\rm\this is roman \it\this is italic \bf\this is bold"
Note that the letters involved are always in lower case. A change of typeface does not persist beyond
the end of the text string in which it appears.
The default of italic for ordinary text within staves is appropriate for dynamic markings such as ff,
though sometimes a bold-italic type is used for this kind of mark. Tempo markings at the start of
pieces are normally printed in bold face, as in the following example:
"\bf\Adagio"
Changing to SMALL CAPS does not in fact change the typeface, nor does it force subsequent letters to be
capitals; it just changes to a smaller font of the same typeface as the current font. The effect lasts until
the next font change.
The relative size of small caps can be set by the smallcapsize heading directive, whose argument
should be a number between 0 and 1. The default value is 0.7, because this makes small caps whose
height is equal to the x-height of the normal font in the Times series of fonts, and this is the usual
typographic convention.

34.9 Sizes of text strings

The heading directives that specify page headings and footings allow arbitrary sizes to be given for
those texts. Text within a stave is by default printed using 10-point fonts, but various facilities are
provided for changing this.
Underlay, overlay, figured bass, and other text each have their own separate default sizes, which are set
up by heading directives. In addition the user may specify up to eleven additional sizes which can be
requested for any particular item of text. Details are given in section 38.114 and chapter 44.
Whenever the size of a text font is specified, an associated aspect ratio and/or shearing angle may also
be specified. See chapter 32 for details.
Stave text strings that are not underlay or overlay can be rotated so that they print at an angle. Details
are given in chapter 44 (Text strings in stave data). Text at the start of a stave can be rotated so as to
print vertically instead of horizontally – see the description of [stave] in section 47.82.

34.10 Kerning
Kerning is the word used to describe the practice of moving certain pairs of letters closer together or
(more rarely) further apart, in order to improve the appearance of text. Compare, for example,
‘Yorkshire’ (kerned) with ‘Yorkshire’ (unkerned).

Text strings 61
PMW makes use of the kerning information in fontmetrics files automatically. This action can be
disabled by including the directive nokerning in the heading of the first movement. To prevent
kerning between a particular pair of characters, a redundant font change can be used. For example,
"\rm\Y\rm\orkshire"
is printed without the o being moved nearer to the Y.

62 Text strings
 35. Stave 0

The normal staves of a piece are numbered from 1 to 63. In addition, data for a special stave,
numbered 0, can be supplied. This stave is by default overprinted on the topmost stave of each system;
the -s stave selection option on the command line does not affect it.
No stave lines, clefs, key signatures or time signatures are printed for stave 0, and any notes that are
specified are treated as ‘invisible’. However, text items are printed.
The intended use of stave 0 is for setting up text items that are to be printed above the topmost stave,
whatever combination of staves is selected for printing from the full score. This saves having to input
the text items with each part. Dummy notes can be supplied to ensure that the text items are
horizontally aligned where they are required. A typical example might be:
[stave 0]
"Allegro"Q+ | [15]Q! | Q "rit." Q | [23]Q! |
"with feeling" Q+ |
[endstave]
Overprinting stave zero on the top stave of each system is the default action of PMW. In fact, the
copyzero heading directive makes it possible to have copies of stave zero printed over any number of
staves. It is followed by a list of stave numbers, each of which may be optionally followed by a slash
and a dimension. The dimension is a vertical adjustment to the level of stave zero for the given stave.
For example:
copyzero 1 7/10 11/-2
All the staves over which stave zero is to be printed must be specified, including the top stave.
Different versions of copyzero can be used for different movements; if not given, it is copied from the
previous movement.
If a stave over which stave zero is being printed is suspended, then stave zero is printed over the next
following non-suspended stave, if there is one. However, if that stave itself is listed in the copyzero
directive, then its spacing parameter is used. In general, if, as a result of suspension or overprinting,
stave zero is requested to be multiply printed at any given level, then the spacing parameter for the
highest numbered stave is used.
Selection of a subset of staves for printing is equivalent to the suspension of all others. Thus the
default setting of
copyzero 1
has the desired effect of printing over individual staves that are extracted as parts. If it is necessary to
adjust the overall level for a particular part, constructions such as the following can be used:
*if stave 9
copyzero 9/4
*fi
There is also a [copyzero] stave directive, which takes a dimension as an argument, and adjusts the
vertical level of any stave zero material in the current bar when stave zero is printed at the level of the
current stave. For example,
[copyzero 4]
raises the stave zero material in the current bar by 4 points.
It is not necessary for there to be an instance of the copyzero heading directive specifying the current
stave for [copyzero] to take effect. In the default case, [copyzero] takes effect whenever the stave in
which it appears is the top stave of a system.
When first and second time bar markings are specified in stave zero, and there is a need to adjust their
height for certain staves, it should be noted that the markings are drawn when the bar in which their
end point is determined is processed. Consequently, it is that bar in which [copyzero] should appear.
The same applies to slurs and lines.

Stave 0 63
 36. Temporarily suspending staves

When a part is silent for a long period of time, it is conventional in full scores to suppress its stave
from the relevant systems. The term ‘suspended’ is used to describe a stave that is not currently being
printed. PMW does not suspend staves automatically, but requires an instruction in the input to tell it
to do so (see [suspend] in section 47.86).
Staves can be suspended only if they contain no notes or text items, though other items such as time
and key signature changes may be present. Resumption of printing is automatic, though there is also a
[resume] directive for forcing it to happen.
It is conventional to print all the staves in the first system of a piece, even if some of them contain
only rest bars. However, there is a heading directive called suspend that enables PMW to suspend
individual staves right from the start (see section 38.111).
Normally, a stave which is not suspended will be printed right across the system, with rest bars as
appropriate. However, a stave can be tagged with the [omitempty] directive, in which case completely
empty bars are not printed at all. This can be useful for printing ossia passages, for example. A
completely empty bar has no data at all specified for it; a bar containing a rest is not a completely
empty bar.
When a single part is being printed, suspension normally has no effect, since multiple rest bars are
packed up into a single bar with a count printed above, and so systems containing only rest bars do
not occur. However if S! is used for rest bars, it prevents the amalgamation of adjacent bars and may
lead to suspendable systems. In these cases, the [suspend] directive should be skipped (using the *if
preprocessing directive) when printing the part.

64 Temporarily suspending staves

 37. Drawing facilities

PMW contains a facility for drawing simple shapes, defined by the user, positioned relative to notes,
bar lines, headings, stave names, or gaps in slurs and slur-like lines. This makes it possible to print
musical notation that is not provided explicitly by PMW.
For example, the facility can be used to draw piano pedal markings, boxes round notes, vertical
brackets between notes, and to print unusual markings above or below the stave. It can be used with
headings or footings to rule lines across the page or to print crop marks.
A simple programming language is used to describe drawings. Readers unfamiliar with computer
programming may find this chapter hard going and may prefer to skip it on a first reading.
Before describing the facility in detail, we consider a short example. Suppose there is a requirement to
draw a solid black triangle, with its point upwards, 4 points below the stave. The first thing to do is to
define this shape. This is done using the draw heading directive as follows:
draw triangle
3 -4 moveto @ move to apex
-3 -6 rlineto @ line to bottom left
6 0 rlineto @ horizontal line to bottom right
-3 6 rlineto @ line back to apex
fill @ fill it in (solid triangle)
enddraw
This example of draw defines a drawing called ‘triangle’. The lines between draw and enddraw are
drawing instructions in a form which is described below. Whenever the triangle shape is wanted, the
stave directive [draw triangle] is specified before the relevant note. For example:
c’f [draw triangle] g a |
c’-b’- [draw triangle] a’-g’- fg |

6 5 JL JL
! 5 5 5 @
FCCCCCCC JL 5 5 @

Obviously, if lots of triangles are required, it would be a good idea to use *define to set up a macro
for [draw triangle] to save typing.
The ‘language’ used to describe drawings is based on the notion of a stack. This will be familiar to
you if you have any experience of the computer programming languages Forth or PostScript. For those
readers who are not familiar with stacks, we now explain how they work.

37.1 Stack-based operations

A stack is a means of storing items of data such that the last item which is put on the stack is the first
item to be taken off it. An analogy is often drawn with the storage arrangements for trays in self-
service restaurants, where a pile of trays is on a spring-loaded support. Trays are added to the stack on
the top, thereby pushing it down; when a new tray is required, it is taken from the top of the stack,
and the remainder of the trays ‘pop up’.
PMW’s drawing stack contains numbers and references to text strings rather than trays. (Discussion of
strings is postponed till section 37.13.) When PMW is obeying a set of drawing instructions, if it
encounters a number in its input, the number is ‘pushed’ onto the top of the stack. Consider the
following fragment of a drawing program:
3 2 add
In this example, the first item is the number 3, so the effect of reading it is to put the stack into this
state:

Drawing facilities 65
 top of stack
3
bottom of stack

The second item is also a number, so after it is read, the stack is as follows:

top of stack
2
3
bottom of stack

The third item in this fragment is the word ‘add’. This is not a number – it is an operator. The
operators used in PMW drawings are based on those found in the PostScript language.
When an operator is encountered, it causes PMW to perform an operation on the numbers which are
already on the stack. In the case of the add operator, the two topmost numbers are ‘popped’ off the
stack, added together, and the result is pushed back onto the stack. So in this case, after ‘add’ has been
obeyed, the stack is like this:

top of stack
5
bottom of stack

The stack mechanism is very simple, and operates quickly. However, it does make it possible to write
very obscure programs which are hard to understand. Use PMW’s comment facility to help you keep
track of what is going on.
PMW does not clear the drawing stack between one invocation of [draw] and the next. This provides
one way of passing data between two drawing function calls, and there is no problem if the related
drawing functions are called in the same bar of the same stave, because they will be always obeyed in
the order in which they appear in the input.
However, you must not rely on the order in which PMW processes bars and staves, other than that bar
n will be processed before bar n+1 on any particular stave, but not necessarily immediately before it (a
bar on another stave may intervene). Apart from this, the order of processing, and therefore the order
of obeying [draw] directives on several staves, is not defined, and may change between releases of
PMW.
Therefore, if you need to pass data between drawing functions in different bars, and use this facility on
more than one stave, the stack cannot be used. User variables (described in section 37.12) must be
used instead.
If an operator is encountered which requires more numbers on the stack than there are present, stack
underflow is said to occur. PMW generates an error message and abandons its attempt to display or
print the page.

37.2 Drawings with arguments

Whenever a drawing function is called (by the [draw] directive or as part of some other directive), its
name may be preceded by a list of numbers or text strings (see section 37.13), separated by spaces.
These are pushed onto the drawing stack immediately before the function is obeyed, and therefore act
as arguments for the function. For example,
heading draw 44 logo
[draw 3 -5.6 thing]
[linegap/draw 8.2 blip]
[slurgap/draw "A"/c annotate]

66 Drawing facilities
There is no explicit facility for default values, but these can be provided by using a macro with
arguments to call the drawing function (see section 22.3).

37.3 Arithmetic operators

The following arithmetic operators are provided for use in drawing descriptions:
• add: Add the two top numbers on the stack, leaving the result on the stack.
• div: Divide the second topmost number on the stack by the number on the top of the stack,
leaving the result on the stack.
• mul: Multiply the two top numbers on the stack, leaving the result on the stack.
• neg: Negate the topmost number on the stack, leaving the result on the stack.
• sub: Subtract the topmost number on the stack from the second topmost number, leaving the
result on the stack.
Evaluation of the expression ((3+4) × 5 + 6)/7 could be coded as follows:
3 4 add
5 mul
6 add
7 div

37.4 Truth values

The operators false and true push the values 0 and 1 onto the stack, respectively. These are the same
values that are returned by the comparison operators, and can be tested by the conditional operators.

37.5 Comparison operators

The following operators operate on the top two values on the stack and leave their result on the stack.
The values must be numbers – if they are not, the result is undefined. Otherwise the result is 1 for true
and 0 for false.
eq test equality
ne test inequality
ge test first greater than or equal to second
gt test first greater than second
le test first less than or equal to second
lt test first less than second
For example,
10 10 eq
would leave the value 1 (true) on the stack, while
25 4 lt
would yield 0 (false). The conditional operators can be used to test these values.

37.6 Bitwise and logical operators

The following operators perform bitwise operations on the integer parts of the top two values on the
stack. The result always has a zero fractional part.
and bitwise and
or bitwise or
xor bitwise exclusive or
The not operator performs bitwise negation on the top number on the stack. These bitwise operators
act as logical operators when applied to the results of the comparison operators. For example,
5 6 ne 13 7 gt and
leaves 1 (true) on the stack, because 5 is not equal to 6 and 13 is greater than 7.

Drawing facilities 67
37.7 Stack manipulation operators
There are a number of operators which perform manipulations of the numbers on the stack:
• copy: Remove the top number from the stack, then duplicate that number of items on the stack
by pushing a second copy of the sequence of items onto the stack. For example, if the stack
contained the numbers 23 and 53, then after
2 copy
it would contain 23, 53, 23, 53.
• dup: Duplicate the number on the top of the stack. This is equivalent to copy with an argument
of 1.
• exch: Exchange the two top numbers on the stack.
• pop: Remove the topmost number on the stack, and discard it.
• roll: This operator performs a circular shift of items on the stack. When it is encountered, there
must be three or more items on the stack. The topmost item on the stack is a count of the number
of positions by which items are to be shifted. The second topmost item is the number of items
involved, and there must be at least this many additional items on the stack. PMW first removes
the two control numbers from the stack. Then it shifts the given number of items by the given
amount.
If the amount of shift is positive, each shift consists of removing an element from the top of the
stack, and inserting it below the last element involved in this operation. This is an ‘upwards’ roll
of the stack.
If the amount of shift is negative, each shift consists of removing the lowest element involved in
the operation, and pushing it onto the top of the stack. This is a ‘downwards’ roll of the stack.
Here is an example of the use of roll. After obeying the input
33 45 67 91 3 1 roll
the stack will be as follows:

top of stack
67
45
91
33
bottom of stack

The three elements 45, 67, 91 have been rolled upwards one place.

37.8 Coordinate systems

The coordinate system used in PMW drawings is a traditional X-Y system, with all distances specified
in points. The initial position of the origin of the coordinates depends on the item with which the
drawing is associated. PMW drawings can be associated with four kinds of item:
(1) They can be associated with a note (or chord) on a stave, or with the end of a bar if no notes
follow the [draw] directive. In this case, the origin is on the bottom line of the stave, either at the left-
hand edge of the associated note, or at the bar line.
The left-hand edge of a note or chord with a downwards pointing stem is the edge of the stem. This
applies even when a chord has some noteheads moved to the other side of the stem. For breves and
semibreves the behaviour is as if there were a stem.
Noteheads are 6 points wide, so the horizontal coordinate of the centre of a note is 3. That is where
the 3s in the triangle example come from.
(2) Drawings can be associated with heads or feet. The origin of the coordinate system is at the left-
hand side, at the level of the next heading or footing line. See the heading directive for more details.

68 Drawing facilities
(3) Drawings can be associated with a gap in a line that is defined by the [line] directive or with a
slur. For details see the [linegap] and [slurgap] directives in sections 47.41 and 47.76, respectively.
(4) Drawings can be associated with the text that is printed at the start of a stave. The origin of the
coordinate system is at the left-hand side of the page, at the level of the bottom line of the stave. For
details, see the [stave] directive in section 47.82.

37.9 Moving the origin

There is an operator called translate which moves the origin of the coordinate system to the point
specified by the two numbers on the top of the stack, relative to the old origin.

37.10 Graphic operators

PMW follows the PostScript model in the way drawn marks on the page are specified. There are
operators that set up a description of a path (i.e. an outline) on the page, and this outline is then either
filled in completely, using the fill operator, or a line of given thickness is drawn along the path, using
the setlinewidth and stroke operators.
A path may consist of several segments, which may be lines or curves. There can be gaps in the path.
A single path can consist of a number of disconnected segments.
A path definition must always start with a moveto operation, in order to establish an initial current
point. Thereafter, a mixture of moving and drawing operators may be specified.
Distances are, as always, expressed in points. They are subject to the overall magnification in the same
way as other dimensions. They are not, however, subject to the relative magnification of individual
staves, but there is a variable which contains the magnification of the current stave (when the drawing
is associated with a stave), so that adjustments can be made explicitly where required.
Whenever a pair of coordinates is required to be on the stack, it is always the x-coordinate which must
be pushed first, and the y-coordinate second.
The graphic operators are as follows:
• currentgray: Push onto the stack the current value of the gray setting – see setgray below.
• currentlinewidth: Push onto the stack the current value of the line width setting – see
setlinewidth below.
• currentpoint: Push the coordinates of the current point onto the stack. The x-coordinate is
pushed first.
• curveto: This operator draws a Bezier curve. There must be six numbers on the stack when it is
called; they are treated as three pairs of coordinates. The final pair are the end point of the curve,
which starts from the existing current point. The two middle pairs of coordinates give the Bezier
curve control points.
If you are not familiar with Bezier curves, you will need to discover a bit about them before you
can fully understand this operator. They are described in many books on computer graphics. Very
roughly, the curve starts out from its starting point towards the first control point, and ends up at
the finishing point coming from the direction of the second control point. The greater the distance
of the control points from the end points, the more the curve goes towards the control points
before turning back to the end point. It does not, however, pass through the control points.
• fill: This operator causes the interior of the previously defined path to be completely filled in in
black. The path is then deleted, and a new one can be started.
• fillretain: This command behaves like fill, except that the path is retained and can be used again.
See setgray below for an example.
• lineto: The path is extended by a line segment from the current point to the absolute position
given by the two top items on the stack.
• moveto: If there is no current path, this must be the first graphic operator encountered. It
establishes the initial current point. Otherwise, the path is extended by a move (i.e. invisible)
segment from the current point to the absolute position given by the two top items on the stack.
• rcurveto: This operator acts like curveto, except that the three pairs of coordinates are taken as
relative to the existing current point.

Drawing facilities 69
 • rlineto: This operator acts like lineto, except that the coordinates are taken as relative to the
existing current point.
• rmoveto: This operator acts like moveto, except that the coordinates are taken as relative to the
existing current point.
• setgray: This operator is used to specify a gray shade for drawn items resulting from the use of
stroke or fill. It does not apply to text. It must be preceded by a number between 0 (black) and 1
(white), for example:
0.5 setgray
In particular, this can be used to fill an area with white and thereby ‘rub out’ any previous marks
on the page. For example, to blank out an area with white and draw a black line round its edge
one could define the path and then use:
1 setgray fillretain 0 setgray stroke
If you do something like this on a stave of music, you should invoke the drawing with
[overdraw] rather than [draw] as that ensures that it is output after everything else on the stave.
• setlinewidth: A single number is required on the stack to specify the width of lines to be drawn
by the stroke operator. The default line width is 0.5 points. The value persists from one call of
[draw] to the next.
• show: This operator prints a text string. Details are given in section 37.13 below.
• stroke: This operator causes a line to be drawn along the previously defined path, omitting any
segments that were defined with moveto or rmoveto. Afterwards, the path is deleted, and a new
one can be defined.

37.11 System variables

In order to set up drawings that are positioned according to the following note or chord (for example,
to draw a box around it) it is necessary to have access to some data about it. There are a number of
system variables which provide this, as well as other variable data values. When encountered in a
drawing description, the name of a variable has the effect of pushing the relevant data value onto the
stack.
The system variables are listed below. Those that relate to notes should be used only when the drawing
function is called immediately before a note, and those that relate to staves and systems should not be
used in drawings that are called as headings or footings.
• accleft: The distance from the left-hand edge of the leftmost notehead to the left-hand edge of
the accidental which is furthest to the left. This is given as a positive number. If there are no
accidentals, the value given is zero.
• barnumber: When used in a bar, this contains the bar number; when used at the start of a
system, it contains the number of the first bar in the system. If used in headings or footings, it
contains zero.
• gaptype: Contains +1 or -1 when a drawing function is being obeyed as part of a [linegap]
directive; the value is positive for a line above the stave, and negative for a line below the stave.
Otherwise the variable contains zero.
• headbottom: The y-coordinate of the bottom of the notehead; if the drawing function precedes a
chord, this refers to the lowest notehead.
• headleft: For a chord with a downwards stem in which there is a notehead on the ‘wrong’ side of
the stem, the width of this notehead is given as a positive number; otherwise zero is given.
• headright: The width of the notehead; for a chord with an upwards pointing stem in which there
is a notehead on the ‘wrong’ side of the stem, twice the notehead width is given.
• headtop: The y-coordinate of the top of the notehead; if the drawing function precedes a chord,
this refers to the highest notehead.
• leftbarx: The x-coordinate of the previous bar line, except in the first bar of a system, in which
case it is the x-coordinate of a point slightly to the left of the first note in the bar.

70 Drawing facilities
 • linebottom: This gives a value of 2 points (scaled to the stave size) if the bottom of the lowest
notehead is on a stave (or ledger) line (i.e. the notehead itself is positioned in a space); otherwise
it gives zero.
• linegapx and linegapy: When a drawing is being obeyed as part of the [linegap] directive, these
variables contain the position of the start of the next part of the line. Otherwise they contain zero.
• linelength: This variable contains the current line length, as set by the linelength heading
directive.
• linetop: This gives a value of 2 points (scaled to the stave size) if the top of the highest notehead
is on a stave (or ledger) line (i.e. the notehead itself is positioned in a space); otherwise it gives
zero.
• magnification: The value of the magnification setting.
• originx and originy: These variables are for use when more than one note position is participat-
ing in a drawing. They place on the stack the absolute x-coordinate and y-coordinate of the local
coordinate system’s origin, respectively.
This makes it possible to leave absolute coordinate values in user variables or on the stack at the
end of a call to [draw]. A subsequent [draw] program can relate these values to its own local
coordinate system by its own use of originx and/or originy. An example of this is given below.
The variable origin is equivalent to originx. It is provided for compatibility with previous
versions of PMW when only the x-coordinate origin was available. It should not be used in new
input files.
• pagelength: This variable contains the current page length, as set by the pagelength heading
directive.
• pagenumber: The current page number.
• stavesize: The relative magnification for the current stave, as specified by the stavesize heading
directive.
• stavespace: The current stave spacing for the current stave, that is, the vertical distance between
this stave and the next one.
• stavestart: The x-coordinate of the left-hand end of the current system, relative to the current
origin.
• stembottom: The y-coordinate of the bottom of the stem of the note or chord. If there is no stem,
or if the stem points upwards, this gives the same value as headbottom.
• stemtop: The y-coordinate of the top of the stem of the note or chord. If there is no stem, or if
the stem points downwards, this gives the same value as headtop.
• systemdepth: The distance from the bottom of the top stave of the current system to the bottom
of the bottom stave.
• topleft: The coordinates of the position at which PMW starts writing on a page, relative to the
current origin. This is normally one inch down from the top of the paper, and indented according
to the sheet width and line length. This operator can be used with translate to move the origin to
a fixed point on the page in order to draw such things as crop marks.

37.12 User variables

Up to 20 user variables are available for use in drawing functions. These variables are global in that
they are shared between all drawing functions. When you want to pass values from one drawing
function call to another, using a variable is often more convenient than leaving data on the stack.
The names of the variables are chosen by the user, but they must not be the same as any of the built-in
variables or operators. To set a value into a variable, the following construction is used:
/<name> <value> def
The appearance of / indicates that the name of the variable is required, rather than its value. For
example, to put the value 10 into a variable called abc:
/abc 10 def

Drawing facilities 71
Once a variable has been defined, its value is retrieved by simply quoting its name; this causes the
value to be copied onto the stack.
A variable’s name must be defined (that is, appear with a slash) before its value is used. If a variable
is set in one drawing function and used in another, the definition of the one in which it is set must
come first in the PMW input file. This is not always possible. For example, when the defining function
calls the other function, the called function must come first. In such a case, a dummy drawing function
which is never obeyed can be used just for the purpose of defining user variable names to PMW.

37.13 Text strings in drawings

Text strings can be printed from within the drawing mechanism. The appearance of a string in quotes
inside a drawing definition or as an argument to a drawing function causes an item representing the
string to be pushed onto the stack. Such an item can be copied or moved around the stack in the
normal way, but the only operation that can be carried out on it is the show operation, which causes
the string to be printed at the current point. For example,
draw string
0 -12 moveto "text" show
enddraw
The string may contain font changes and other escape sequences. The default font is roman. In
addition, it may be followed by the following options:
/box enclose the string in a rectangular box
/c centre the string at the current point
/e align the end of the string with the current point
/ring enclose the string in a ring (circular if a short string)
/rot<n> rotate the string by <n> degrees
/s<n> print the string at size <n>
where the string sizes are defined by the textsizes directive in the normal way. For a discussion of
rotated text, see chapter 44.
When the string is centred or end-aligned, the printing of the string does not change the current point;
in the other case, the current point is moved to the end of the string. A line may be begun before
printing a string and continued afterwards.
As an example of the use of the text facility, consider music printed in the sixteenth and seventeenth
century style where, instead of using ties that cross bar lines, augmentation dots without notes are
printed on the far side of the bar lines.
*define bd() [notes off draw dot] &&1-; [notes on]
draw dot
0 headbottom 2 linebottom sub add moveto
"\mf\?" show
enddraw
time 2/4
[stave 1 treble 1]
ra | &bd(a) r-g |
In this example, the macro bd (‘bar dot’) is defined, in order to shorten the input for each dot. Its
argument is the note pitch for which a dot is required. The input could be shortened even further by
including the previous note and the bar line inside the macro expansion.
The ‘tied’ note is not actually printed because of the use of [notes off] but its pitch is available to the
drawing function, which uses it to print a dot character from the music font at the appropriate level on
the stave.

37.14 String operators

The cvs operator converts a number to a string, typically so that it can be printed. There must be two
arguments on the stack: the number to be converted, and an empty string which provides a place to
store the converted number. The string may be followed by any of the usual string options. For
example, to print the current barnumber at text size 2, centred at the current position:

72 Drawing facilities
 barnumber ""/c/s2 cvs show
The two arguments are removed from the stack and the string containing a representation of the
number is then pushed back.
The operator stringwidth replaces a string on the stack with the horizontal and vertical distances by
which the current point would move if the string were printed. Note that the second value is not the
height of the string, and in most cases is zero. There is an example of the use of stringwidth in the
section on looping operators below.
The operator fontsize replaces a string on the stack with the font size associated with it.

37.15 Drawing subroutines

One drawing program can be called as a subroutine from within another by means of the draw
operator. The drawing stack and the current graphics state (current position and current path) are
passed over to the called routine. For example, to draw two crosses below the stave on either side of a
note’s position:
draw cross
-4 0 rmoveto 8 0 rlineto
-4 -4 rmoveto 0 8 rlineto
stroke
enddraw
draw crosses
-10 -6 moveto draw cross
10 -6 moveto draw cross
enddraw
[stave 1 treble 1]
[draw crosses] g
The subroutine must be defined before the definition of any drawing functions in which it is called.
Subroutines cannot be called recursively (i.e. it is not possible to call a routine from within itself).

37.16 Blocks
A block is a portion of a drawing function enclosed in curly brackets. It is used by the conditional and
looping operators. When a block is encountered during drawing, its contents are not obeyed immedi-
ately. Instead, a reference to them is placed on the stack, for use by a subsequent operator. Blocks can
be nested inside each other.

37.17 Conditional operators

The operator if is used to obey a portion of the drawing function conditionally. It uses the top two
items on the stack. The first must be a number, and the second a reference to a block. Both are
removed from the stack, and if the value of the number is zero, nothing else happens. Otherwise, the
contents of the block are obeyed. For example, to print the bar number if it is greater than 5:
barnumber 5 gt { barnumber "" cvs show } if
The bar number and then the number 5 are pushed on the stack; the comparison operator gt replaces
them with 1 if the barnumber is greater than 5, or 0 otherwise. Then a reference to the block is pushed
onto the stack and the if operator causes it to be obeyed if the number is non-zero.
The ifelse operator is similar to if, except that it require two blocks on the stack. The first is obeyed if
the condition is true, the second if it is false.

37.18 Looping operators

The repeat operator expects a number and a block on the stack. It removes them, and then obeys the
block that number of times. If the number has a fractional part, it is ignored. For example, to print a
row of asterisks from the start of the bar to just before the current note or bar line, the following
function could be used:

Drawing facilities 73
 draw astline
leftbarx -15 moveto
leftbarx neg "*" stringwidth pop div
0.5 add { "*" show } repeat
enddraw
Adding 0.5 ensures that the count is rounded to the nearest integer.
The loop operator expects only a block on the stack, and it obeys it repeatedly until the exit operator
is encountered. To guard against accidents, a limit of 1,000 times round the loop is imposed. Another
way of printing the asterisks is
draw astline
leftbarx -15 moveto
{ "*" show currentpoint pop 0 ge {exit} if } loop
enddraw
The exit operator can also be used to stop a repeat loop prematurely. If encountered outside a loop, it
causes an exit from the current drawing function.

37.19 Drawing in headings and footings

Drawing functions can be obeyed in headings and footings. For example, crop marks and borders on
title pages can be drawn by this method. For details, see the description of the heading directive in
section 38.45.

37.20 Drawing at stave starts

Drawing functions can be obeyed at the start of a stave, as well as, or instead of printing text. For
details see the description of the [stave] directive in section 47.82.

37.21 Testing drawing code

When a drawing does not turn out the way you expect it to, it can sometimes be difficult to track
down exactly what is wrong. Being able to examine the contents of the stack at particular points is
sometimes helpful. The operator pstack causes the contents of the stack to be written to the standard
error stream.

37.22 Example of use of system variables

This example illustrates the use of the variables which contain the dimensions of the note that follows
the [draw] directive.
draw box
-2 headleft sub accleft sub stembottom 1.3 sub moveto
stemtop stembottom sub 2.6 add dup 0 exch rlineto
headleft headright add accleft add 4 add dup 0 rlineto exch
0 exch neg rlineto
neg 0 rlineto
stroke
enddraw
draw bracket
-2 headleft sub accleft sub headbottom linebottom add moveto
-2 0 rlineto
-4 headleft sub accleft sub headtop linetop sub lineto
2 0 rlineto
stroke
enddraw
[stave 1 treble 1]
[draw box] $a [draw box] f’ [draw box] (fg)
[space 10] [draw box] (f’g’)
[space 6] [draw bracket] (#fc’) [draw bracket] (g#d’)
[endstave]

74 Drawing facilities
 6 y{6
yL K
♭5 5 ♯5
! }
J
FCCCCCCCC5L ♯5 5 C@

The definitions look a bit daunting at first sight, but are not difficult to understand when broken down
into their constituent parts. If you find the explanation hard to follow, try using pencil and paper to
keep track of the values as they are pushed onto and popped off the stack. This is also a good way of
developing your own drawings.
We consider first the ‘box’ drawing, which encloses the following note or chord in a rectangular box.
The first line establishes the start of the drawing path at the bottom left-hand corner of the box:
-2 headleft sub accleft sub stembottom 1.3 sub moveto
It starts by pushing the value -2 onto the stack, then subtracting from it the headleft and accleft
variables. This gives a value for the x-coordinate which is two points to the left of the leftmost
accidental, taking into account any notehead which is positioned to the left of the stem. The y-
coordinate is computed as the value of the stembottom variable less 1.3 points. The moveto operator
then establishes the start of the drawing path, using the two coordinate values that are on the stack,
and leaving the stack empty.
The second line of the drawing instructions,
stemtop stembottom sub 2.6 add dup 0 exch rlineto
computes the length of the vertical sides of the rectangle. It does this by subtracting the value of
stembottom from the value of stemtop and then adding 2.6 to the result. This is to allow 1.3 points of
clear space at the top and the bottom. As this value is going to be needed twice, once for each side,
the dup operator is called to duplicate it. To draw the left-hand vertical, a relative x-coordinate of zero
is pushed on the stack, and then exch is used to get the coordinates in the correct order on the stack
before calling rlineto.
The current point is now at the top left-hand corner of the rectangle, and the stack contains the
duplicated value of the vertical sides’ length. The third line,
headleft headright add accleft add 4 add dup 0 rlineto exch
does a computation for the rectangle’s width, which is computed as the sum of the contents of the
headleft, headright, and accleft variables, plus four (allowing two points clear on either side). Once
again, dup is used to leave a copy of the value on the stack, and this time a zero relative y-coordinate
is used, in order to draw a horizontal line. The two remembered lengths that are left on the stack are
now exchanged, so that the vertical length becomes the topmost value.
The remaining lines use these stacked values to complete the rectangle:
0 exch neg rlineto
neg 0 rlineto
stroke
The first line pushes a zero relative x-coordinate, ensures that the order on the stack is correct by
means of exch (bringing the vertical side length to the top), and negates the y-coordinate so that the
line is drawn downwards.
The second line negates the one remaining value on the stack, which is the width of the rectangle,
pushes a zero relative y-coordinate, and draws the final horizontal line to the left. Finally, stroke
causes a line to be drawn along the path which has just been defined.
The ‘bracket’ drawing draws a left-hand bracket whose size is adjusted for the notes of a chord, and
which also takes into account the position of the noteheads on stave lines or in spaces.
-2 headleft sub accleft sub headbottom linebottom add moveto
-2 0 rlineto
-4 headleft sub accleft sub headtop linetop sub lineto
2 0 rlineto
stroke
The first line computes the position of the start of the path, which is the right-hand end of the bottom
‘jog’. The x-coordinate is 2 points to the left of the left-most accidental, while the y-coordinate is the

Drawing facilities 75
bottom of the lowest notehead if this position is not on a stave line (in which case linebottom is zero)
or two points above if it is.
The second line draws the lower horizontal ‘jog’ to the left as a relative line. The third line computes
the absolute coordinates of the top left-hand corner, taking into account whether the top notehead is on
a line or not. An alternative to this would have been to save the initial x-coordinate on the stack
instead of recomputing it from scratch. Finally, the top ‘jog’ is drawn to the right, and the path is
stroked.

37.23 Example of inter-note drawing

This example illustrates the use of the originx variable for connecting up two different notes:
draw save
headbottom originx
enddraw
draw connect
originx sub 3 add dup 3 add 2 div
3 1 roll exch 2 sub moveto
-12 lineto
3 headbottom 2 sub lineto
stroke
enddraw
[stave 1 treble 1]
b [draw save] e c’-g-a-b-
[draw connect] a g |
[endstave]

5 5 J JJL JJL 5
!
FCCC5 JL 5C@

The ‘save’ drawing doesn’t actually do any drawing at all. It simply saves on the stack the coordinate
of the bottom of the next note, and the absolute coordinate of its left-hand edge. Using the stack to
pass data between two drawing functions is a simple method that works well when both functions are
called in the same bar on the same stave. An alternative method is to use user variables (see section
37.12); this must be used if the drawing functions appear on several different staves and the related
functions are not called in the same bar.
The first thing the ‘connect’ drawing program does is to push its origin onto the stack, and subtract it
from the saved origin. The result of this computation is the x-coordinate of the first note (the one
immediately following [draw save]), relative to the current local coordinate system, which is, of
course, based on the note following [draw connect].
A value of 3 is added to this, giving the horizontal position of the middle of the first note. The dup
operator saves a copy of this value on the stack for later use, while another 3 is added to the top value,
giving the coordinate of the right-hand edge of the first note.
The next bit of computation is to find the mid-point between the two notes. The left-hand edge of the
second note has an x-coordinate of zero in the local coordinate system, so simply dividing the
coordinate of the right-hand edge of the first note by 2 gives us the mid-point. There are now three
values on the stack:
the x-coordinate of the halfway point
the x-coordinate of the mid-point of the first note
the y-coordinate of the bottom of the first note
The operation ‘3 1 roll’ changes this to
the x-coordinate of the mid-point of the first note
the y-coordinate of the bottom of the first note
the x-coordinate of the halfway point
and the subsequent exch changes it to

76 Drawing facilities
 the y-coordinate of the bottom of the first note
the x-coordinate of the mid-point of the first note
the x-coordinate of the halfway point
A value of 2 is subtracted from the y-coordinate of the first note, and the moveto operator is called to
start the drawing path, which therefore begins two points below the first note, and halfway along its
notehead. Now only the x-coordinate of the halfway point between the two notes remains on the stack.
The operation ‘-12 lineto’ draws a line from the initial position to the halfway point, twelve points
below the bottom of the stave. The stack is now empty. The final lines of the drawing program
continue the path to a position two points below the end note, and at the mid-point of its notehead, and
then cause it to be stroked.

Drawing facilities 77
 38. Heading directives

The information given in the heading section of the input to PMW is in the form of heading directives.
Each takes the form of a keyword, and some of them must be followed by numerical or other data.
Each keyword may appear on a new line, but this is not necessary.
In general, they may appear in any order, but there are some obvious cases where the order matters.
For example, a multiplicative change to the note spacing must follow a setting of absolute values, the
definition of a drawing or macro must precede its use, and a stave selection must precede any tests
based on which staves are selected.
A number of heading directives are followed by a list of numbers. In all cases, such numbers can be
separated by commas or spaces, or commas and spaces, except when such a list is continued onto a
subsequent input line, when the final number on the first line must be terminated by a comma.
The heading section is terminated by the first square bracket character in the file (excluding any in text
strings or comments).
None of the heading information is mandatory, as there are default values for all the parameters; the
heading section of the file may be completely empty.
Most of the heading directives may appear at the start of a new movement as well as at the start of the
input; a few may only appear at the very start of the file. See chapter 24 for details.
The heading directives are described in this chapter in alphabetical order. Those that are restricted to
appearing at the start of a PMW file only are marked with an asterisk. The remainder may also appear
at the start of a new movement within a PMW file. Those directives that are marked with a dagger (†)
set values which are reset at the start of a new movement. The effects of the others continue into
subsequent movements.

38.1 Accadjusts
Accidentals are normally printed about four points to the left of the notes to which they apply (the
exact distance depends on the accidental). The accadjusts directive can be used to vary this position-
ing, on a note-type basis. It does not affect the spacing of the notes themselves, simply having the
effect of moving the accidentals right or left. The directive is followed by up to eight numbers, which
apply to each of the eight note types, starting with breves. The numbers can be positive (move to the
right, i.e. nearer the note) or negative (move to the left, i.e. further from the note). For example,
accadjusts 1.8
has the effect of moving any accidental which precedes a breve 1.8 points to the right.

38.2 Accspacing
The accspacing directive must be followed by five numbers. These give the printing widths of the
accidental characters in the order double sharp, flat, double flat, natural, and sharp. The default values
are equivalent to
accspacing 5.25 4.5 8.0 4.25 5.0
It should not be necessary to change these widths unless a non-standard music font is being used.

38.3 Bar
This directive must be followed by a number, and it causes the numbering of bars to begin from a
number other than one. This facility is useful for printing parts of pieces, or continuing a bar number
sequence through several movements.

38.4 Barcount
By default, PMW allocates its internal tables in such a way as to make room for 500 bars of music per
stave per movement. If the music in any movement is longer than this, the barcount directive must be
used to increase the size of these tables. Its parameter is the maximum number of bars in the current
and subsequent movements.

78 Heading directives
38.5 Barlinesize
When a a system contains staves of differing sizes (as set by stavesizes) it is usually the case that bar
lines are split where the stave size changes, so the use of barlines of differing thicknesses for the
different staves looks reasonable. To cope with the rare case when barlines must cover staves of
different sizes, the barlinesize directive exists, because PMW cannot decide for itself what the size
should be – the default use of different sizes leads to jagged joins.
Barlinesize takes a single number which specifies the relative size of bar line to be used throughout. A
value of zero requests the default action of using different sizes. The directive
barlinesize 1
requests that full size barlines be used throughout; they will look somewhat fat on any staves whose
size is less than 1.

38.6 Barlinespace
This directive allows control over the amount of space left after bar lines. It must be followed by a
single dimension, which may be preceded by a plus or a minus sign, indicating a change to the
existing value. If neither of these is present, the number specifies an absolute value.
The default is related to the space following a minim, with a minimum of 3 points. However, if an
explicit space is specified, no minimum is enforced. A value of zero may be given – this is useful
when printing a piece with no bar lines, where ‘invisible bar lines’ can be used to tell PMW where
lines can be broken, but no space must be inserted.
Any value set by barlinespace persists over movement changes. The default value can be reset by
following the directive with an asterisk.

38.7 Barlinestyle
This directive specifies the way in which bar lines are to be printed on all staves. It takes a numerical
parameter, with a value in the range 0–5. There is also a [barlinestyle] stave directive which sets the
style separately for an individual stave. The styles are as follows:
• Style 0 is the normal style, using solid bar lines.
• Style 1 prints with dashed bar lines.
• Styles 2 and 3 cause solid or dashed bar lines (respectively) to be drawn between staves only; if
the bar line is broken at a stave where either of these styles applies, nothing at all is printed.
These styles work only when the stave spacing is 32 points or greater (which is normally the
case).
• Style 4 causes a half-height bar line to be printed in the middle of the stave. It implies a bar line
break at any stave where it is used.
• Style 5 causes two very short stub lines to be drawn, above and below the stave. It implies a bar
line break at any stave where it is used.
Specifying a double bar by inputting || overrides the stave or movement bar line style, which can
also be overridden by inputting a digit immediately after the vertical bar character. The following
example shows the six available styles:
‰
x
+ + + + + yx‰ ‰ yyyyy + xxx +
° FFCCCCCCC
!
@ @ ~x yx|‰ yyyyy CA
B@ style 0 @ style 1 style 2 @ style 3 style 4 style 5 A
B@ @ @ ‰
x A
+ + + + + yx‰ ‰ yyyyy + xxx +
±"
@
FFCCCCCCC @ [ ~x yx|‰ yyyyy CA

Note that the breakbarlines directive can be used to specify breaks in bar lines at particular staves
when style 0 or 1 is used, and an individual bar line may be broken by using [breakbarline].

Heading directives 79
38.8 Barnumberlevel
The heading directive barnumberlevel is provided to adjust the level of all the bar numbers in a
piece. It must be followed by a plus or a minus sign and a dimension. For example,
barnumberlevel +4
prints all bar numbers four points higher up the page than they would otherwise have been.

38.9 Barnumbers
This directive specifies that the bars of the piece are to be numbered. Several different options are
available, the general form of the directive being
barnumbers <enclosure> <interval> <fontsize> <fontname>
The first parameter, which is optional, must be one of the words ‘boxed’ or ‘ringed’. These specify
that barnumbers are to printed inside rectangular boxes, or roughly circular rings, respectively. If
neither word is given, the numbers are printed without any special identification.
The second parameter must be present, and is either the word ‘line’ or a number. If ‘line’ is given, it
causes a bar number to be printed over the first bar of every line of music except the first; if a number
is given, it specifies the interval between bar numbers. Thus, for example,
barnumbers boxed 10
causes a bar number, enclosed in a box, to be printed every 10 bars.
The third parameter is optional; it specifies the size of the font in which the numbers are printed. The
default size is 10 points. For example,
barnumbers line 8.5
numbers the bars at the start of each system, using a font of size 8.5 points.
The final parameter, which is optional, specifies the font (typeface) for printing the bar numbers. The
default is roman, but any of the standard font names can be used. For example,
barnumbers 5 9/1.1 italic
prints bar numbers every 5 bars in a 9-point italic font, horizontally stretched by 1.1.
The automatic bar numbering that is set up by this heading directive can be overridden for individual
bars by means of the stave directive [barnumber], which is described in section 47.9.
In certain circumstances it may be necessary to prevent a bar in the middle of the piece from being
counted, for example, when using an ‘invisible bar line’ to make PMW split a bar over two lines on
the page. There is a stave directive [nocount] to request this. If a piece starts with an incomplete bar,
PMW counts it for the purposes of bar numbering, unless it contains the [nocount] stave directive,
which should therefore normally be used in ‘upbeat’ bars.

38.10 Beamendrests
This directive, which has no parameters, requests PMW to include rests at the ends of beams within
the beams. For details, see section 42.3.

38.11 Beamflaglength
The length of short, straight note flags that are used with beams (e.g. for a semiquaver beamed to a
dotted quaver) can be set by this directive. The default is 5 points; it scales with the relative stave
magnification.

38.12 Beamthickness
This directive takes a single dimension as its parameter; it sets the thickness of the lines drawn for
beaming notes together. The default thickness is 1.8 points. On some printers and at some magnifi-
cations a better effect can be obtained by changing the thickness (normally by making it smaller). The
thickness should not be set greater than 2.5 points, as otherwise beams will not be correctly printed.

80 Heading directives
38.13 Bottommargin and topmargin
The bottommargin and topmargin directives make it possible to reserve white space at the top or
bottom of a page, provided that there is room on the page to do this after the systems have been fitted
onto it. Effectively, these directives give some additional control over the vertical justification action
described in the section 38.49 below, once the pagination of a piece is determined.
The parameter for each of these directives is a dimension. They set default values for the vertical
margins for each page. For example,
topmargin 20
bottommargin 5
The values can be changed for an individual page by means of the [topmargin] and [bottommargin]
directives. The default values for the margins are zero for the bottom margin and 10 points for the top
margin.
The use made of the supplied values depends on the justification mode for the page. The phrase ‘the
contents of the page’ below excludes any text that is defined as a footing or as a page heading, but
includes start-of-piece headings.
• If the justify mode is ‘top’ only, then the contents of the page are moved down by the top
margin, provided there is enough room on the page to do this. If not, the contents of the page are
moved down as far as possible. The bottom margin value is ignored.
• If the justify mode is ‘bottom’ only, then the contents of the page are moved up by the bottom
margin, provided there is enough room on the page to do this. If not, the contents of the page are
moved up as far as possible. The top margin value is ignored.
• If the justify mode is both ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ then the amount of space available for spreading
the systems vertically is decreased by the sum of the top margin and the bottom margin, and the
contents of the page are moved down by the top margin, provided there is enough spreading
space available. If there is insufficient spreading space, it is divided pro rata between the top
margin and the bottom margin, the systems are not spread at all, and the contents of the page are
moved down by the adjusted top margin value.
• If the justify mode is neither ‘top’ nor ‘bottom’ then both values are ignored.
The effect of using these directives is to allow more of the page to be used when necessary, but to
keep the systems nearer the centre of the page when there is a lot of space left over.

38.14 Brace and Bracket

These two directives specify which staves in the system are to be joined by brackets and/or braces. A
bracket is traditionally used for groups of independent instruments or voices, while a brace is reserved
for pairs of staves that apply to a single instrument, frequently a keyboard. (See also the thinbracket
directive, which specifies another kind of bracket.)
Each of these directives must be followed by a list of pairs of stave numbers, the members of each
pair being separated by a minus sign, with the pairs themselves separated by spaces and/or commas.
For example,
bracket 1-4,5-7
brace 8-9
specifies that staves 1– 4 and 5– 7 are to be joined by brackets, while staves 8 and 9 are to be joined
by a brace. In addition to these marks, the entire system is by default joined by a single vertical line at
the left-hand side. (See the join and joindotted directives for ways of changing this.)
Occasionally a bracket is required for a single stave within a system; this may be specified by giving
just one stave number. The effect can also occur if all but one of a bracketed group of staves is
suspended. By contrast, a brace is never printed for just one stave.
If only a single stave is selected for printing, for example, when a part is being extracted from a full
score, these directives are ignored; no marks precede the clef on a single stave in this case.
The default action of PMW is to join all the staves with a single bracket. If no brackets of any kind
are required, it is necessary to suppress this by including a bracket directive with no parameters.

Heading directives 81
38.15 Bracestyle
The default brace shape curves a lot at the ends and almost touches the staves. An alternate form
which does not curve so much at the ends can be selected by specifying
bracestyle 1

38.16 Breakbarlines
By default, PMW draws bar lines through all the staves of a system without a break. The
breakbarlines directive specifies after which staves there is to be a break in the bar lines. It is
followed by a list of stave numbers. For example,
breakbarlines 3 6 8
specifies that there is to be a vertical break in the bar lines after staves 3, 6 and 8. Two numbers
separated by a minus sign can be used to specify breaks for a sequence of staves. For example,
breakbarlines 1-4
Breakbarlines can also appear with no numbers after it at all; in this case there is a break after every
stave.
If breakbarlines is specified at the start of a new movement, it must list all the staves at which a
break is required. If it is not given, breaks carry over from the previous movement.
The stave directives [breakbarline] and [unbreakbarline] can be used to override the setting for
individual barlines on a given stave.

38.17 Breakbarlinesx
The breakbarlinesx directive acts exactly as breakbarlines, except that the final bar line of each
system on the page is not broken, but is drawn solid right through the system.

38.18 Breveledgerextra
This directive specifies the number of points of extra length that ledger lines for breves have at either
end. The default value is 2.3.

38.19 Breverests
By default, PMW prints a semibreve rest sign for a complete bar ’s rest, whatever the time signature.
This heading directive changes its behaviour so that the notation used for a whole bar rest depends on
the number of crotchets in the bar:
• If there are 8 crotchets (4/2 or 2/1 or 2*C etc.) then a breve rest sign is used.
• If there are 12 crotchets (6/2 or 12/4 or 2*3/2 etc.) then a dotted breve rest sign is used.
• If there are 6 crotchets (3/2 or 2*3/4 etc.) then a dotted semibreve rest sign is used.
• Otherwise a semibreve rest is used.

38.20 Caesurastyle
The default caesura ‘character’ is two slanting lines through the top line of the stave. This directive
can be used to specify an alternative. It is followed by one of the following numbers:
0 default style
1 one slanting line only

38.21 Check
This directive, which has no parameters, can be used to override an occurrence of nocheck in a
previous movement.

82 Heading directives
38.22 Checkdoublebars
This directive, which has no parameters, can be used to override an occurrence of nocheckdoublebars
in a previous movement.

38.23 Clefsize
By default, new clefs that appear in the middle of lines of music are printed at the same size as clefs
at the left-hand side. This directive is used to specify a different relative size for such clefs. For
example,
Clefsize 0.7
specifies that such intermediate clefs are to be printed at 0.7 times the normal size.

38.24 Clefstyle
Some early editions use ® for the F-clefs and ¯ for the C-clefs. The clefstyle directive makes it
possible to reproduce this usage. It takes a single numerical argument, with the following values:
0 all modern clefs
1 old-fashioned F clefs
2 old-fashioned C clefs
3 old-fashioned F and C clefs
The ® graphic is wider than the modern " shape. Printing has been arranged so that two dots appear
in the same place in both cases. This means that the old-fashioned clef extends further to the left than
the modern one, and with PMW’s default settings, it runs into stave joining lines and brackets.
Therefore, when using old-fashioned F clefs, the startlinespacing directive should be used to insert at
least 2 points of space before the clefs.

38.25 Clefwidths
When it is laying out a system, PMW inspects the clefs of all the staves, and positions the key
signature immediately to the right of the widest clef. When the clefs change between systems, it can
happen that the key signatures do not all line up vertically on the page, and some people want that to
happen. Unfortunately, it is not easy to arrange for PMW to do this automatically, because it does the
layout in a single pass through the input, and so does not know what clef arrangements lie ahead.
However, the clefwidths directive is provided to enable this to be done manually. Clefwidths specifies
the widths to be used for each type of clef when computing where to put key signatures. The directive
is followed by up to five numbers, which specify the widths of the G-clef, F-clef, C-clef, H-clef, and
no clef, respectively. The default settings are equivalent to
clefwidths 13 16 15 15 0
The values given must be whole numbers (no fractions are allowed). For example, in a piece which
has treble and bass clefs in some systems and only treble clefs in others, a setting such as
clefwidths 16 16
would ensure that all the key signatures line up.

38.26 Copyzero
This directive makes it possible to have copies of stave zero printed over any number of staves. It is
followed by a list of stave numbers, each of which may be optionally followed by a slash and a
dimension. Details of the use of copyzero are given in chapter 35 (Stave 0).

38.27 Cuegracesize
This directive, which takes a single number as a parameter, specifies the font size to be used when
printing grace notes in bars containing cue notes. See the [cue] directive for further details.

38.28 Cuesize
This directive, which takes a single number as a parameter, specifies the font size to be used when
printing cue notes. See the [cue] directive for further details.

Heading directives 83
38.29 Dotspacefactor
This directive specifies the factor by which the horizontal space after a dotted note is extended. The
default value is 1.2. If, for example,
dotspacefactor 1.5
is specified, then the amount of space which follows a dotted note is 1.5 times the amount that would
follow an undotted note of the same type. (Of course, when several staves are involved, the value is a
minimum, as the notes on the other staves may cause additional spacing.)
When a note is double-dotted, half as much space again is added. Thus in the default case a double-
dotted note occupies 1.3 times the space of an undotted note.

38.30 Doublenotes
This directive, which applies to the current movement only, causes the length of each note to be
doubled. It also affects time signatures as follows:
• C and A are turned into 2*C and 2*A, that is, they are printed as before, but the bar length is
doubled.
• Other time signatures are changed by halving the denominator, unless the denominator is 1, in
which case the numerator is doubled instead.
For example, 4/4 becomes 4/2, but 4/1 becomes 8/1. See also halvenotes.

38.31 Draw
The draw directive is used for defining simple drawn shapes that are to be printed with music on
staves. A full description of this facility is given in chapter 37.

38.32 Endlinesluradjust and endlinetieadjust

When a slur or a tie is continued onto the next line, the first part is normally drawn right up to
the end of the first line. Some editors prefer it to stop a little short of this; endlinesluradjust and
endlinetieadjust specify a dimension that is added to the right-hand end of such slurs and ties,
respectively. Normally the value given is a small negative dimension. The value for ties also applies to
glissandos.

38.33 Endlineslurstyle and endlinetiestyle

Each part of a continued slur or tie is normally drawn as a complete slur, that is, with both ends
tapering to a point, which is the most commonly found style. Some editors, however, prefer each
portion to have the appearance of half a normal slur. Endlineslurstyle and endlinetiestyle specify this
behaviour when style 1 is selected. The default is style 0.

38.34 Extenderlevel
The vertical level of extender lines which are drawn when the last syllable of an underlaid or overlaid
word extends over several notes can be altered by this directive, which takes a positive or negative
number as its parameter. This specifies a number of points, positive numbers moving the lines up, and
negative ones down. Extender lines are output by printing underscore characters, and the default level
is just below the baseline of the text. Specifying
extenderlevel 1
moves the extender lines up to near the baseline, while larger values can be used to place them nearer
the middle of the text letters.

38.35 Fbsize
By default, text which is specified as being part of a figured bass is printed at the same size as other
textual items (10 points). This directive enables a different point size to be chosen for the figured bass
font. For example,
fbsize 8.2
Individual figured bass text strings may have an explicit size specified (see chapter 44).

84 Heading directives
38.36 Footing
This directive has the same parameters as heading, and they have the same meaning. See heading
below for a full description. Footing sets up text to be printed at the foot of the first page only, for
example
footing "Copyright \c) 1992 J.S. Bach"
Note the use of the escape sequence \c) to obtain a copyright symbol. If a type size parameter is not
given, 8-point type is used.
Several footing lines may be specified. They are printed below the bottom of the page, as specified by
the pagelength directive, the first one being 20 points below. This is an absolute distance that does not
change if the magnification is altered. However, the distance between footings and the sizes of fonts
used are subject to magnification.
As is the case with headings, if the left-hand part of a footing (the text before the first | character) is
longer than the line length, it is split up into as many lines as necessary, and all but the last are fully
justified.
As the first footing line on a page is always at the same fixed vertical position, the drawing facility (as
described for heading) can be used for drawing fixed marks on the page. For example, crop marks and
borders on title pages can be drawn by this method.
Setting any footing line for a new movement automatically cancels all the footings that were in force
for the previous movement.
See the pagefooting and lastfooting directives for a means of setting up footings for pages other than
the first.
If no footing directive is present, then the text specified by pagefooting is printed on the first page as
well as on subsequent pages. If the piece is only one page long, footing overrides lastfooting, but
lastfooting overrides pagefooting.

38.37 Footnotesep
This directive specifies the amount of vertical white space to leave between multiple footnotes on the
same page. The default is 4 points. See the [footnote] directive for a full description of footnotes,
which should not be confused with footings.

38.38 Footnotesize
This directive sets the type size used for printing footnotes. The default size is 9 points.

38.39 Gracesize
The default size of the musical font used for printing grace notes is 7 points. This directive allows a
different size to be chosen. It must be followed by a number specifying a point size for the font.

38.40 Gracespacing
By default, a grace note is printed 6 points to the left of the note that follows it. If there are two or
more grace notes, the distance between them is also 6 points by default. This directive allows these
values to be changed. It must be followed by either one or two parameters. If only one parameter is
given, its value is used for both dimensions. If two parameters are given, the first affects the distance
between the last grace note and the following main note, and the second affects the distance between
multiple grace notes.
If the value of either parameter is preceded by a plus or a minus sign, it indicates a change to the
existing value. If no sign is present, the number specifies an absolute value. For example:
gracespacing +2
increases both dimensions by 2 points, whereas:
gracespacing -1 8
reduces the space after the last grace note by one point, and sets the distance between multiple grace
notes to 8 points.

Heading directives 85
38.41 Gracestyle
When two or more staves are being printed, and a note on one stave is preceded by one or more grace
notes, then the notes on the other staves which fall at the same point in the bar are printed directly
above or below the main note, leaving the grace notes sticking out to the left. This is, of course, the
conventional practice in modern music. The gracestyle directive can be used to make PMW behave
differently. It is followed by a number:
0 default style
1 align with first grace note
When the style is set to 1, the notes which are not preceded by grace notes are aligned with the first
grace note on other staves. In addition, if underlaid text is present, it is aligned to start at the first
grace note instead of being centred on the main note.
This facility can be used, in combination with setting the grace note size equal to the main note size,
and using notes with no stems (see [noteheads]), to print some forms of plainsong music.

38.42 Hairpinlinewidth
This directive specifies the width of line used to draw hairpins. Its parameter is a width in points. The
default width of hairpin lines is 0.2 points.
The number may be preceded by a plus or a minus sign, indicating a change to the existing value. If
neither of these is present, the number specifies an absolute value.
Making hairpin lines thicker may help alleviate jagged effects on long hairpins printed on high
resolution printers.

38.43 Hairpinwidth
This directive specifies the vertical width of the open end of crescendo and decrescendo ‘hairpins’. Its
parameter is the number of points. For example,
hairpinwidth 5.6
The number may be preceded by a plus or a minus sign, indicating a change to the existing value. If
neither of these is present, the number specifies an absolute value. The default value for this parameter
is 7 points.

38.44 Halvenotes
This directive, which applies to the current movement only, causes the length of each note to be
halved. It also affects time signatures as follows:
• C and A cannot be halved. The signatures 2*C and 2*A can be halved, and turn into C and A
respectively.
• Other time signatures are changed by doubling the denominator.
For example, 4/4 becomes 4/8. See also doublenotes.

38.45 Heading
The heading keyword defines a line of text to be printed as a heading to the piece or movement. Any
number of occurrences of this keyword may be given. There are two forms which the heading
directive can take:
In the more common form, the keyword may be followed by up to three parameters:
heading <fontsize> "<text>" <depth>
The first parameter is a number, and is optional. If present, it defines the size for this heading, in
printer ’s points. As for all font size sizes, an aspect ratio and/or shear angle may be specified as well
as the basic size. If this parameter is omitted, default sizes are used.
For headings at the start of the piece the default sizes are 17 points for the first heading line, 12 points
for the second, 10 points for the third, and 8 points for the fourth and subsequent heading lines.
For headings at the start of a new movement the default sizes are 12 points for the first heading line,
10 points for the second, and 8 points for the third and subsequent heading lines.

86 Heading directives
The second parameter is a string in double-quotes, and must be present. It defines the contents of the
heading. The vertical bar character has a special meaning in this text – it splits it up into left-hand,
centred and right-hand parts. Characters to the left of the first vertical bar are printed at the left of the
page; characters between the first and second vertical bars are centred on the page; the rest of the text
is printed at the right of the page.
If the left-hand part of the text is longer than the line length, it is split up into as many lines as
necessary. All but the last line are fully justified, by expanding any spaces they contain. The last line is
also justified if it is nearly as long as the line length. Justification does not take place when there are
no spaces in the text.
This facility makes it possible to print paragraphs of introductory text on title pages or at the start of
pieces or movements. Note, however, that PMW does not set out to be a fully-fledged wordprocessor.
Any special characters required in the text (for example, the ‘fi’ ligature) have to be coded explicitly
(see chapter 34); they are not provided automatically.
The paragraph mechanism should not be used with text that contains variable data such as the escape
sequence for the current page number, because the splitting and justification happens only once, when
the heading directive is read in.
Note that heading strings do not need to be input on a single line; line breaks in the string are treated
as spaces.
The third parameter of heading is a number and is optional. If present, it specifies the number of
points of vertical space to leave after the heading. It may be zero; this can be useful for printing
headings of different sizes on different parts of the line. It may also be negative; this can be used with
an empty text string to make PMW start printing higher up the page than it normally does. If the
parameter is omitted, the amount of space left after the heading line is equal to the point size of the
text.
For the last heading line, the space specified (or defaulted) is the space between the base line of the
heading text and the top of the first stave of music.
When a heading string is split up by PMW into several lines, the spacing value given (or defaulted) is
used for the space after each line in the paragraph. To leave space between paragraphs, a heading
containing an empty string can be used.
Here are some examples of this form of the heading directive:
Heading "|Partita"
Heading 11 "Moderato||J.S. Bach" 14
Heading "" 20
The third example prints nothing, but leaves 20 points of space. If no headings are given, no space is
left at the top of the first page.
The second form of the heading directive causes a drawing subroutine to be obeyed at the next
heading position (see chapter 37 for more details). The syntax is:
heading draw <argument(s)> <name> <optional space>
Arguments are optional. The definition of the drawing must precede such a heading line in the input
file. If no space is given, no vertical movement is made following the drawing. The origin of the
coordinate system is set at the left-hand side, at the level of the next heading line. For example, to
draw a line right across the page after a heading:
draw rule
0 0 moveto
0 linelength rlineto
1 setlinewidth stroke
enddraw
heading "|Some Text" 0
heading draw rule 20
As the first heading or footing line on a page is always at the same fixed vertical position, it can be
used for drawing fixed marks on the page. For example, crop marks and borders on title pages can be
drawn by this method. See the file cropmarks in the Contrib directory on the PMW distribution disc
for an example of this.

Heading directives 87
See the pageheading directive for a means of setting up headings for pages other than the first.

38.46 Hyphenstring
When PMW is outputting rows of hyphens between underlaid syllables, it normally uses single hyphen
characters. This directive can be used to change this. The parameter is specified as a string for
generality, but normally only a single character would be used. For example, longer lines than the
default can be obtained by the use of en-dash characters instead of hyphens. These are specified in
strings by a backslash escape and two successive minus signs:
hyphenstring "\--"
See section 45.5 for other facilities for controlling exactly what is printed between underlaid syllables.

38.47 Hyphenthreshold
PMW automatically inserts hyphens between syllables of underlaid text. When the distance between
the syllables is less than the ‘hyphen threshold’, a single hyphen is printed, centred in the space
(unless the syllables are so very close together that there is no room for even one hyphen). If the space
is greater than the threshold, a number of hyphens are printed, the distance between them being the
threshold value divided by three. The default value for the hyphen threshold is 50 points.
The number following this directive may be preceded by a plus or a minus sign, indicating a change to
the existing value. If neither of these is present, the number specifies an absolute value.

38.48 Join and joindotted

The syntax of these directives is the same as for bracket and brace. They control the joining line at
the left-hand edge of systems. By default a solid line is drawn through all staves; these directives can
be used to cause breaks in the line and/or to print a dotted line. For example,
join 1-2, 3-4
causes solid lines to be drawn joining staves 1 and 2, and 3 and 4, leaving a gap between staves 2 and
3, while
join 1,2,3,4
causes solid lines to be drawn at the ends of each stave, but gaps to be left between the staves. Join
and joindotted can be used together:
joindotted 1-2
join 1,2
causes a dotted line to be used to join staves 1 and 2, and solid lines to overprint this at the ends of
each stave, leaving the dotted line between them.

38.49 Justify
Justify sets the horizontal and vertical justification parameters. It can be followed by one or more of
the words ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘top’, ‘bottom’, or ‘all’. Each occurrence of the justify heading directive
completely re-specifies the justification parameters, in contrast to the stave directive [justify]. An
appearance of justify which is not followed by one of the above words requests no justification in
any direction. The default value for justification is ‘all’, that is, complete vertical and horizontal
justification.
The effect of the horizontal parameters is as follows:
• When ‘left’ is specified without ‘right’, each musical system starts at the left-hand side of the
page, but is not stretched out to the right-hand side. This is not normal for performing music, but
is useful when printing examples for inclusion in other documents.
• When ‘right’ is specified without ‘left’, each musical system ends at the right-hand side, but is
not stretched to start at the left.
• When both ‘left’ and ‘right’ are specified (the default), each musical system begins at the left-
hand side of the page, and is stretched so that it ends at the right-hand side, unless it is less than
1/2 of the linelength, in which case the behaviour is as if ‘right’ were not specified.

88 Heading directives
 • When neither ‘left’ nor ‘right’ is specified, each musical system is centred horizontally on the
page. The width of page used for this purpose can be adjusted by the sheetwidth directive. This
is another style of printing that is useful for examples and illustrations.
The effect of the vertical justification parameters exactly parallels that of the horizontal ones.
• When ‘top’ is specified without ‘bottom’, systems are printed starting at the top of the page,
using the system gaps specified in the input.
• When ‘bottom’ is specified without ‘top’ the systems are again printed with the gaps specified,
but this time they are so arranged that the final stave on the page is exactly at the page depth.
This form is useful when generating PostScript files for inclusion in other PostScript documents.
• When both ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ are specified, the first system is printed at the top of the page. If
there is more than one system on the page, and if more than 1/2 of the page depth has been used,
then additional space is inserted between the systems so that the final stave is exactly at the page
depth, except that there is a maximum amount of space that PMW is prepared to insert between
any two systems.
• When neither ‘top’ nor ‘bottom’ is specified, then the systems are printed with the gaps specified,
but the set of systems is centred vertically on the page.
The maximum amount of vertical space that PMW is prepared to insert between any two systems is
controlled by a heading directive called maxvertjustify. The default value is 60 points which means
that if the default system gap is in force, the furthest apart any two systems can be is 104 points. To
ensure that the bottom stave is always at the bottom of the page under all circumstances, specify a
large value for maxvertjustify.
In its information window, after it has listed the layout of bars on a page, PMW outputs the amount of
space left. When vertical justification is happening, it is this amount of space which is inserted
between systems or at the top of the page. When space is being inserted between systems, the same
amount is inserted between each pair of systems.
Page headings, footings, and page footings are not affected by vertical justification. However, if ‘top’
is not specified, start of piece headings are moved down the page.
If a new movement starts in the middle of a page which is stretched vertically, additional space is
inserted before the start of the movement, that is, before its headings (if any), but not between its
headings and its first stave.
The justification parameters persist from one movement to the next, but may be reset by the appear-
ance of justify at the start of a new movement. They can also be changed by the appearance of the
stave directive [justify]. Unlike the heading directive, it specifies changes in the justification par-
ameters only, and its effect lasts only until the end of the current movement.
See also the topmargin and bottommargin directives for further parameters that control the layout of
pages.

38.50 Key †
This directive sets a key signature for the piece. Naturally, it is also possible to set keys on individual
staves and to change them in the middle of the music. Setting the key in the heading is a convenient
shorthand. The single parameter to the directive is a key signature in the format described in chapter
28. For example,
key A$
key BM
If no key signature is given, the default is C major.

38.51 Keysinglebar and keydoublebar

PMW prints a double bar line before a change of key by default. The keysinglebar directive can be
used to request a single bar line instead; keydoublebar can be used to reset the default for a new
movement.

Heading directives 89
38.52 Keywarn
This directive can be used at the start of a new movement to cancel the effect of nokeywarn in the
previous movement.

38.53 Landscape *
This directive causes printing to take place in ‘landscape’ format, that is, with the long side of the
paper horizontal. It causes the value of linelength to be interchanged with the value of pagelength,
and likewise the value of sheetwidth to be interchanged with sheetdepth. Subsequent directives affect
the new values.

38.54 Lastfooting
This directive specifies footing material for the last page of music, replacing any text specified with
footing or pagefooting for that page. The parameters are exactly as for heading or footing, but long
strings are not automatically split up into multiple lines.
Lastfooting can also be used to specify a special footing for the last page of an individual movement
in a piece that has several movements. For details, seen the [newmovement] directive.

38.55 Layout
The [newline] and [newpage] directives are useful for occasional overriding of PMW’s default layout
choices. However, if a particular layout for the entire piece is required, achieving it with [newline] and
[newpage] is a bit tedious.
The layout directive makes it possible to specify exactly how many bars are to be placed in each
system, and how many systems are to fit on each page. It its simplest form, it is followed by a list of
numbers, separated by commas or white space. If the list is long, it can be split into several lines of
input.
Each number in the list specifies the number of bars in a system. If there are more systems than
numbers, the list is restarted from the beginning. Thus, the directive
layout 4
specifies that every system in the piece (except possibly the last one) is to contain exactly four bars.
If page breaks are required at particular points in the piece, they are specified by a semicolon in the
layout list. For example,
layout 4, 3; 5, 4, 4;
specifies two pages, the first containing two systems and the second three systems. If too many
systems are specified for a page, PMW inserts a page break of its own.
If the width of the bars specified for a system is greater than the linelength, they are simply
compressed until they fit; if too many are specified this can result in very cramped output.
If the same item or sequence of items is repeated in a layout list, it can be enclosed in round brackets
and preceded by a repeat count. Brackets can be nested. For example,
layout 3(4, 5(6);)
defines three pages, each consisting of one system of four bars followed by five systems of six bars.
Note the difference between the following two examples:
layout 2(4,3;)
layout 2(4,3);
The first specifies two pages; the second specifies one page containing four systems.
The layout directive applies only to the movement in which it appears. If a subsequent movement
contains no layout directive, then PMW fills its systems according to the width of the bars.

38.56 Leftmargin
Normally, PMW centres music horizontally on the page. The width of page used for this purpose can
be specified by sheetwidth. This directive can be used to specify a particular left-hand margin instead.

90 Heading directives
38.57 Linelength and pagelength
The linelength and pagelength directives specify the size of the output on the paper; each takes a
single parameter which is a dimension in points. The number may be preceded by a plus or a minus
sign, indicating a change to the existing value. If neither of these is present, the number specifies an
absolute value.
The default line length is 480 points and the page length is 720 points. These values leave generous
margins all round on an A4 page.
These two dimensions, together with sheetwidth and sheetdepth, are the only ones that are not
affected by magnification. They define that part of the page on which printing is to occur, in absolute
terms.

38.58 Longrestfont
The font used for the number that is printed above a multi-bar rest sign can be set by means of the this
directive. Its arguments are an optional size followed by a font name. For example,
longrestfont 13 bolditalic
The default size is 10 points; if this directive is not used, the numbers are printed in the roman font.

38.59 Magnification *
This directive causes all the output to be magnified or reduced. For example,
magnification 1.5
causes the output to be one and a half times as large as the default, while
magnification 0.5
makes it only half the size. All the dimensions in the PMW system are subject to the magnification
factor, except the line length, page length, sheet width, and sheet depth, which are absolute values, and
which are therefore not affected by magnification.
Magnification or reduction can be useful in fitting a piece onto the paper. For example, if in the default
state the last page contains only two bars, then a small reduction may enable the whole piece to fit
onto the previous page(s). On the other hand, if the final page is not being fully used, setting a
magnification greater than 1.0 can cause it to be filled out. (An alternative way of achieving these
effects is to change the note spacing.)

38.60 Maxbeamslope
This directive can be used to limit the maximum slope of beams. It takes two numbers as arguments.
These are the maximum slopes of beams containing two notes and beams containing more than two
notes, respectively. The default setting is equivalent to
maxbeamslope 0.31 0.33
The [beamslope] directive, which sets an explicit slope for a given beam, is not limited by these
maxima.

38.61 Maxvertjustify *
This directive controls the maximum amount of vertical space that PMW is prepared to insert between
any two systems when vertically justifying a page. The default value is 60 points, which means that if
the default system gap is in force, the furthest apart any two systems can be is 104 points. To ensure
that the bottom stave is always at the bottom of the page under all circumstances, specify a large value
for maxvertjustify.

38.62 Midichannel
This directive is used to specify the allocation of a MIDI voice and/or one or more PMW staves to a
MIDI channel, and to set a relative volume for the channel. This information is used only when PMW
writes a MIDI output file.

Heading directives 91
The values set by midichannel are carried over from one movement to the next, but it can appear in
any movement to alter the settings if necessary. It can have up to four arguments, of which only the
first, the channel number, is mandatory. There is also a [midichannel] stave directive which can be
used to change the settings part-way through a movement.
To allocate a particular MIDI voice (also known as a ‘program’ or a ‘patch’ in MIDI-speak) to a MIDI
channel, the voice number or name is given in quotes after the channel number. For example,
midichannel 1 "#57"
midichannel 2 "church organ"
If a channel’s voice is specified more than once, the last specification overrides the earlier ones. There
are sixteen MIDI channels, numbered 1–16 (but see below for the special properties of channel 10).
There are 128 possible MIDI voices; the first form of the directive, where the string starts with #,
specifies the voice by a number in the range 1– 128 (but note that it must still be supplied as a string in
quotes). This numbering is in accordance with the General MIDI specification, which a number of
manufacturers are following. Some MIDI instruments use the numbers 0– 127 when setting voices
manually; for these the manually set number of any given instrument is one less than the correspond-
ing General MIDI number.
The second form of voice identification uses an index file to translate a name to a voice number. The
file is installed in the PMW share directory and is called MIDIvoices, and you can edit it to change or
add names. The version supplied contains voice names taken from the General MIDI specification.
However, there seems to be some variation in some of the names, so it is permitted to have more than
one name for any given voice number, and there are some duplicates in the supplied file.
In some MIDI multi-timbral instruments, the different voices are not balanced with regard to volume,
so if the same values are used in the playvolume or [playvolume] directives for different voices, the
resulting volumes do not correspond. To help balance voices, an volume value in the range 0– 15 may
be given after the voice name, preceded by a slash. For example,
midichannel 1 "trumpet"/12 9
has the effect of reducing the volume of notes played via channel 1 by 12/15. This applies to all staves
playing via that channel. The actual volume used for any MIDI note is 127 multiplied by the channel
volume and the stave volume and divided by 225.
All staves are initially allocated to MIDI channel 1. This channel allocation can be changed by giving
a list of staves to the midichannel command, with or without a voice name. For example,
midichannel 2 1,3,4-7
midichannel 4 "piano" 8-11
If no voice name is given, but a voice was set in a previous movement, that voice will be allocated
when the current movement is played. If no voice is given in the first movement, no voice allocation
setting is transmitted on the channel, which allows the voicing to be set manually on the instrument (if
it has that ability). It is possible, having set a voice in one movement, to request ‘no voice setting’ in a
subsequent movement by specifying an empty quoted string.
Before describing the final argument of the midichannel directive, it is necessary to discuss MIDI’s
handling of untuned percussion. A single ‘voice’ can handle a large number of different untuned
percussion instruments, by using the ‘pitch’ of each note to determine which instrument should sound.
For example, C might sound a bass drum and D a snare drum. Electronic keyboards often have a
‘keyboard percussion’ mode in which the keys correspond to percussion sounds in this way.
For some reason, this multiple instrument has not been defined as one of the 128 General MIDI
instruments. Instead, the General MIDI specification states that MIDI channel 10 is to be used for this
kind of percussion. On MIDI instruments that implement this, it is not possible to allocate any other
voice to channel 10.
The final (optional) argument of the midichannel command is used to select an untuned percussion
instrument. It must follow a list of staves (typically just one stave) and consists of a string in quotes
which specifies either the MIDI pitch number, or the instrument name. For example,
midichannel 10 5 "#60"
midichannel 10 6 "triangle"

92 Heading directives
specify the use of pitch 60 for stave 5 and the pitch corresponding to a triangle for stave 6, both on
channel 10.
As for MIDI voices, if the string starts with #, it specifies the pitch by number; otherwise the file
MIDIperc inside the PMW share directory is searched to translate the name to a number. The
supplied file contains the name allocation that appears in the General MIDI specification.
The effect of supplying this argument is to force all notes on the stave to be played at the same pitch,
independent of the pitch that is given for printing purposes. A percussion stave could therefore be set
up thus:
midichannel 10 4 "cowbell"
[stave 4 "Cowbell" hclef 1 stavelines 1]
b r b r | etc.
The notes are specified as Bs so that they print on the stave line, but they are played at the pitch that
activates the cowbell sound (provided channel 10 is a General Midi percussion channel). For an
alternative way of handling untuned percussion, see the [printpitch] directive.

38.63 Midkeyspacing
When a mid-line bar starts with a key signature, the startlinespacing data is used for any time
signature that follows, but not for the key signature itself. Instead, midkeyspacing controls the
position of such key signatures. It takes a single dimension as its argument; a positive value moves the
signature further away from the preceding bar line.

38.64 Midtimespacing
When a mid-line bar starts with a time signature, its position can be controlled by the midtimespacing
directive, which takes a single dimension as its parameter. A positive value moves the signature further
away from the preceding bar line.

38.65 Musicfont *
This directive specifies, as a string in quotes, the name of the music font to be used by PMW; its
parameter is a text string. The facility is intended for accessing new or alternative versions of the font.
The default music font is PMW-Music.

38.66 Nobeamendrests
This directive, which has no parameters, can be used to cancel the effect of beamendrests in a
previous movement.

38.67 Nocheck
This directive, which has no parameters, instructs PMW not to check that the notes in each bar agree
with the time signature. It is also possible to suppress this check for individual bars (see section
47.51).

38.68 Nocheckdoublebars
This directive, which has no parameters, instructs PMW not to check that the notes in bars which
begin or end with a double bar line agree with the time signature.

38.69 Nokerning *
This directive disables the use of kerning for text strings. For details of kerning, see section 34.10.

38.70 Nokeywarn
By default, when there is a key signature change at the start of a new system, PMW prints the new
key signature at the end of the previous system, as is conventional in most music. The heading
directive nokeywarn suppresses these warning key signatures for the entire piece. Individual occur-
rences can be suppressed by an option on the stave directive for the change of key signature.

Heading directives 93
If there is a change of both time and key signature at the start of a system, the warning at the end of
the previous line is suppressed only if both are being suppressed. If suppression of only one of the
time or key signatures has been requested, both are nevertheless printed in these circumstances.

38.71 Nosluroverwarnings
This directive, which has no parameters, can be used to cancel the effect of sluroverwarnings in a
previous movement.

38.72 Nospreadunderlay
By default, PMW inserts additional space between notes if underlaid or overlaid syllables would
otherwise overprint each other. This directive disables this facility for both underlaid and overlaid text.

38.73 Notespacing
PMW contains a table which defines the minimum amount of horizontal space to follow each kind of
note; so much for a breve, so much for a semibreve, so much for a minim, and so on. Systems are
made up using these spacings, until a bar is encountered which would make the system longer than the
specified line length. The previous bars are then stretched to fill the line if horizontal justification is
enabled.
The notespacing directive allows the table to be altered. It must be followed by eight numbers which
define the space (in points) which must follow breves, semibreves, minims, crotchets, quavers, semi-
quavers, demi-semiquavers and hemi-demi-semiquavers respectively. The values in the default table
are those of the following example:
notespacing 30 30 22 16 12 10 10 10
Internally, note spacings are held to an accuracy of 0.001 points.
An alternative form of this directive which specifies a multiplicative factor for each value in the table
is also available. This is requested by following the directive by an asterisk and a single number, or by
two numbers separated by a slash. For example,
notespacing *1.5
notespacing *3/2
both request that each value in the note spacing table be multiplied by 1.5.
If more than one multiplicative notespacing is present, their effect is cumulative, but a multiplicative
notespacing will be overridden if it is followed by an absolute setting.
At the start of a new movement, the absolute values that were current at the start of the previous
movement, before any multiplications, are re-instated.
It is possible to make temporary changes to the note spacing table for certain bars of the music only
(see section 47.56).

38.74 Notime †
This directive, which has no parameters, specifies that time signatures are not to be printed for the
current movement. It does not of itself stop PMW from checking the notes in a bar and complaining if
there are too many or too few. See also startnotime.

38.75 Notimebase
This directive requests that only the ‘numerator ’ (that is, the upper number) in time signatures be
printed, in the middle of the stave. For example, in 3/4 time, only the 3 would be printed. Both
numbers are required to be given when specifying time signatures, however. This directive has no
effect on time signatures specified as C or A. See also the printtime directive for another way of
customizing time signatures.

94 Heading directives
38.76 Notimewarn
By default, when there is a time signature change at the start of a new system, PMW prints the new
time signature at the end of the previous line, as is conventional in most music. The heading directive
notimewarn suppresses these warning time signatures for the entire piece. Individual occurrences can
be suppressed by an option on the stave directive for the change of time signature.
If there is a change of both time and key signature at the start of a system, the warning at the end of
the previous line is suppressed only if both are being suppressed. If suppression of only one of the
time or key signatures has been requested, both are nevertheless printed in these circumstances.

38.77 Nounderlayextenders
This directive suppresses the printing of extender lines at the ends of underlay words whose last
syllable extends over more than one note. In a subsequent movement underlayextenders can be used
to restore them.

38.78 Overlaydepth
If two or more character strings, all designated as overlay, are attached to the same note, then they are
automatically printed one above the other. The distance between the baselines of the strings can be set
by this directive. The default depth is 11 points. The overlay depth and the underlay depth are separate
parameters.

38.79 Overlaysize
By default, text which is specified as being vocal overlay is printed using a 10-point font. This
directive enables a different point size to be chosen for overlaid text. For example,
overlaysize 9.7
Individual items of overlay text can be printed at different sizes by using the /s text qualifier. The
overlay size and the underlay size are separate parameters.

38.80 Page *
By default, page numbers start from one. The page directive can be used to specify that they should
start at a different number. It takes the number of the first page as its first parameter.
There is also a second, optional parameter which gives the increment by which page numbers are
advanced. For example,
page 3 2
might be used in a file containing the primo part of a piano duet. It causes the pages to be numbered 3,
5, 7, etc.
Occasionally there is a requirement to skip a page number in the middle of a piece – to insert a
commentary page in a critical edition, for example. See the [page] stave directive for a means of doing
this.

38.81 Pagefooting
The pagefooting directive defines text to be printed at the foot of pages. If a footing directive is
present, it overrides pagefooting for the first page only. The lastfooting directive can be used to
override it for the final page of a piece.
The parameters for pagefooting are the same as those for footing, but long strings are not automati-
cally split up into multiple lines. Note the use of the escape sequences \p\, \po\, and \pe\ to
include page numbers in footing lines.

38.82 Pageheading
The pageheading directive defines text to be printed at the head of pages other than the first. Its
parameters are the same as those for heading, but long strings are not automatically split up into
multiple lines. Note the use of the escape sequences \p\, \po\, and \pe\ to include page numbers
in heading lines.

Heading directives 95
See chapter 24 and also the [newmovement] directive for discussions of headings when there is more
than one movement in a file.

38.83 Pagelength *
See section 38.57 (Linelength and pagelength) above.

38.84 Playtempo
This directive is used to specify the tempo that is used when PMW creates a MIDI output file. The
playtempo directive has one obligatory argument, which is the tempo to be used at the start of the
movement. The tempo is always specified in crotchets per minute, whatever the time signature. The
initial setting can be followed by pairs of numbers separated by slashes, which specify changes of
tempo at specified bars. For example,
playtempo 100 24/120 60/90
specifies that the initial tempo is to be 100, but at the start of bar 24 it changes to 120, and at the start
of bar 60 it changes to 90. Bar numbers are given in the standard PMW style: if there are uncounted
bars then decimal fractions can be used to refer to them (see chapter 23 for details).
If there is more than one movement, the initial tempo specified in a playtempo directive carries over
to the next movement (unless it contains its own playtempo directive, of course), but tempo changes
within a movement do not.
If no playtempo directive is present, the default tempo of 120 is used.

38.85 Playtranspose
By default, PMW plays music exactly as written (except for recognizing transposing clefs). If it is a
score that contains a part for a transposing instrument it will not play correctly. The playtranspose
directive is provided to help with this.
It is used to specify that particular staves are to be played at a pitch different to that at which they are
printed. It is followed by pairs of numbers separated by slashes; the first number of each pair is a stave
number and the second is a transposition in semitones. For example,
playtranspose 1/-3
specifies that stave 1 is to be played a minor third lower than written.

38.86 Playvolume
The playvolume directive can be used to set different relative volumes for different staves. The value
for a relative volume lies between 0 (silent) and 15 (maximum volume). By default, all staves are set
at the maximum volume. A single number sets the volume for all staves; this can be followed by pairs
of numbers separated by slashes, which specify relative volumes for individual staves. For example,
playvolume 6 2/15
specifies that stave 2 is to be played at maximum volume, while all other staves are to be played at
volume 6. See also the [playvolume] stave directive.

38.87 PMWversion
This directive checks that a given version of PMW is in use. It must be followed by a version number,
for example,
pmwversion 4.00
If the wrong version is used, a message is output and PMW stops.

38.88 Printtime
Time signatures are occasionally printed in unusual formats. This directive specifies how a given time
signature is to be printed. There may be many occurrences in a single input file. It has the following
syntax:
printtime <time signature> "<top string>" "<bottom string>"

96 Heading directives
Whenever the given time signature is to be printed, the two given strings are printed instead, one
above the other, with their centres aligning. If the second string is empty, the first is printed on the
second stave line; otherwise they are printed on the third and first stave lines, respectively. Some
examples of possible uses are:
printtime 8/8 "3+3+2" "8"
printtime 12/8 "3 2" "2 2"
printtime 3/4 "" ""
The last example suppresses all printing for the 3/4 time signature.
The default font at the start of each string is the font specified in the most recently preceding timefont
directive, so the order of timefont and printtime matters. If timefont is not used, the default font is
the bold font. However, changes of font are permitted within the strings.
The default size of the text printed by printtime is that specified by timefont, with 11.8 points as the
ultimate default. However, it is possible to follow each text string with /s and a number, to specify a
particular size for a given string. The number refers to the list of text sizes specified by the textsizes
directive.

38.89 Psfooting
This directive makes it possible to include raw PostScript in PMW output at the end of the first page.
This facility is for PostScript experts only. The directive must be followed by a string in double
quotes. If the first character of the string is ‘<’ then the rest of the string is taken as a file name from
which to copy PostScript into the PMW output at the footing point.
When the PostScript is inserted, the environment is as for the music that has just been printed, with
the origin at the left-hand bottom corner of the page. Any magnification is still in force.
The string is not processed as a normal PMW string. This means that, if any backslashes are required
in the PostScript output, they must not be doubled in the input string.

38.90 Psheading
This directive makes it possible to include raw PostScript in PMW output at the head of the first page,
in the same format as for psfooting.

38.91 Pslastfooting
This directive makes it possible to include raw PostScript in PMW output at the end of the final page,
in the same format as for psfooting.

38.92 Pspagefooting
This directive makes it possible to include raw PostScript in PMW output at the ends of pages other
than the first, in the same format as for psfooting.

38.93 Pspageheading
This directive makes it possible to include raw PostScript in PMW output at the heads of pages other
than the first, in the same format as for psfooting.

38.94 Pssetup *
This directive is used to include private PostScript at the end of the prologue which is output by PMW
before the PostScript for the first page, in the same format as for psfooting.

38.95 Rehearsalmarks
The style of printing of rehearsal marks can be set by this directive, which has the syntax
rehearsalmarks <style> <size> <fontname>
All three parameters are optional, except that if <fontname> is present, either <style> or <size> (or
both) must precede it.

Heading directives 97
The style must be one of the words ‘boxed’ (enclosed in a rectangular box), ‘ringed’ (enclosed in a
ring), or ‘plain’ (not enclosed). If no word is given, there is no change of style. The size is the font
size to be used, while the third parameter specifies the font to be used (see chapter 31 for details of
font names). For example:
rehearsalmarks boxed 13
rehearsalmarks ringed italic
rehearsalmarks 11 bolditalic
By default, rehearsal marks are printed enclosed in a box, in a 12-point roman font.

38.96 Repeatbarfont
The font used printing the numbers on first and second time bars can be set by this directive. Its
arguments are an optional size followed by a (non-optional) font name. For example,
repeatbarfont 8 extra 4
The default size is 10 points, and if this directive is not used, these numbers are printed in the roman
font.

38.97 Repeatstyle
This directive specifies how repeat marks are to be printed. The default is the conventional combi-
nation of two dots with a thin and a thick vertical line. The directive must be followed by one of the
following numbers:
0 normal style
1 no thick vertical line
2 no thick vertical line, and thin line dotted
3 four dots only
4 as 0, but alternate amalgamated form
Style 4 is exactly the same as style 0 (the default) except when the end of a repeated section is
immediately followed by the start of another repeated section (typically coded as :)|(: in the input
file).
In style 0, a thin line, thick line, and second thin line are printed between the dots. This style is
recommended in Gardner Read’s Music Notation and also shown in Kurt Stone’s Music Notation in
the Twentieth Century. However, some editors prefer to have two thick lines between the dots, and this
is what style 4 gives.

38.98 Selectstave(s)
This directive is used to specify a selection of staves to be printed. It overrides any selection given by
the -s option on the command line. The directive is followed by a list of staves and/or ranges of
staves, and is intended for use in conjunction with the Format option. For example,
*if chorus
selectstaves 1-4
*fi
*if cello
selectstave 1
*fi
Any tests that rely on a particular stave selection must follow this directive, if it is present.

38.99 Sheetdepth, Sheetwidth, and Sheetsize *

These three directives are concerned with specifying the size of page image that PMW creates.
Sheetdepth and sheetwidth can be used to specify the vertical and horizontal dimensions individually,
but for standard sizes it is usually simpler to use sheetsize, which must be followed by one of the
words ‘A3’, ‘A4’, ‘A5’, or ‘B5’. Its effect is to set the sheet depth and width parameters to suitable
values for the given paper size, and also to set the linelength and pagelength values, as follows:

98 Heading directives
 Size Sheetwidth sheetdepth Linelength Pagelength
A3 842 1190 730 1060
A4 595 842 480 720
A5 421 595 366 480
B5 499 709 420 590
Adjustments to the line length or page length must be made after any appearance of sheetsize, which
should also precede any occurrence of the landscape directive.
If A5 or B5 is specified and the page is printed on A4 paper, it appears by default at the bottom left-
hand corner. This position can be adjusted by using the -printadjust command line option.

38.100 Shortenstems
Some editors like to shorten note stems that are pointing the ‘wrong’ way (upward stems for notes
above the middle of the stave or downward stems for notes below the middle of the stave). PMW can
be made to do this shortening automatically. Shortenstems must be followed by one number, which is
the maximum amount by which a stem may be shortened. For example,
shortenstems 4
permits PMW to shorten stems automatically by up to 4 points. The default value of zero causes no
automatic shortening. Additional shortening (or lengthening) can be specified explicitly for any given
note, and this is added to any automatic shortening that may be set. PMW maintains an overall
minimum stem length beyond which stems cannot be shortened, so specifying a large limit such as 99
permits shortening down to this minimum length.
Automatic shortening reduces a stem’s length by 0.5 points for each note position on the stave, so, for
example, a note on the top line has its upward-pointing stem shortened by 2 points (provided the
shortenstems limit allows this).

38.101 Sluroverwarnings
By default, PMW does not draw slurs and ties that extend over the ends of lines across warning time
and key signature bars. This directive requests it to do so.

38.102 Smallcapsize
When the escape sequence \sc\ is used in a string to change to small caps, it selects a new font of
the same typeface as before, but at a relative size which can be set by this directive. The default value
is 0.7.

38.103 Startbracketbar †
The directive
startbracketbar <number>
causes the joining bracket and/or brace that normally appears at the left-hand end of each system to be
‘indented’ by <number> of bars, on the first system only. Typically <number> has the value 1. If the
word ‘join’ appears before the number, the joining lines as specified by the join and joindotted
directives are repeated at the indented position; by default they are not (but usually there is a bar line
present). See chapter 30 for an example of the use of startbracketbar.

38.104 Startlinespacing
This directive controls the spacing of clefs, key signatures, and time signatures at the start of lines of
music. It can be followed by up to four dimensions. Omitted numbers are taken as zero. The syntax is
startlinespacing <c> <k> <t> <n>
where each number specifies additional space before a particular item at the start of each stave:
<c> is the extra space before the clef
<k> is the extra space before the key signature
<t> is the extra space before the time signature
<n> is the extra space before the first note

Heading directives 99
The parameters can be given negative values to move the items closer together. If an item is absent on
a stave, the associated extra space is also omitted.
When a mid-line bar starts with a clef (rare in the ordinary course of events, but can occur, for
example, after an incipit) then the startlinespacing values are used for the clef and any signatures that
follow it, exactly as at the start of a line.
See midkeyspacing and midtimespacing for ways of handling key and time signatures that occur at
the start of mid-line bars.

38.105 Startnotime †
This directive, which has no parameters, causes no time signature to be printed at the start of a piece,
but does not suppress the printing of subsequent time signature changes. This is useful for printing
parts of pieces. The notime directive suppresses all time signatures in a piece.

38.106 Stavesize(s)
This directive specifies that certain staves are to be printed at a different size to the rest. It is followed
by pairs of numbers, separated by slashes. The first of each pair is a stave number, while the second is
the size of the stave relative to the standard stave size. For example,
stavesize 1/0.8
specifies that stave 1 is to be printed at 0.8 times the normal size, while
stavesizes 4/1.2 5/1.2 6/1.2
specifies that staves 4– 6 are to be printed at 1.2 times the normal size.
A change in the relative size of a stave affects everything that prints on that stave, both notes and text
items. However, the text that appears to the left of the stave (i.e. the instrument name) is not affected,
and neither are bar numbers or rehearsal letters.
Bar lines are printed thicker or thinner, as necessary. It is conventional to break bar lines between
staves of different sizes. If this is not done, the join between thick and thin may be visible, depending
on the size difference.
A size may be specified for stave zero if required. As no notes are ever printed on this stave, this
affects text items only.

38.107 Stavespacing
This directive controls the amount of vertical white space between staves. The distance between staves
is measured from the bottom (or top) of one stave to the bottom (or top) of the next. The default is 44
points.
If the stavespacing directive is followed by just one number, this sets the spacing for all staves to that
value. After such a single number, further items can be given to set different spacings for individual
staves. For example,
stavespacing 50 1/54 3/60
sets the spacing for all staves to 50 points, except for staves 1 and 3, which have their own settings.
The initial overall number is optional. The remaining parameters for this directive consist of pairs or
triples of numbers, separated by a slash.
The first number is always a stave number. In the case of number pairs, the second number specifies
the spacing between the stave and its successor on the page. For example
stavespacing 1/36 4/50
would ensure that staves 1 and 2 were nearer together than the default, at 36 points, while staves 4 and
5 were further apart at 50 points (assuming that all these staves were selected for printing).
Sometimes there is a requirement to specify the amount of space above a stave. For example, in a
piece with an accompaniment and four vocal lines, not all of which are present throughout the piece, it
is a common requirement that there be more space between the last vocal stave (whichever it is) and
the first accompaniment stave. Changing the stave spacing every time the last vocal line is suspended
or resumed can be avoided by using a triple in the stavespacing directive.

100 Heading directives

Whenever three numbers appear as a parameter to stavespacing, the second number specifies a
minimum space above the given stave, while the third specifies the space below it. For example,
stavespacing 1/46 2/50 3/50/48
specifies that stave 3 always has at least 50 points above it, even when stave 2 is suspended.
Space specified above the top stave is ignored, and if it is desired to specify space above the last stave,
some dummy third number must be given to fulfil the syntax requirement of three numbers.
The spacing between staves can be varied in the middle of a piece. See the stave directives [sshere]
and [ssnext] (section 47.81).
A value of zero may be given for the spacing. This causes two successive staves to print on top of
each other, and can be useful for printing two lines of music on the same stave. It can also be useful
for printing a figured bass line, using invisible notes to set the horizontal positioning for the figures.
Note that if only a few bars of a piece require overprinting, the [reset] stave directive may be more
convenient than the use of a complete overprinted stave.

38.108 Stemlengths
This directive is followed by up to six numbers, which specify adjustments to stemlengths for
unbeamed minims, crotchets, quavers, semiquavers, demisemiquavers, and hemidemisemiquavers,
respectively. The values may have fractions, and negative values (indicating stem shortening) can be
used. Unbeamed notes that are shorter than a semiquaver have their stems automatically lengthened by
2 and 4 points, respectively, in order to fit in the extra tails.

38.109 Stemswap
This directive can be used to alter the way in which PMW chooses stem directions for notes lying on
the stem swap level for the stave. Specifying this directive has the effect of altering rules N5 and N6
as described in chapter 43 (Stem directions). Note that rule N3 is not affected.
stemswap up
All notes at the stem swap level that are not otherwise constrained have stems that go upwards. This
can be useful when there is vocal underlay.
stemswap down
This gives the opposite effect and may be useful for American publishers.
stemswap left
This makes these notes depend on the stem direction of the note to their left, viewing the part as one
long stave (i.e. on the previous note).
stemswap right
This makes them depend on the next note to their right that is not also on the stem swap level.
However, this does not extend beyond the end of a bar. If the final note(s) of a bar are on the stem
swap level, their stem direction is taken from the preceding note.

38.110 Stemswaplevel
This directive specifies, for each stave, the level at which stems normally swap from pointing down to
pointing up. The default value is zero, which specifies the middle line of the stave. On the swap level
itself, the stem may go either up or down, depending on the surrounding notes and the option set by
stemswap.
Stemswaplevel can be followed by a single number, in which case it refers to every stave, or it can be
followed by pairs of numbers separated by slashes, rather like stavespacing. The change in swap level
may be positive or negative, and its units are note positions. Thus, for example,
stemswaplevel 1/1 2/-1
requests that on stave 1, the swap level is moved to the third space instead of the third line, while on
the second stave it is moved down to the second space.

Heading directives 101

38.111 Suspend †
The suspend heading directive specifies the suspension of certain staves from the beginning of a piece.
It must be followed by a list of staves, in the same format as the bracket and brace directives. For
example:
suspend 1,3,5-9
A detailed description of the suspension mechanism is given in the section on the stave directive of the
same name (section 47.86).

38.112 Systemgap
The vertical distance between systems of staves is measured from the bottom (or top) of the last stave
of one system to the bottom (or top) of the first stave of the next system. The default distance is 44
points, the same as the spacing between staves in a system. Thus by default, the entire output on a
page is on evenly spaced staves (if there is no vertical justification). The systemgap directive enables
the user to specify a different amount of space between systems. It takes a single dimension as its
parameter.
The spacing between systems can be varied in the middle of a piece. See the stave directives [sghere]
and [sgnext] in section 47.73.

38.113 Textfont *
By default, all text characters that form part of a page of music are printed using the Times series of
fonts. This directive can be used to specify alternative fonts and also to define up to twelve additional
fonts. It takes the following form:
textfont <fontword> "<full font name>"
The first parameter must be one of the words ‘roman’, ‘italic’, ‘bold’, ‘bolditalic’, ‘symbol’ or ‘extra’
followed by a number in the range 1– 12, specifying which text font is being defined. The second
parameter is the full name of the font, in double quotes. For example,
textfont bold "Palatino-Bold"
This changes the bold face font from the default (which is Times-Bold) to Palatino-Bold. An example
which defines the first of the twelve available extra fonts is
textfont extra 1 "Helvetica"
This font is accessed in text strings by the escape sequence \x1\. See section 34.8 for details of font-
changing escape sequences. The capitalization of font names is important.

38.114 Textsize(s)
Text which is specified with the music on a stave can be printed in twelve different sizes in addition to
the default sizes for underlay, overlay, and figured bass text. The textsizes directive specifies the sizes
that are required. It is followed by up to twelve font sizes, which may include stretching factors and
shear angles. Any unspecified sizes are set to 10 points. For example,
textsizes 10.5 11 7.6 9/1.1
By default, ordinary text is printed using the first size specified, while underlay, overlay, and figured
bass text is printed using the size specified by the underlaysize, overlaysize, or fbsize heading
directives, respectively. To print text at any of the other sizes, the /s qualifier must be used – details
are given in chapter 44.

38.115 Thinbracket
This directive, which has the same syntax as bracket and brace, causes a thin, square bracket to be
drawn to join two or more staves. Like brace, nothing is drawn if it covers only one stave, and it is
drawn outside the thicker bracket, if that is present. This sign is sometimes used in scores to join
staves containing multiple parts for the same instrument.

102 Heading directives

38.116 Time †
The time directive defines a common time signature for all the staves of the piece or movement, in a
similar way to the key signature. Again, changes can be made during the music or for individual
staves, which are permitted to have different time signatures. See the [time] directive for details. The
default time signature is 4/4.

38.117 Timebase
This directive can be used at the start of a new movement to cancel the effect of notimebase in the
previous movement.

38.118 Timefont
The timefont directive can be used to specify the default font and size for the printing of time
signatures. Its syntax is:
timefont <size> <name>
The size is a number, giving the size of font required. If it is omitted, a font size of 10 points is used.
The name must be one of the words ‘roman’, ‘italic’, ‘bold’, or ‘bolditalic’, or the word ‘extra’
followed by a number in the range 1– 12. It cannot be omitted. When this directive is not used, an
11.8-point bold font is used for printing time signatures.
The parameters set by timefont do not affect the printing of the time signatures C and A – they affect
only numeric time signatures, or those printed via the printtime directive.
Changing the size of the time signature font does not affect the positioning of the characters. The
facility is intended for selecting a suitable size when a font other than Times-Bold is used.
As an example of the use of timefont, consider the printing of an original time signature in the form
of a circle, for a piece which has three minims to the bar. If this is the only time signature that is to be
printed, it can be specified as follows:
timefont 10 bold
printtime 3/2 "\**147\" ""
time 3/2
A 10-point font is required, to match the music font with which the music itself is printed. The word
‘bold’ is required by the syntax of the timefont directive, even though the bold font is not itself
actually used. Character 147 in the music font (requested by the asterisks) is a circle of the right size.

38.119 Timewarn
This directive can be used at the start of a new movement to cancel the effect of notimewarn in the
previous movement.

38.120 Topmargin
See section 38.13 (Bottommargin and topmargin) above.

38.121 Transpose †
A transpose directive given in the heading sets a transposition for the whole movement. It does not
affect subsequent movements. It must be followed by a positive or negative number which specifies
the number of semitones of transposition up or down, respectively. If a transposition is also specified
from the command line, the two values are added together.
Chapter 29 gives more details about transposition.

38.122 Transposedacc
By default, PMW always prints an accidental on a transposed note if an accidental was present on the
original, thereby preserving cautionary accidentals. The directive
transposedacc noforce

Heading directives 103

changes this behaviour such that accidentals are printed only when strictly necessary. The standard
behaviour can be reinstated for subsequent movements by specifying ‘force’. It is possible to force
either behaviour for individual notes.

38.123 Transposedkey

uses the key of G♭ rather than F♯. There is a complete list of the key signatures in chapter 29. The
When there is a choice of key signature after transposition, PMW uses a fixed default. For example, it

default can be overridden by specifying

transposedkey <key1> use <key2>

many occurrences of this directive. Thus, to ensure transposition into F♯, use
which means ‘if transposing a key signature yields <key1>, then use <key2> instead’. There may be

transposedkey G$ use F#
The transposedkey directive has other uses when transposing music which is notated using the 18th
century convention of fewer accidentals in the key signature than in the tonality. It makes it possible to
print the transposed music either with a modern key signature, or using the same convention.
A transposition of zero is different to no transposition at all, and if it is specified, any settings of
transposedkey are consulted. This makes it easy to print the same piece of music with or without a
key signature.
The transposedkey directive is relevant when chord names in strings are being transposed, because
the name is transposed in exactly the same was as the note would be.

38.124 Trillstring
When a trill is indicated for a note, the glyph ˆ is printed from the music font. The trillstring
directive enables this to be changed for another character or characters. For example,
trillstring "\it\tr"
replaces it by the letters tr, printed in italic. The string may be preceded by a number, specifying the
size of font to be used.

38.125 Tripletfont
This directive specifies the size and style of the text font used to print the ‘3’ over triplets, and also
similar numbers over other irregular note groups. The syntax is
tripletfont <fontsize> <name>
The size is a number giving the font size (with an optional stretching factor and shearing angle). If it
is omitted, a size of 10 points is used. The name must be one of the standard font name words, e.g.
‘bolditalic’ (see chapter 31). It cannot be omitted. When this directive is not used, a 10-point roman
font is used for printing triplet numbers.

38.126 Tripletlinewidth
This directive is be used to set the width of lines used for the brackets of irregular note groups. The
default width is 0.3 points.

38.127 Underlaydepth
If two or more character strings, all designated as underlay, are attached to the same note, then they
are automatically printed one below the other. The distance between the baselines of the strings can be
set by this directive. The default depth is 11 points.
A negative parameter can be given to this directive for special effects, such as printing alternative
words above a stave. However, this is probably easier to achieve by using the overlay facilities.
The depth parameters for underlaid and overlaid text are separate and independent.

104 Heading directives

38.128 Underlayextenders
In a second or subsequent movement, this directive restores the printing of extender lines at the ends
of underlay words whose last syllable extends over more than one note if it was suppressed by
nounderlayextenders in an earlier movement.

38.129 Underlaysize
By default, text which is specified as being vocal underlay is printed using a 10-point font. This
directive enables a different size to be chosen for underlaid text. For example,
underlaysize 9.5
Individual items of underlay text can be printed at different sizes by using the /s text qualifier. The
size parameters for underlaid and overlaid text are separate and independent.

38.130 Underlaystyle
By default, PMW centres underlay and overlay syllables under each note. There is a tradition, ‘now
frequently ignored’ (Kurt Stone, Music Notation in the Twentieth Century), which calls for multinote
syllables to be aligned flush left with the initial note. The underlaystyle directive is used to request
PMW to align underlay and overlay in this traditional manner. Its argument is a number: style 0 is the
default, while style 1 sets multinote syllables flush left.
When operating in style 1, individual multinote syllables can be centred by making use of the ^
character, which is still recognized in this style. In effect, style 1 causes the automatic insertion of a ^
character at the start of any multinote syllable that does not already contain one.

38.131 Unfinished †
The directive unfinished, which has no parameters, indicates that the musical data supplied is not a
complete piece. This has the effect of suppressing the solid bar line at the end. It applies only to the
movement in which it appears. It is not necessary to specify unfinished if the piece ends with a double
bar line.

38.132 Vertaccsize
The size of accidentals that are printed above or below notes (see section 41.5) is controlled by this
heading directive; the default size is 10 points, which causes them to be the same size as normal
accidentals. For example,
vertaccsize 9
causes them to be printed slightly smaller.

Heading directives 105

 39. Stave data

This chapter is the first of a set of chapters in which we describe the format of the musical data for a
single stave, which consists of a sequence of notes and rests, interspersed with other items such as bar
lines, key and time signatures, clefs, text strings, etc. The items that are not notes or rests are of the
following forms:
• A few common items which can conveniently be represented in the computer ’s character set are
represented by one or more special characters. An example is the use of the vertical bar to
indicate a bar line. These items are described in the following chapter, Non-note characters in
stave data.
• Textual items, such as ‘f ’, ‘a tempo’ etc., are coded as text strings enclosed in double-quote
characters, and are described in chapter 44.
• Other non-note items take the form of stave directives, enclosed in square brackets. There are
several different formats, and these directives are described in alphabetical order in chapter 47.
Notes, rests and other items may be interspersed freely, as required. PMW makes no attempt to check
on the musical sense of what it is asked to print, other than to check the length of each bar (except
when this check is disabled).
Space characters and line breaks can be used to separate items, in order to make the input easier to
read, though they are not necessary.

106 Stave data

 40. Non-note characters in stave data

A number of characters or character sequences may occur interspersed among the notes and directives
of a stave, and these are described in this chapter.

40.1 Bar lines

Bar lines in the music are indicated by means of the vertical bar character. A single vertical bar gives
a single bar line; two successive vertical bars gives a double bar line. To encode a totally empty bar it
is therefore necessary to include a space between the two vertical bar characters.
Barlines may be printed in 6 different styles (see section 38.7). The default style can be set by
barlinestyle (for the whole piece) or [barlinestyle] (for an individual stave). In addition, the style of
any individual bar line may be specified by following the vertical bar character with a digit in the
range 0–5. Note also that the breakbarlines directive can be used to specify breaks in bar lines at
particular staves.
PMW checks the notes and rests in a bar to ensure that they agree with the time signature, though this
check can be suppressed (see the nocheck and [nocheck] directives).
Occasionally it may be necessary to put in a dummy bar line in order to allow PMW to start a new
system in the middle of a bar – something it does not normally do. If a vertical bar character in the
input is immediately followed by a question mark, it behaves exactly as a normal bar line, except that
nothing is printed.
The bars on either side of such an invisible bar line are typically of abnormal length, so the bar length
check will need to be turned off for each of them (using [nocheck]), and if bar numbers are being
printed, the [nocount] stave directive should be used to stop one of them from being counted.
Normally, the end of a bar marks the end of a set of beamed notes. It is, however, possible to carry a
beam over the bar line and into the next bar. This is done by following the vertical bar character by an
equals sign in the input. A full description of this facility is given in section 42.2.
The amount of horizontal space which is inserted after a bar line is controlled by the barlinespace
directive. This applies to both visible and invisible bar lines.

40.2 Repeated sections

The beginnings and ends of repeated sections are marked by the character sequences
(: for the start of a repeated section
:) for the end of a repeated section
These need not be at the beginning or end of a bar, though if they are, the repetition sign is
amalgamated with the bar line in the conventional manner. When the end of one repeated section is
‘back to back’ with the start of another repeated section, two different forms of amalgamated marking
are available, controlled by the repeatstyle directive (section 38.97).
PMW does not split lines of music other than at the ends of bars (but see the previous section
concerning ‘invisible bar lines’). It makes no check that the repetition signs make musical sense.
When a bar starts with a new time signature and a repeat mark, the order in which these are printed
depends on the order in which they appear in the input.
[time 4/4] (:
causes the time signature to be printed first, followed by the repeat mark, while
(: [time 4/4]
causes the repeat mark to be amalgamated with the previous bar line, with the time signature
following. If, at the same point in the music, these items appear in different orders on different staves,
then the repeat sign is printed first on all staves.

Non-note characters in stave data 107

40.3 Hairpins
The characters > and < are used within a stave to encode hairpins. They are always used in pairs, and
they enclose the set of notes above or below which the hairpin is to be drawn. Thus
a b > c d e >
specifies a diminuendo hairpin that extends under the three notes C, D, and E. The hairpin starts at the
left-hand edge of the first note, and ends at the right-hand edge of the last note. Unterminated hairpins
are automatically terminated at the start of a hairpin of the opposite kind.
If the end of a hairpin is given at the start of a bar, before the first note, then the hairpin is terminated
just past the bar line, unless it is the first bar of a line, when it is extended far enough to be of
reasonable size. (See also the /bar option below.)
A minimum length of 10 points is imposed on hairpins. If a hairpin would be shorter than 10 points, it
is extended on the right until it is 10 points long. As well as the case of a hairpin terminating at the
start of a system, this can also happen if a hairpin is specified with only a single note between the
angle brackets.
Hairpins can extend over bar boundaries; if a hairpin extends over the end of a system, it is
terminated, and a fresh one started on the next system. However, the end of the first part of a
decrescendo or the start of the continuation of a crescendo is drawn with a small gap to indicate the
continuation.
The positioning of hairpins takes account of the notes under or above which they lie. However, manual
adjustment is also provided. The hairpin characters can be qualified using /u, /d, /l, and /r and a
number to move up, down, left and right. If /u or /d is given at the start of a hairpin, it causes the
whole hairpin to be moved up or down. Thus
a b </d4 c d <
prints a hairpin that is 4 points lower than the default position. The /l and /r qualifiers, on the other
hand, affect only the end of the hairpin at which they are specified. Thus
</l5 a b c d </r5
stretches the hairpin by 5 points at each end. If the /u or /d qualifiers are used on the terminating <
or > character of a hairpin, they cause that end of the hairpin to be moved up or down relative to the
left-hand end. For example,
< abc </u10
specifies a crescendo hairpin which slopes upwards to the right. Adding /u or /d to the left-hand end
would move the whole hairpin up or down, without affecting the angle of slope.
If a hairpin is split, specifying /u or /d at its start moves both halves of the hairpin up or down, but
specifying one of them on the final angle bracket moves just the final end point, as for non-split
hairpins.
The vertical positions of the intermediate ends of split hairpins can be controlled by the options /slu,
/sld, /sru, and /srd. They must be given on the starting angle bracket of a hairpin.
The rather confusing abbreviations ‘sl’ and ‘sr ’ stand for ‘split left’ and ‘split right’. They refer to the
two ends of the split as they would be on one long system before it is split up. Thus the ‘sl’ refers to
the right-hand end of the first part of a split hairpin, while ‘sr’ refers to the left-hand end of the second
part. To move the second part of a hairpin down by 10 points say, you would use /srd10 on the
starting angle bracket, and /d10 on the final bracket.
The horizontal position of the start or the end of a hairpin can be set to be halfway between the
relevant note and the one that follows it, or the end of the bar, by means of the /h option. For
example,
>/h GAB >/h B
starts the hairpin halfway between G and A, and ends it halfway between the two Bs. Without /h, it
would have started at the G and ended at the first B. The use of /h always moves the end point to the
right.
In fact, the /h option is more general; it can be followed by a number indicating the fraction of the
distance that is required. For example,

108 Non-note characters in stave data

 < GGG </h0.8 |
ends the hairpin 0.8 of the way between the last note and the bar line. If /l or /r are given as well as
/h, the effect is cumulative.
Another option that adjusts the horizontal position of hairpins is /bar. If the character indicating the
start of a hairpin is followed by /bar then the hairpin starts at the horizontal position of the previous
bar line, except at the start of a system, where it starts after the clef and key signature. If the character
indicating the end of a hairpin is followed by /bar then the hairpin ends at the next bar line. The use
of /bar overrides /h.
Hairpins are printed under the stave by default, but the [hairpins] directive (section 47.35) can be used
to make them print above instead. It can also specify a fixed distance above or below the stave, or a
general vertical adjustment for all hairpins.
Individual hairpins can be forced to be above the stave, below the stave, or in the middle between the
current stave and the one below, by means of the options /a, /b, and /m. Do not confuse /m with
/h. One way of remembering the difference is to associate /h with ‘horizontal’ rather than ‘halfway’.
Individual hairpins can be printed at a fixed level above or below the stave by following /a or /b by
a dimension, which specifies the position of the point of the hairpin. For example
>/a10 bc’eb > | </b12 gfag < |
prints the hairpins with their points 10 points above the top of the stave and twelve points below the
bottom of the stave, respectively.
The width of the open end of an individual hairpin can be set by following the initial < or > character
with /w and a dimension. For example,
</w4 ga <
The default width is 7 points, but this can be changed by the hairpinwidth heading directive (for the
whole piece) or by the [hairpinwidth] directive (for the current stave). There is also hairpinlinewidth
directive, which is used to change the thickness of the lines in hairpins. The default thickness is 0.2
points.

40.4 Caesurae
A caesura in the music is shown in the input in very much the way it is printed, by two successive
slashes:
c’B // r-c’- |
It is normally printed as two strokes, but the caesurastyle directive can be used to obtain a single-
stroke form.

40.5 Dotted bar lines

The character : (colon) may appear on its own in the middle of a bar. It causes a dotted bar line to be
printed at that point. The bar line is subject to the normal controls for whether it extends down to the
next stave or not. A colon is not counted as the end of a bar.

Non-note characters in stave data 109

 41. Notes and rests

The information for a note consists of five parts, of which only the first two are mandatory. These are,
in order: pitch, length, expression and/or options, tie or slur information, and beam break information.
A rest has only a length and an options part.
Notes and rests do not have to be separated by spaces in the input, though spaces can be inserted for
readability if required. A sequence such as
abcd
is perfectly valid input for four notes. Spaces may not, however, appear within the encoding for one
note, except in the options part as specified below.

41.1 Chords
PMW can deal with certain kinds of chord, notated by enclosing a number of notes in round brackets.
The notes must either all be of the same musical length, or all but the first must consist of just a lower
case letter, in which case the length is taken from the first note. For example,
(gb) (c’-#g’-) (A++A’++) (g=-bd’g’)
The notes do not have to be in any particular pitch order. If there are to be accents on the chord
(staccato, etc.) then these must be specified on the first note. If the chord is to be tied, then the
underline character must appear after the closing bracket. Note that an underline character cannot be
used for short slurs when chords are involved. The [slur] directive must be used instead.
Chords consisting of quavers or shorter notes are beamed in the usual way; a semicolon after the
closing bracket breaks the beaming, while a comma breaks secondary beams only.
PMW is capable of automatically positioning accidentals on chords. It does this provided that none of
the notes in the chord contains an explicit accidental positioning request (see below). If any of the
notes contains an explicit accidental position setting, then no automatic positioning is done, and it is
assumed that the user has positioned all the accidentals in the chord by hand.

41.2 Note pitch

The pitch of a note is indicated by one of the usual note-letters, A to G. As is conventional in music,
the letters represent the notes C to B, starting at the octave below middle C. The case of the letter
(upper case or lower case, that is, capital or small letter) does not, however, form part of the pitch
information (contrary to musical convention). Instead it is used to indicate the note length, as
described below.
A note’s pitch is raised one octave by following the letter by a single quote character (apostrophe);
two octaves require two quotes, and so on. Similarly, a note’s pitch is lowered one octave by following
the letter by a grave accent character.
Accidentals are indicated by special characters before the note letter. The sharp character is the
obvious one to use for indicating a sharp sign, but there are no obvious candidates for flats or naturals.
Therefore two keys that are adjacent on most keyboards, and next to the sharp sign on some, are used:
the dollar sign for flat and the percent sign for natural. Double sharps and double flats are indicated by
two sharp signs or two dollars.
Here are some examples of notes of different pitches:
c’ middle C
C’’ the C above middle C
#g G sharp below middle C
$b’ B flat above middle C
%c C natural below middle C
##g` G double sharp, below the C below middle C
It is possible, when specifying the clef, or by using the [octave] directive, to request that all
subsequent notes be transposed up or down by a given number of octaves. This is normally used with
the treble clef and some of the C clefs. When, for example, one octave of transposition has been
requested, the note letter C on its own represents middle C.

110 Notes and rests

When two or more parts are being overprinted on the same printed stave, certain accidentals on one
part are often omitted, because an accidental in another part serves, in the printed music, for both.
However, if a MIDI file is being generated, the music does not sound correct when played.
Invisible accidentals are provided to change the note that is played, without causing anything to be
printed. Following an accidental character with a question mark (e.g. #?g) causes it to become
invisible. As for normal accidentals, the effect of invisible accidentals lasts until the end of the bar.
Invisible accidentals may not be specified as bracketed.

41.3 Bracketed and moved accidentals

Accidentals are sometimes printed in round or square brackets. This is requested by following the
accidental with a closing bracket of the appropriate type, for example
#)a $]b ##)c

41.4 Moved accidentals

Occasionally it is necessary to instruct PMW to move an accidental sign to the left of where it would
normally print. If the character < follows the accidental sign, the accidental is printed 5 points to the
left of its normal position, scaled to the stave size. Two successive < characters move it 10 points left,
and so on.
Alternatively, a number may follow the < character to specify exactly how far left to move the
accidental. Thus, for example:
#<A the sharp is moved left by 5 points
$<<b the flat is moved left by 10 points
%<4.25C the natural is moved left by 4.25 points

41.5 Accidentals above and below notes

Some editors like to print editorial accidentals above or below notes. Text strings can be used for this,
but they do not transpose, and the music is not played correctly if a MIDI file is generated.
The letters o and u are used to request that an accidental be printed over or under the note (since a
and b cannot be used because they are note names). Thus:
#oa $ub
prints a sharp above the note A, and a flat under the note B. These accidentals affect the playing pitch
of the note for MIDI output, but do not affect subsequent notes in the bar. They change with
transposition, just as ordinary accidentals do.
The size of the accidentals is controlled by the heading directive vertaccsize; the default size is 10
points, which causes them to be the same size as normal accidentals.
It is possible to move these accidentals by following the letter with /u or /d and a number. (In fact,
/l and /r are also available, though unlikely to be useful.) For example:
#o/u4c’ %u/d2f
If bracketed accidentals are required, the bracket must follow o or u and any up/down movement
specification.

41.6 Transposed accidentals

PMW can be forced to print a given transposed note in a particular way (e.g. with a double sharp
instead of a natural). This facility is provided for cases when the normal transposition rules are
inappropriate, and it is done by following the accidental for the note (if any) with one of the following
character sequences:
^# print with a sharp (‘black’ notes and C and F)
^$ print with a flat (‘black’ notes and B and E)
^## print with a double sharp (‘white’ notes except C and F)
^$$ print with a double flat (‘white’ notes except B and E)
^% print with a natural (all ‘white’ notes)

Notes and rests 111

For example, if a note which is specified as #^##G is transposed up by one semitone, and would
normally be printed as A-natural, it will in fact be printed as G-double-sharp.
In the absence of any special indication, a subsequent note of the same pitch in the bar will
automatically print in the same way.
Normally, PMW always prints an accidental sign for a transposed note if there is an accidental in the
input, thus preserving cautionary accidentals. Occasionally this is not required. Suppression of an
unnecessary accidental can be requested by following the accidental by the sequence
^-
If an accidental is actually necessary in the transposed music, it will not be suppressed.
The suppression of unnecessary transposed accidentals can be enabled for all notes by means of the
transposedacc directive. When this is done, individual accidentals can be put back by means of the
sequence
^+
after the input accidental.
If a bracketed accidental is required, the bracket must follow the transposition option, which in turn
must follow any request to print the accidental above or below the note.

41.7 Rests
There are three ‘note letters’ which are used instead of pitch letters to specify rests. The letter R is
used to indicate a normal rest. It may not be preceded by accidentals or followed by quote characters
or grave accents. The letter Q is similar, but it causes nothing at all to be printed. It is often called an
‘invisible rest’. It is useful for special effects when overprinting staves or using coupled staves.
The letter S has exactly the same effect as R except when it is used to specify a complete bar ’s rest.
Such bars are normally candidates for amalgamation with surrounding bars, leading to the printing of
‘long rest’ bars where possible. When a rest bar is specified using S it is always printed as an
individual bar and never amalgamated (see section 41.12 for more details). You can think of S as
standing for ‘single’.

41.8 Length of notes and rests

The primary length of a note or rest (visible or invisible) is indicated by the case of its letter. An upper
case (capital) letter is used for a minim, and a lower case (small) letter for a crotchet.
Notes or rests shorter than a crotchet have ‘flags’: a minus sign is a single flag for a quaver, an equals
sign is two flags for a semiquaver, an equals followed by a minus sign is three flags for a demi-
semiquaver, and two equals signs are four flags for a hemi-demi-semiquaver. If the note letter is
followed by quotes or grave accents as part of its pitch, the flags follow these.
Notes or rests longer than a minim are constructed by the addition of plus signs, each of which
doubles the length. One plus makes a semibreve, two make a breve.
One or two dots may follow a note or rest as in conventional music, to extend its length by half and
three-quarters, respectively. There is also support for Emmanuel Ghent’s notation for extending the
length of a note by one quarter (as reported in Gardner Read’s book Music Notation). The PMW
encoding for this is to follow the note with a dot and then a plus sign. The length of the note is
extended by one quarter, and it is printed as the normal note followed by a plus sign.
This facility is particularly useful when there are five beats in a bar. For example, the notatioin
[time 5/4] A+.+
prints a semibreve followed by a plus, indicating a note whose length is equal to five crotchets. Here
are some examples of notes and rests of different lengths:
A++ breve
#B`+ semibreve
G+.+ semibreve followed by plus
F. dotted minim
R minim rest
e.. double dotted crotchet

112 Notes and rests

 $$g crotchet
r-. dotted quaver
c’- quaver
d= semiquaver
e’’=- demi-semiquaver
%b`== hemi-demi-semiquaver

41.9 Horizontal movement of augmentation dots

It is occasionally necessary to move augmentation dots to the right, usually when printing multiple
parts on the same stave with notes close together. If an augmentation dot is preceded by the character
> it is moved right by 5 points (scaled to the stave size). A different distance can be specified by
preceding the > with a dimension. For example:
a>. g6.2>..
In a chord, the > character must be used on the first note, and not on any others. It affects all the dots
in the chord, because they are always vertically aligned.

41.10 Vertical position of augmentation dots

The vertical position of dots for notes on lines can be controlled by the [dots] directive and the \:\
option. (See section 41.13 below for full details of note options.)
This option affects only notes on lines which have augmentation dots. Normally such dots are printed
in the stave space above, but if the colon is present, they are printed instead in the space below. The
default position can be changed by means of the [dots] stave directive; when the default is below, the
colon item causes the dot for a particular note to be printed above. For example,
[treble] e.\:\ @ dot below
[dots below] g..\:\ @ dot above
The colon can be used in individual notes within a chord. However, PMW overrides the dot position
setting when an interval of a second occurs in a chord. In this case, the lower note always has its dot
below, if it is on a line, and the upper note always has its dot above, if it is on a line.
The \:\ option does not affect notes in spaces. However, it is sometimes useful to be able to move an
augmentation dot into the space above. The option \::\ achieves this; it has no effect if used on a
note that prints on a line.
For example, the chord (e.g.a.) in the treble clef prints by default with only two dots. If three dots
are required, there are two ways in which this can be achieved:
(e.\:\g.a.) (e.g.a.\::\)
The first one moves the dot on the lowest note down, while the second moves the dot on the highest
note up.
When there is an interval of a second in a chord and the higher note has its dot moved up by this
means, the lower note’s dot is no longer automatically moved down.

41.11 Whole bar rests

There is one other special character that may follow the letters R, Q, or S, but not any of the note
letters. This is the exclamation mark, and it is used to indicate that the rest fills an entire bar. Without
this, it is not possible to specify a complete bar ’s rest as one item in all time signatures.
The difference between R! and Q! is that the former causes the printing of a conventional whole bar
rest sign, while the latter causes nothing at all to be printed in the bar. This is useful when staves are
being overprinted. S! behaves like R! except that the bar in which it appears is never eligible for
amalgamation into a single multiple rest bar with the bars on either side of it. A bar containing S! is
always shown on its own.
Whole bar rests specified using an exclamation mark are normally printed as semibreve rests, centred
horizontally in the bar. The form of the whole bar rest sign can be altered for certain time signatures
by means of the breverests heading directive.

Notes and rests 113

If a bar contains only a whole bar rest or a single note on every stave, it sometimes looks better if the
notes are also centred. This can be done by using the \C\ option for the notes (see section 41.13
below).
Rests which happen to fill the bar, but which are not specified with exclamation marks, are printed as
rests of the appropriate length. For example, in 3/4 time the rest R. is printed as a dotted minim rest.
If bar lengths are being checked, such a rest is printed centred in the bar, but if they are not, it is
printed at the left-hand end.
The amalgamation of a sequence of whole bar rests into a single multi-bar rest still occurs, whether
exclamation marks are used for the rests or not.

41.12 Repeated rest bars

PMW automatically detects when a rest completely fills a bar. It also checks for a succession of rest
bars. If a sequence of two or more rest bars is found, a conventional ‘long rest’ sign is drawn, with the
number of bars rest printed above it.
This is only done, of course, if all the staves in the current printing have rest bars, which normally
happens when one or more parts are being extracted from a score.
A bar is considered eligible for amalgamation with its neighbour(s) in this way if it contains nothing
but an unadorned rest item. A rest bar with a fermata on the rest (for example) always prints as a
separate bar.
However, the initial bar of an amalgamated sequence is permitted to contain items such as key and
time signatures and a beginning repeat mark, and the last bar in a sequence may end with a
terminating repeat sign. A text item is also permitted in the first bar of a sequence.
There are occasions where it is required that a rest bar should not be considered eligible for
amalgamation. An example is a rest bar with a text item such as ‘G.P.’ which occurs at the start of a
sequence of rest bars. In such cases, the letter S should be used to notate the rest. An example of its
use might be:
[10]R! | "G.P."S! | [8]R! |
If R were used instead of S here, the last nine bars would be printed as a single multi-bar rest.

41.13 Note expression and options

The expression/options portion of a note includes all additional marks such as staccato, emphasis,
trills, mordents and fermatas. It can also indicate that the note is a grace note, force the stem of the
note to point up or down, indicate the lengthening or shortening of the note’s stem, change the position
of accents and augmentation dots, etc.
For many notes there are no such special markings and this part will not be present. If it is present, it
consists of two backslash characters, between which there are one or more letters or other characters
indicating the expression or option required. For example, a dot and a minus sign signify a staccato
dot or a solid line emphasis, respectively.
The possible character sequences that can occur are as follows:
\/\ single tremolo mark
\//\ double tremolo mark
\///\ three tremolo marks
\~\ ‘upper ’ mordent sign
\~|\ ‘lower ’mordent sign
\~~\ double ‘upper’ mordent sign
\~~|\ double ‘lower’ mordent sign
\!\ print accent on stem side, trill or fermata below
\.\ staccato dot
\:\ invert augmentation dot position (notes on lines)
\::\ move augmentation dot up (notes in spaces)
\-\ solid line emphasis mark
\>\ horizontal wedge emphasis mark
\’\ ‘start of bar’ accent
\a<n>\ accent number <n> (see below)

114 Notes and rests

 \ar\ arpeggio mark
\ard\ arpeggio mark with downward arrow
\aru\ arpeggio mark with upward arrow
\c\ print on coupled stave
\C\ centre if only note in bar
\d\ string down bow (organ heel) mark
\f\ fermata (pause) above note
\f!\ fermata (pause) below note
\g\ grace note
\g/\ grace note with slanted line
\h\ don’t print on coupled stave
\m\ masquerade note (see below)
\o\ small circle over note (harmonic)
\sd\ force note stem down
\su\ force note stem up
\sw\ swap note stem direction in beam
\sl<n>\ lengthen stem
\sl-<n>\ shorten stem
\sp\ spread chord
\t\ turn
\t|\ inverted turn
\tr\ trill
\tr#\ trill, with a sharp sign above
\tr$\ trill, with a flat sign above
\tr%\ trill, with a natural above
\u\ string up bow (organ toe) mark
\v\ small, closed vertical wedge accent
\V\ large, open vertical wedge accent
\x\ cancel default expression
More than one of these character sequences can be present between the backslashes, and spaces can be
used to separate them, for example,
#g\.-\ staccato and tenuto
\tr sd\ trill and stem down
Notes that are marked as grace notes can be of any length – crotchets, quavers, semiquavers, etc.
PMW beams grace notes where possible. The stems of grace notes always point upwards, whatever the
pitch, unless an explicit downward stem is requested by specifying \g sd\. If there is more than one
grace note in sequence, specifying a downward stem for the first one causes all of them to have
downward stems.
The sequence \x\ is used to cancel any default expression that may be in force (see section 47.1).
The sequences \c\ and \h\ are used to override the default note placing when coupled staves are in
use (see [couple]).
When there is a whole bar rest in some staves, and just a single note in the remaining staves, it
sometimes looks odd that the rest is centred horizontally in the bar and the note is not, especially if the
note is a semibreve. The option \C\, if used on the first and only note in a bar, causes it to be centred
like a whole bar rest, provided that the note has a length equal to the current bar length. (Don’t
confuse \C\ with \c\.)
The single and double colon options are concerned with the vertical placement of augmentation dots;
details are given in section 41.10.
The item \a<n>\ is a general notation for specifying accents. The values that <n> may take are:

Notes and rests 115

 staccato dot >
horizontal bar ħ
1

horizontal wedge U
2

small, closed vertical wedge Y

3

large, open vertical wedge W

4

string down bow e

5

string up bow g
6

ring (harmonic) †
7

‘start of bar’ accent œ

8
9
By default, accents and the harmonic ring are printed on the opposite side of the notehead to the stem,
but fermatae, trill signs, and other ornaments are printed above the note, independent of the stem
direction. String bowing marks are always printed above the stave (but see the [bowing] directive).
The ! note option causes PMW to print an accent or harmonic ring on the same side of the notehead
as the stem, which is occasionally necessary when more than one part is being printed on the same
stave. If ! is used with a fermata or trill or other ornament, the sign is printed below instead of above
the note. String bowing marks are not affected by the use of the ! option.

41.14 Stem lengths

The note option consisting of the letters sl followed by a number is meaningful for notes shorter than
a semibreve. It specifies a lengthening or shortening of the note’s stem. The number specifies the
amount by which the stem is to be changed; positive numbers cause lengthening, negative numbers
cause shortening. For example,
a\sl3.4\ b\sl-1.2\
lengthens the stem of the first note by 3.4 points and shortens the stem of the second by 1.2 points.
PMW maintains a minimum stem length beyond which shortening is ignored.
The shortenstems heading directive can be used to request PMW automatically to shorten note stems
that point in the ‘wrong’ direction – if this is happening, any explicit adjustment is added to the
automatically computed value.
If a note which is part of a set of beamed notes has its stem length changed, this may cause the
vertical position of the beam to change. However, it is not always easy to see which is the note whose
stem actually determines the beam’s vertical position. A better way to adjust beams is to use the
[beammove] directive.

41.15 Moving accents and ornaments

It is possible to move all accents and ornaments up and down, or left and right. This is done by
placing /u, /d, /l, or /r, as appropriate, followed by a number of points, after the accent or
ornament specification. For example,
a\./u4\ g\f/u10\
raises the staccato dot by 4 points and the fermata by 10 points.
For both accents and ornaments, the vertical movement specified is scaled by the relative size of the
stave. Moving an accent does not affect the placement of anything else. For example, if there is text
below a note with an accent that is also below it, moving the accent does not affect the vertical
position of the text.
There is a possibility of ambiguity if a tremolo and a moved accent or ornament are specified on the
same note, as the tremolo notation is a slash. To avoid this, the tremolo must be specified before the
fermata: g\/f\ is correct, but g\f/\ causes an error, because it is taken as a fermata with an
incomplete movement request.

41.16 Masquerading notes

For special effects (for example, tremolos between notes – see [tremolo]) it is sometimes desirable to
print a note or rest of one kind in place of another, for example a crotchet instead of a quaver, or a
breve instead of a semibreve. PMW supports this kind of masquerading. It is requested by the letter m
in the options part of the note, and the type of note required is indicated in the same way as for
normal notes.

116 Notes and rests

When a masquerade is requested, an augmentation dot can be requested with it, and if it is not, no dot
is printed, even if the original note is augmented. The ability to add augmentation dots makes it easier
to print renaissance music in the style with a dot before a bar line instead of a tie to a quaver in the
next bar. Thus
G+\M++\ prints a breve instead of a semibreve
g-\m\ prints a crotchet instead of a quaver
g.\M\ prints an undotted minim instead of a dotted crotchet
g\m.\ adds a dot to a crotchet without lengthening it
The only effect of masquerading is to substitute a different note for printing; the position of the note is
not affected.
If the note is beamed, this option is restricted in its use: the only available facility is to print a minim
notehead instead of a crotchet notehead. For example:
g-\M\ b- d’-
Masquerade requests for noteheads other than minims are ignored within beams. However,
masqueraded rests are not restricted within beamed groups. This makes it possible to print
(unconventionally) a crotchet rest under a beam, by using a construction such as r-\m\q- within a
beamed group.

41.17 Expression items on rests

Accent marks are not supported on rests, but pause marks (fermatae) are permitted. Other ornaments
such as turns are allowed on invisible rests only. This gives a way of printing these characters on their
own at particular positions in a bar.

41.18 Changing rest levels

A note option consisting of the letter l followed by a number is permitted for rests only. A negative
number may be specified. This has the effect of moving the rest vertically up (for positive numbers) or
down (for negative numbers) by the given amount. For example,
R\l4\
prints a minim rest on the fourth instead of the third line. If rests are generally to be printed at a non-
standard level, the [rlevel] directive can be used to avoid having to give this option on every rest. If
this option is used in conjunction with [rlevel], the effect is cumulative.

41.19 Triplets and other irregular note groups

PMW uses brace characters (curly brackets) to enclose notes that form a group which is not a standard
division of a larger note. The opening brace can be followed by a number indicating the non-standard
division. If this is omitted, the group is assumed to be a triplet. For example
{a b c} is a triplet of crotchets
{2 g-a-} is a duplet of quavers
{5 c-d-e-f-g-} is a group of five quavers
By default, PMW assumes that an irregular group is a division of one, two, four or eight notes of the
appropriate larger size. For example,
{7 f-g-a-b-f-a-g-}
is taken as a division of two minims into seven quavers. However, a division of three minims into
seven is notated on the musical stave in exactly the same manner – music notation is ambiguous in
this respect. It is not possible to determine what a group of quavers with a ‘7’ above it actually means,
without looking at the rest of the bar.
PMW is not capable of analysing bars in this detail. In some circumstances, therefore, it is necessary
to specify two numbers after the opening curly brace, to specify how many of the larger notes are
being subdivided. The numbers are separated by a stroke, the first being the additional information.
For example
{3/7 f-g-a-b-f-a-g-}

Notes and rests 117

is the notation for a division of three (instead of two) minims into seven quavers. This notation makes
it possible to increase the length of the sub-divided regular group. For groups with larger numbers of
notes, it is sometimes necessary to specify a smaller size of regular group than the default. This is
possible by following the given number with a minus sign. For example,
{3-/11 g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-}
specifies the division of three (instead of four) crotchets into eleven.
By default, PMW prints the marking for an irregular note group (e.g. the ‘3’ for a triplet) on the same
side of the noteheads as the stems. If the notes are beamed, just the number is printed; if not, a
horizontal ‘bracket’ is printed as well. The tripletfont directive is used to specify the size and type of
font used.
The marking can be moved, forced to be above or below the stave, and the horizontal bracket can be
omitted. The marking may also be totally suppressed.
The [triplets] directive can be used to set defaults for some of these options. For individual triplets,
the following qualifiers may appear after the opening curly bracket, following any numbers that may
be present:
/a put mark above
/a<n> put mark <n> points above
/b put mark below
/b<n> put mark <n> points below
/n omit bracket
/x suppress mark altogether
/lx invert left-hand jog
/rx invert right-hand jog
/d<n> move mark down <n> points
/l<n> move mark left <n> points
/r<n> move mark right <n> points
/u<n> move mark up <n> points
/ld<n> move left end of bracket down <n> points
/lu<n> move left end of bracket up <n> points
/rd<n> move right end of bracket down <n> points
/ru<n> move right end of bracket up <n> points
In fact, /x suppresses the marking in the default state only. If [triplets] is used to suppress all
subsequent irregular note markings, /x causes the mark to be printed. In other words, it inverts the
mark printing state.
When a dimension is given after /a or b, the value given is the position above or below the stave of
the baseline of the numerical text for a horizontal bracket. Subsequent adjustment of either end of the
bracket is then possible, as described above. If no dimension is given after /a or /b, the vertical
position is computed from the positions of the notes that form the group.
The left and right movements are available only if no horizontal bracket is being printed; they are
ignored otherwise. Here are some examples of the use of these options:
{3/5/d1 a-a-a-b-b-} {/b a-b-c-}
{/a/u3 dfg} {2/d2/n a-a-}
If either of the /a or /b options is specified, it is assumed that the marking is being moved to the
other side of the noteheads, and therefore the bracket is automatically added. The /n qualifier must be
used if a bracket is not required in this circumstance.
By default, PMW draws the brackets for triplets and other irregular note groups horizontal.
Occasionally a sloping bracket is required; these can be obtained by means of the /lu, /ld, /ru, and
/rd options on the opening curly bracket. They have the effect of moving the left or right hand ends
of the bracket up or down, respectively, by an amount specified after the option. For example:
{/ld10 dfa}
Very occasionally, when using coupled staves, it is useful to be able to alter the direction of the ‘jog’
at one end of a triplet bracket so that it points in the opposite direction to the jog at the other end. The
qualifiers /lx and /rx request this, for the left-hand and right-hand jogs, respectively.

118 Notes and rests

The appearance of an irregular note group does not of itself cause a break in the beaming, and an
explicit beam break must be specified if required. Strictly, beam breaking indicators and the tie
indicator are supposed to come immediately after the final note, before the terminating } character, but
in fact PMW allows the } character to precede or follow the tie and beam indicators. Thus the
following are all permitted
{g=g=g=,}g= {g=g=g=},g=
{g=g=g=_}g {g=g=g=}_g
When both a tie and beam break indicator are present, the } character must come either before or after
both of them, not in between.

41.20 Ties and short slurs

Two adjacent notes may be tied, or a slur generated between them, by ending the first note with an
underline character. PMW does not distinguish between a tie and a slur between two adjacent single
notes, except that when the underline represents a tie (i.e. when the two notes have the same pitch),
the stem direction of the second note is forced to be the same as that of the first note, and if a MIDI
file is being generated, the tie is honoured. The stem forcing does not happen in the case of a short
slur.
In contrast, when an underscore follows a chord, it causes tie lines to be drawn between notes of the
same pitch in the chord and the following chord. Thus an underscore always represents one or more
ties when it follows a chord. The [slur] directive must be used when slurs are required between
adjacent chords.
If two notes (or chords) that form part of a beam are tied, it does not cause the beam to be broken. An
explicit beam break must be specified if required.
Ties are normally printed on the opposite side of the noteheads to the stems. A tie on a single note can
be forced to be above or below the notehead by adding the qualifier /a or /b after the underline
character, for example,
a_/a | a e’_/b | e’
Such an indication takes precedence over the [ties] stave directive, which sets a default position for all
subsequent ties.
The same qualifiers are also available for chords, where they force all the tie marks to be drawn in the
specified direction. It is also possible, for a chord, to specify that only some of the tie marks are to be
drawn above or below the noteheads, the remainder appearing on the opposite side. This is done by
inserting a digit between the / character and the letter which follows. For example, either of the
notations
(ace)_/1a (ace)_/2b
indicates that one of the three tie marks is to be drawn above the noteheads, with the other two below.
Slurs that include chords, or span several single notes, must be specified using the [slur] stave
directive.

41.21 Editorial and intermittent ties

Ties can be marked editorial, or printed as dashed or dotted, by means of the following qualifiers:
/e editorial – a short line is drawn through the tie
/i intermittent – that is, dashed
/ip intermittent periods, that is, dotted
These are the same options as for slurs.

41.22 Hanging ties

Occasionally there is a requirement to print tie marks that do not end on another note or chord, but
simply extend some distance to the right to indicate that the note or chord should be held on for some
time. These can be notated by making the second note or chord invisible using the stave directive
[notes off]. In the case of a chord, the ends of all the tie marks are vertically aligned in such cases.

Notes and rests 119

To help with the positioning of the ends of this kind of tie, tie marks are allowed to continue over rests
(usually invisible ones). For example,
(cde)_ | qq [notes off] (cde) [notes on]
extends the ties to the position of the third crotchet in an otherwise empty bar.

41.23 Glissando marks

Glissando marks are available for single notes. They are not available for chords. (PMW will accept
the notation for chords, but will not do the correct thing with it.) The glissando notation is an
extension of the short slur notation. If a short slur mark (underscore) is followed by /g then a
glissando line is drawn between the relevant notes. If both a slur and a glissando mark are required,
then /s must be added. If the slur is being forced above or below with /a or /b then it is not
necessary to use /s. For example:
f_ slur only
f_/g glissando only
f_/s/g glissando and slur
f_/g/a glissando and slur, slur above
It may occasionally be necessary to insert extra space between notes that are joined by glissando
marks.

41.24 Input short cuts

Some short cuts are available to reduce the amount of typing needed. They do not affect the
appearance of the output in any way.
• The previous note or chord can be repeated exactly, by using the letter x instead of a note letter.
An optional number may follow x to indicate the number of repetitions. A beam break or a tie
may follow, and a subsequent x can be used for further repetitions. For example, a bar of eight
quaver chords, broken in the middle, can be written like this:
(e-gb) x3; x4 |
(Beam breaking is described in the next chapter.) A rest may intervene between the original note
and its copy, but there must be no clef, octave, or transposition change between them.
• The previous note or chord’s pitches can be copied, with a different note length and with
different options, by using the letter p instead of a note letter. The length of the note is
determined by the case of the letter p and any hyphens, equals, or plus signs that follow, and
normal note options such as staccato, etc., may follow as well. As in the case of x, there must be
no clef, octave, or transposition change between the original and the copy. For example, a dotted
crotchet chord followed by a quaver chord of the same pitches can be notated thus:
(d.fa) p-
p can be followed by another p, possibly with a different note length, and x may follow p and vice
versa. In earlier versions of PMW, they had to be in the same bar as the note or chord to which they
referred; this is no longer the case.
For both x and p, accidentals are not normally reprinted, though they affect the pitch if a MIDI file is
being generated. However, when x or p is used at the start of a bar, and the note or chord is not tied
to the previous one (in the previous bar), the accidentals are repeated. If such a note or chord is tied to
the previous one, no accidentals are printed, but if there is a subsequent use of p or x, the accidentals
are then repeated, according to the usual notation convention. For example, if the input is:
a b #c_ | P p x
an accidental is not printed before the minim at the start of the second bar, but one is printed before
the following crotchet.
For technical reasons, x and p are not available after notes that print their accidentals above or below.

120 Notes and rests

 42. Note beaming

PMW makes no beaming decisions of its own based on note length or position in the bar or any other
criteria, but leaves it entirely up to the creator of the input file to specify what is required. The
beamthickness heading directive can be used to set the thickness of line used for drawing beams.

42.1 Beam breaking

Notes and chords shorter than a crotchet are automatically beamed together unless they are separated
in the input by one of the following beam breaking characters, which must always follow the end of a
note, without any intervening spaces.
; break all beams
, break secondary beams only
For example, three pairs of beamed quavers could be notated in any of the following ways:
g-e-;f-a-;b-a-
g-e-; f-a-; b-a-
g- e-; f- a-; b- a-
A single digit may follow a comma to specify how many beams not to break – no digit is equivalent
to 1. For example,
g=-a=-b=-,2 c’=-d’=-e’=-
results in two solid beams, with one broken in the middle. A value which is too large is simply
reduced. A value of zero causes all beams to be broken; this is different to the normal semicolon beam
break, because it causes the beams on either side of the break to align with each other.
If any other character terminates a note, the beam is not broken. The terminating character should
follow the tie character (underscore) if present. If the note is the last of an irregular group (e.g. a set of
triplets) then the character may appear after the closing curly bracket. In the case of a chord, a beam
breaking character follows the closing bracket.
After a secondary beam break (introduced by a comma), a small amount of extra horizontal space (1.3
points) is inserted. Without this, the gap that has only a primary beam appears to be too narrow.
PMW automatically beams across rests that are shorter than a crotchet, unless a break in the beam is
specified by the presence of a semicolon.
[Users of a previous version of PMW may be in the habit of using an alternative beam-breaking
convention. This can be requested by the oldbeambreak directive, but it is no longer documented.]

42.2 Beaming over bar lines

Consistent syncopation employing beamed notes is more logical and more graphic when the beaming
is carried across the bar lines. This effect can be achieved in PMW by following the bar character by
the = character, for example,
[time 2/4] r- g g- |= g-; g g- |= g-; g r- |
This notation causes a beamed group to extend into the subsequent bar; in the example above, two
pairs of beamed quavers are printed, each straddling a bar line. Without the = characters after the bars,
each quaver would be printed separately.
A single beam can be carried over one bar line only; it will not be continued over a second. However,
as the example shows, a bar may have carried-over beams at either end.
When such a beamed group occurs at the end of a system, the beam is drawn to the final bar line, and,
on the next system, an ‘incoming’ beam is drawn to indicate the continuation. By default, this has the
same slope as the first part of the beam. This can, however, be altered by means of the [beamslope]
directive, placed at the start of the second bar. A [beammove] directive can also be used in this
position, where it will affect only the continued portion of the beam.
Warning: Because PMW normally works on only one bar at a time, continued beams are not handled
in quite the same way as other beams. In particular, the computation of stem directions for the notes

Note beaming 121

takes place independently in each bar, taking into account only the notes in that bar. This means that in
some cases the notes in the second bar will by default have their stems in the opposite direction to the
rest of the beam. This is not usually what is wanted, and it can give rise to errors when PMW cannot
fit the notes on both sides of the beam. In these cases, it is necessary to specify a stem direction
explicitly on the first note of the second bar.

42.3 Beaming across rests at beam ends

A recent innovation in notation is the continuation of beams over rests, even when they are at the start
or end of the beam. This is thought to be helpful in indicating rhythmic groupings.
PMW handles rests in the middle of beams automatically. To cause it to include suitable rests at the
ends of beams within the beams, the heading directive beamendrests is provided. There is also
nobeamendrests, which can be used to cancel this effect in a subsequent movement. Explicit beam
breaks can be used to prevent an individual beam from covering a rest.
Vertical movement of the rests is taken into account when computing the position of the beam. As in
all beams, this can be adjusted by means of the [beammove] directive.
Beams covering rests at the end may be continued over bar lines, as described in the previous section,
but only if there is at least one non-rest in the first bar.

42.4 Accelerando and ritardando beams

In modern music, accelerandos and ritardandos are sometimes notated by beams which fan out or in.
PMW has some simple support for printing these. The stave directives [beamacc] and [beamrit]
specify that the next beamed group in the bar is of the appropriate type.
The notes of the group should normally be input as quavers. In most cases they are an irregular group
and need to be enclosed in curly brackets, with an appropriate number. It is not usual to print the
number, so this is normally turned off by means of the /x option on the irregular note group.
PMW prints accelerando and ritardando groups by drawing the primary beam as normal, then drawing
one or two more inside beams, with one end fixed and the other getting nearer to the noteheads. By
default, three beams in total are drawn, but this number can be changed in the [beamacc] or [beamrit]
directive by following it with the number 2, in which case only two beams are drawn. For example:
[beamacc 2]
This setting lasts until the end of the stave, or until a subsequent [beamacc] or [beamrit] directive
containing the number 3 is encountered.
The slope of the primary beam is the same as it would be for a conventional beamed group. If this is
horizontal, a ‘fanned’ beam does not always look right, and it is necessary to use the [beamslope]
directive to change it. For example,
[beamslope 0.1] [beamacc] {5/x g-g-g-g-g-} |
[beamslope -0.1] [beamrit] {5/x g-g-g-g-g-} |
In some cases it is also necessary to move the beams away from the noteheads using the [beammove]
directive.

42.5 Beams with notes on both sides

The stem direction which is determined for a beamed group by the rules described in chapter 43 is the
default, that is, it is the direction used for those notes in the group whose direction is not otherwise
specified. It is possible to have notes on the non-default side of the beam by requesting an explicit
stem direction for them. This facility is of most use in two-stave keyboard parts, where the staves are
‘coupled’ (see the [couple] directive). For example, in the group
[stave 1 treble 1 couple down]
g`-f`-a-\sd\
the default stem direction for the beam is up as a result of the two low notes, but the third note is
printed on the other side of the beam with its stem down.
If there is a run of notes on one side of the beam followed by a run of notes on the other side, the note
option \sw\ can be used to swap the default stem direction for the note on which it appears and for

122 Note beaming

all subsequent notes in the beam, but only if the first note of the beam has its direction explicitly
specified. For example,
e`-\su\f`-g`-g-\sw\a-b-
causes the first three notes to have their stems up, and the last three to have their stems down. This
option can be used as many times as necessary in a beam.
If \su\ were not present on the first note, then \sw\ could not be used, as the default direction is not
known at the time it is processed (because it depends on the pitches of all the notes in the beam).
The arrangement of beams and beamlets for beams with notes on both sides follows the general
principle of attempting to avoid ‘beam corners’ wherever possible. Some variation in this arrangement
can be obtained by making use of secondary beam breaks.
When there are only two notes in a beam, it is almost always possible to print them with their stems
going in opposite directions, even though sometimes this leads to extremely slanted beams. When
there are more than two notes, however, it is sometimes not possible to find a way of positioning the
beam if the notes are too close together in pitch. When this happens, PMW outputs an error message.
The slope of a beam can be forced by means of the [beamslope] directive, and the vertical position
can be adjusted by [beammove].

Note beaming 123

 43. Stem directions

This chapter documents the default rules for choice of stem direction for notes and chords. Some
variation in the rules can be made by means of the stemswap heading directive. The ‘stem swap level’
is normally the middle line of the stave, but can be changed by the stemswaplevel directive.

43.1 Preliminary
1. The ‘pitch’ of a chord, for stem-decision purposes, is the average pitch of its highest and lowest
notes.
2. The ‘pitch’ of a beamed group, for stem-decision purposes, is the pitch of the note which is farthest
away from the stem swap level.
3. Stem directions are computed for all notes, even breves and semibreves. In the case of these long
notes the notional stem direction can affect the stems of subsequent or previous notes, and also the
printing of chords containing adjacent notes.

43.2 Rules for non-beamed notes and chords

These are in order of priority. ‘The previous note’ includes the last note of a previous beamed group, if
relevant.
N1. If an explicit stem direction is specified on a note, it is used.
N2. If a default is set by the stave directive [stems up] or [stems down], it is used.
N3. If the note is tied to the previous note, i.e. the previous note is followed by an underscore and has
the same pitch, then the same direction as the previous note is used, even if this note is the first in a
bar, provided the previous note’s direction does not depend on this note’s.
N4. If the note is above or below the stem swap level, its stem goes down or up, respectively.
N5. (The note is at the stem swap level.) If the note is the first in the bar, or if all preceding notes
have used this rule, its stem goes the same way as the next note in the bar that does not use this rule.
If there are no more such notes in the bar, its stem goes the same way as the last note of the previous
bar. If this is the first bar of the piece, the stem goes up.
N6. The stem goes the same way as the previous note.

43.3 Rules for beamed groups

B1. If the stem direction of the first note in the group is forced by N1, N2, or N3 above, then that
direction is used as the default for the group.
B2. If the ‘pitch’ of the beamed group is above or below the stem swap level, the stems go down or
up, respectively, by default.
B3. The default stem direction is taken from the previous note. If there isn’t one, the stems go
upwards.
Normally, all the notes in a beam are printed on the same side of the beam, with their stems in the
default direction for the beam, but it is possible to specify that some are to be printed on the other side
of the beam (see section 42.5).

124 Stem directions

 44. Text strings in stave data

The following chapter gives details of the special facilities that are applicable only to underlay or
overlay text, that is, the sung words in a voice part. The current chapter applies to text in general, with
some particular features that are relevant only for non-underlay text.
Stave text strings are coded in among the notes of a stave, and are, like all strings, enclosed in double
quote characters. The escape character conventions using the backslash character that apply to all
PMW strings are relevant (see chapter 34). In particular, within any text string, the font can be
changed by the use of the appropriate escape sequences.
Rehearsal markings are a special form of text and are specified in a slightly different manner (see
chapter 46).
By default, text strings are printed below the stave in an italic font, and positioned according to the
following note. The [textfont] directive can be used to specify a default font for ordinary (i.e. not
underlay, overlay, or figured bass) text.
The [text] directive provides a way of changing the default position of the text to be above the stave,
rather than below; it can specify a fixed position (above or below the stave) or allow the position to be
determined by PMW. Alternatively, [text] can specify that unqualified strings are underlay, overlay, or
figured bass text. Any individual string can always be explicitly qualified to indicate its type.
Underlay, overlay, and figured bass text is by default printed in the roman typeface. The directives
[underlayfont], [overlayfont], and [fbfont] can be used to change the default font for these kinds of
text.
The closing double-quote of the string may be followed by one or more options, separated from the
quote and from each other by slash characters. The following are available:
/a print above the stave
/a<n> print at fixed distance above the stave
/ao print above the stave, at the overlay position
/b print below the stave
/b<n> print at fixed distance below the stave
/bu print below the stave at the underlay position
/m print below the stave, in the middle
/ul this text string is underlay
/ol this text string is overlay
/fb this text string is figured bass
/h position halfway between notes
/bar position at start of bar
/ts position at time signature
/c centre the text
/e align end of text
/nc do not centre ignored for underlay/overlay
/ne do not align the end
/box print enclosed in a box
/ring print enclosed in a ring
/rot<n> rotate by <n> degrees
/s<n> print using size <n>, where <n> is between 1 and 12
/u<n> move up <n> points
/d<n> move down <n> points
/l<n> move left <n> points
/r<n> move right <n> points
/ps insert raw PostScript (for experts only)
If any of the movement options are repeated on a string, their effect is cumulative. Thus, for example,
"allargando"/u6/d2

Text strings in stave data 125

has the same effect as
"allargando"/u4
If more than one of /a, /ao, /b, /bu, /m, /ul, /ol, or /fb is present, the last one takes
precedence. If none of them are present, the string type is taken from the last [text] directive. If [text]
has not been used on the current stave, then /b is assumed.
There is an important difference between /bu and /ul, and similarly between /ao and /ol. When
/bu is specified, the text is treated as non-underlay text, but its default vertical position is the underlay
level. This contrasts with /ul, which indicates that the text is underlay, and subject to special
processing as described in the next chapter.
The /m option is like /b, except that the default vertical position of the text is in the middle of the
space between the current stave and the one below it, provided this is lower than than the normal /b
position would be. This is useful when printing dynamic markings in keybord parts.
If two over-printing staves are being used for a keyboard part, text with the /m option may appear
with either of them, because if the space after the current stave is set to zero, the space for the next
stave is used when positioning such text.
The default vertical position of text is adjusted to take account of the next note, unless it is forced to
the overlay or underlay level by /ol or /ul, or to an absolute position by /a<n> or /b<n>. For
example,
"at underlay level"/ul
"six points above the stave"/a6
"twenty points below the stave"/b20
Subsequent appearances of /u or /d on the string can always be used to adjust the level. This can be
useful if the original level is specified in a macro.

44.1 Horizontal alignment

The alignment of underlay and overlay strings is described in the next chapter.
By default, a non-underlay text string is printed with its first character aligned with the left-hand edge
of the next note or rest in the bar, or with the bar line, if there are no following notes or rests in
the bar.
However, if /bar is present, the alignment point is the previous bar line, or the start of the system for
the first bar in a system. If the /ts option is present, the alignment point is the time signature at the
start of the bar. If there isn’t one, the alignment point is the first note in the bar. For both /bar and
/ts the vertical position of the string still depends on the note that follows it.
If the /e qualifier is present on the text string, it is the end of the string that is aligned with the
alignment point. The /ne option can be used on text strings to cancel the effect of a previous /e.
This can be useful for overriding options on strings defined as macros.
If the /c qualifier is present, the text is centred at the alignment point. If this is used on text
immediately before a whole bar rest that is centred in the bar, then the text is centred in the bar. This
applies to both visible and invisible whole bar rests. The /nc option can be used on text strings to
cancel the effect of a previous /c. This can be useful for overriding options on strings defined as
macros.
The /h option causes the alignment point to be halfway between the next note or rest and the note or
rest that follows, or the end of the bar if there is only one note or rest following in the bar. The /e
and /c options can be combined with /h to specify end or centre alignment at the halfway position,
respectively. If no notes follow the text string in the bar, /h has no effect, and it is also ignored if
/bar or /ts are present.
Positions other than the halfway point can be specified by a number given after /h. For example,
/h0.75 specifies the three-quarter point between the next note or rest and the one following. The /h
option can be used with underlay and overlay strings, but it applies only to the first syllable of such
strings.

126 Text strings in stave data

44.2 Enclosed text
The /box and /ring options are applicable only to non-underlay text. The longer the string is, the
more elliptical a ring will be. For a single character, the ring is approximately circular.

44.3 Text sizes

The /s option refers to the sizes of text defined by the textsize heading directive; /s1 specifies the
first size, /s2 specifies the second size, and so on. If, for example, the heading directive
textsizes 10.5 11 7.6
has been used, then
"eleven point"/s2
would print at a size of 11 points. By default, text is printed in the first size, unless it is underlay or
figured bass, which have their own default sizes (set by the underlaysize and fbsize directives). The
/s option can, however, be used with underlay and figured bass text to specify a non-default size.

44.4 Rotated text

Stave text strings that are not underlay or overlay can be rotated through any angle by following the
string with /rot and a number in degrees. Positive rotation is anticlockwise. For example:
"gliss"/rot40/a0/r4 c’_/g [space 8] c’’
The centre of rotation is on the text baseline, at the left-hand end of the string.

44.5 PostScript text

If the /ps qualifier appears on a text string, the contents are assumed to be raw PostScript which is to
be inserted into PMW output at the point where a text string would have been output. This facility is
for PostScript experts only. The string is preceded by a call to the PostScript gsave operator and
followed by grestore. The origin is the x-coordinate at which a text string would have been output,
and the bottom line of the stave plus any vertical adjustment that is specified for the string. No
processing is done on the string; any backslash characters it may contain are not treated specially.

Text strings in stave data 127

 45. Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics)

PMW supports both underlay (words under the stave) and overlay (words over the stave). Overlay is
comparatively rare, and to save clumsy repetition of ‘underlay or overlay’ in what follows, the
description is written mainly in terms of underlay only. However, all the features are equally appli-
cable to overlay.
A text string is marked as underlay or overlay either by using the /ul or /ol options, or by using the
[text] directive to set underlay or overlay as the default, and then not using any of the other text type
options (/a, /b, etc.)
The usual escape character conventions apply to underlay text, and in addition, the characters #
(sharp), – (hyphen), = (equals), and ^ (circumflex) have special meanings.

45.1 Underlay syllables

Underlay can be input one syllable at a time, each syllable preceding the note to which it refers. This
permits the maximum possible control, since each syllable can be moved up, down, left or right as
required. However, it is normally easier to input underlay in longer strings.
If a string of underlay text contains space characters it is automatically split up by PMW and allocated
to the notes which follow it. Rests are excluded from this process (with one exception, which is
described in section 45.5). As a simple example of this facility,
"God save our" g g a |
would be an appropriate way to start the British National Anthem. Each space delimits a word, and
each word is associated with one note. PMW does not check that the number of words matches the
number of notes, except that it warns if words are left over at the end of the stave.
Each syllable of underlay text is normally centred horizontally about the next note in the bar.
Sometimes it is necessary to move words slightly to the left or right. A convenient way to do this is to
include the character # in the underlay string. This character prints as a space, but does not count as a
space when PMW is splitting up the text into words. The width of a printed space is 5 points (in a
10-point font), so, for example,
"God# save #our" g g a |
would print ‘God’ 2.5 points to the left of where it would otherwise appear, and ‘our ’ 2.5 points to the
right.
Sometimes several words are required to be printed under a single note, and only the first is to be
centred on it. The # character can be used to separate such words, to prevent them being assigned to
separate notes. If the character ^ (circumflex) appears in an underlay syllable, then only those
characters to the left of it are counted when the string is being centred. The circumflex itself is not
printed. For example, consider
"Glory^#be#to#Thee, O God."
G+ g #F
The words ‘Glory be to Thee’ are all associated with the semibreve, but because of the circumflex,
‘Glory’ is centred under it, and the rest stick out to the right. If a syllable starts with a circumflex, it is
not centred, but instead starts at the note position.
If two circumflex characters are present in a syllable, then the text between them is centred at the note
position. This makes it possible to cause text to stick out to the left of a note.
When a word consists of more than one syllable, the syllable breaks must be delimited by hyphens:
"God save our gra-cious Queen" g g a | f. g- a |
When a syllable is terminated by a hyphen, PMW prints one or more hyphens between it and the next
syllable, depending on their distance apart.
The heading directive hyphenthreshold can be used to specify the distance between syllables at which
more than one hyphen will be used. The default value is 50 points. If the space is less than this, a
single hyphen is printed, centred in the space. Otherwise, a number of hyphens are printed, the
distance between them being the threshold value divided by three.

128 Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics)

It is possible to cause PMW to print en-dash characters (or any other characters) as ‘hyphens’ between
syllables of underlaid text. See the hyphenstring heading directive for details. Whatever is printed, the
syllable separator in the input remains a single hyphen.
When a syllable extends over more than one note, equals characters must be inserted into the input
string, one for each extra note. This includes tied notes, because PMW does not distinguish between
ties and short slurs. For example,
"glo-==ri-a"
F. | B`. | C. | E. | F. |
"glo-========ri-a"
a-e-a- | b-c’=b=a=b= | c’- c’- b- |
PMW automatically draws an extender line after a word which ends with an equals, finishing
underneath the last note, provided that the line is of reasonable length. The vertical position of the
extender level is just below the baseline of the text, but this can be altered (see section 38.34).
By default, PMW centres all underlay and overlay syllables at the position of their respective notes.
The underlaystyle directive (section 38.130) can be used to request PMW to align underlay and
overlay multinote syllables flush left with the initial note. The circumflex character can still be used to
specify that particular multinote syllables be centred.
Text for two or more verses (up to any number) can be specified in multi-syllable fashion before the
relevant notes by giving each verse as a separate string:
"God save our gra-cious Queen"
"Thy choi-cest gifts in store"
g a a | f. g- a |
The vertical distance between verses can be altered by means of the underlaydepth and overlaydepth
directives, which control independent values. For overlay, the second verse is printed above the first
one, and so on.
The multi-syllable underlay feature in PMW is purely an alternative input notation. The effect is
exactly as if the individual syllables were input immediately preceding the notes under which they are
printed. The following two alternative examples produce the same output:
"God= save our Queen" e’-c’- b a | G. |
"God=" e’- c’- "save" b "our" a | "Queen" G. |
If an underlay string ends with a hyphen, the equals characters can be omitted; PMW automatically
prints a sequence of hyphens up to the next underlay syllable. This can be useful when syllables last
for many notes, for example:
"glo-" g=a=b=g=; a=b=c’=a=; b-. "ri-a" g= b

J J 5 JJL JJL JJL 5 JJL 5? JL 5

! JL JL
FCCCCCC C@
glo - - - - - ri - a

If the final syllable of a word extends over many notes, only a single equals character is needed if it is
at the end of an input string. However, because extender lines are drawn only as far as the last note for
the syllable, rather than to the next underlaid word, it is necessary to supply the final equals character
at the start of the next string, to tell PMW which is the final note for the syllable. For example:
"long=" b=a=g=a=; b=a=g=a=; "= time" g g

5 JJL JJL JJL 5 JJL JJL JJL 5 5

FCCCCC
! C@
long ___________________ time

If there are more notes on the stave, but no more words, then a syllable consisting just of a # character
can be used to stop PMW drawing an extender line further than is required.
If any positioning qualifiers are specified on an underlay input string (/u, /d, /l, or /r) then the
same amount of movement applies to each of the syllables in the string independently. Specifying
vertical movement in this way can sometimes be a convenient alternative to the use of the [ulevel]
directive.

Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics) 129

Warning: There is one important restriction on the use of multi-syllable underlay text strings. Because
they are processed during the input stage of PMW, they cannot in general be used successfully with
the notation for repeating bars. Each syllable in such a string is allocated to the next note read from the
input, but a bar repeat count simply duplicates the bar in which it appears, without reading any more
notes.

45.2 Underlay and overlay fonts

Two separate sets of fonts are provided for underlaid and overlaid text, and the size of these can be set
independently of the other text fonts by the underlaysize and overlaysize directives. However,
individual underlay or overlay strings can specify different sizes by means of the /s option.

45.3 Underlay and overlay levels

Text that is marked as part of the underlay or overlay is always printed at the same level below or
above the stave in any one system of staves; the line of words is always horizontal. PMW chooses an
underlay and an overlay level for each line of music according to the notes that appear on that line,
but these can be overridden by means of the [ulevel] and [olevel] directives. Individual words or
syllables can be moved up or down relative to the standard level by means of the /u and /d
qualifiers.

45.4 Underlay and overlay spreading

PMW is capable of spreading out the notes of a piece to take into account the width of underlaid or
overlaid words. This facility should be used with care, because the music can become very poorly
spaced if the width of the words is allowed to have too much influence on the separation of the notes.
The spreading facility operates only within individual bars, and not between bars. It applies only to
underlay or overlay text, not to other kinds of text. ‘Hard spaces’ (notated by sharp sign characters) in
the text are taken into account when examining the available space. The minimum space allowed
between syllables is one space character in the appropriate font.
There is a heading directive, nospreadunderlay, which disables this facility for both underlay and
overlay, and it is recommended that those who place great importance on the spacing of notes should
use it.
The automatic facility is intended as an insurance for less demanding users against the occasional wide
syllable. In order that it function in this way, it is important that a suitable note spacing be set, and a
suitable size of underlay or overlay font be chosen, such that most of the syllables fit on the line
without the need for any adjustment of the notes. The default setup is not always suitable for music
with words; multiplying the note spacing by 1.2 and choosing a font size of 9.5 is a better default.

45.5 Other uses of underlay and overlay

The underlay and overlay facilities can be used for printing things other than the words of a vocal part.
It is common, for example, for the word crescendo to be printed in a stretched-out manner, in the style
of underlay, or alternatively, for an abbreviation such as cresc. to be followed by a number of hyphens.
In the latter case, the final ‘syllable’ of the word does not exist, but it can be specified as a single
sharp character, which does not cause anything to be printed (because # prints as a space in underlay).
The text can be given as a single string, with equals characters for each note under which hyphens are
to be drawn, or each syllable can be given with the relevant note. In the latter style, the final syllable
can be moved left or right to adjust the end point of the hyphens. Here is a simple example of both
kinds of approach:
"\it\cresc.-==en-==do"/ul gc’ga | gfgr |
"\it\decresc.-"/ul gfef | G "#"/ul/r6 G |
6
! 5
FFFCCC 5 5 @5 5 5 - @5 5 5 5 @3 3 @
cresc. - en - - do decresc. - - - - -

Normally, underlay (and overlay) syllables cannot be associated with rests, but because a final empty
syllable is often required when using underlay to print rows of dashes, and ending at a rest is common,
an exception has been made for the string "#", which should not occur in normal underlay usage. If
this string is specified as underlay or overlay, and immediately precedes a rest, it will be associated

130 Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics)

with the rest rather than the following note. This exception applies only to strings consisting of a
single # character.
PMW supports multiple verses, so there is no difficulty in mixing this kind of usage with real vocal
words, though normally the vocal line would be printed as underlay and the other text as overlay.
Hyphen strings for underlay are printed with hyphens fairly far apart, and at varying separations.
Sometimes a more uniform hyphen separation is required, and some editors prefer some other
character to the hyphen after items like cresc. Some additional features are provided for use strings in
these cases.
If a second string is provided as an option to an underlay or overlay string (i.e. following a slash) it is
used instead of hyphens to separate the syllables of a word. The string is repeated as many times as
possible in the available space. This option should be given after any other options for the main string;
in particular it must follow the /ul or /ol option.
The default font for the second string is the default underlay or overlay font, as appropriate, and the
default size is the size of the first string. However, the second string may be followed by /s and a
number to specify a different size.
The second string may also be followed by /u or /d to specify that it is to be moved up or down,
relative to the following syllable. In this example, a full stop is used as the repeating character, and it
is moved up so as to be approximately at the middle of the letters:
"\it\cresc.-"/ul/" ."/u2 gc’ga | gf "#"/ul gr |
6
! 5
FCCCCCCCC 5 5 @ 5 5 5 - C@
cresc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The second string is a normal PMW string, and may contain font changes and other escape sequences.
Hence it can be used to print trill signs followed by wiggly lines, by selecting the appropriate
characters from the music font:
"\*136\-"/ol/"\*96\" E’+_ | "#"/ol/r8 E’R |
ˆ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜
2 4 ,
!
FCC @ @

Character 136 is the ˆ character, and character 96 is the tilde (˜ ), which gives a wiggly line when
repeated. The invisible final syllable is moved right eight points to ensure that the ‘hyphens’ (i.e. the
wiggly line) cover the final note.
If such features are required in several places in a piece, the best thing to do is to use the macro
facility to save having to type the complicated strings each time. This approach is taken in subsequent
examples below.
The conventional octave marking of 8va followed by a line of dashes can be printed in this way.
However, it is normal to print a small ‘jog’ on the final dash to indicate the end of the section. To
achieve this, an additional feature has been provided.
If an underlay or overlay option string contains a vertical bar character, only those characters to the
left of the vertical bar are used as the repeating sequence, but those characters to the right of the bar
are printed at the end of the sequence, once. (If, by some chance, a real vertical bar is required to be
repeated, it can be specified as character number 124.)
There are some angle-shaped characters in the music font which can be used for printing the ‘jogs’, as
follows:
*define s8 "\it\8va-"/ol/" -| \mf\\159\"/u0.3
*define e8 "#"/ol/r8
&s8 c’.d’-e’d’ | g’g’ &e8 G’ |
----Ÿ
8va - - - - - - - - - - - - -6- - -6
4
6? 8 6 6
!
FCCCCCCC @ @

One further feature is available to cope with repeated strings that extend over the end of a musical
system. If another optional string is given, it is printed at the start of each continuation line, before the

Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics) 131

start of the repeating strings. The only option permitted after this string is /s, to set its size (which
defaults to the size of the original underlay or overlay string).
Using this feature to cause a small ‘8’ to be printed at the start of continuation lines, the macro
definition from the above example becomes:
*define s8 "\it\8va-"/ol/" -| \mf\\159\"/u0.3/"\it\8"/s2
where it is assumed that a suitable size is defined using the textsizes directive.

132 Vocal underlay and overlay text (lyrics)

 46. Rehearsal markings

Rehearsal markings are specified as text items enclosed in square brackets. The text may be longer
than one character. It is printed above the stave, and by default is enclosed in a rectangular box, and
printed in bold type. The rehearsalmarks directive can be used to change the size of the font, and to
specify printing inside a ring instead of a box, or printing with no enclosure.
If necessary, a rehearal mark can be moved up, down, left or right, in the same manner as other text.
For example:
["A"/u2]
Normally, a rehearsal marking is given at the start of a bar, and in this case it is printed immediately to
the right of the preceding bar line (except at the left-hand side of the page). If a rehearsal marking is
given in the middle of a bar, it is aligned horizontally with the next note, exactly as for other text.
Rehearsal markings are normally printed above the top stave of a score only, though in very large
scores they are sometimes repeated part of the way down. If parts are to be extracted from a score,
then the rehearsal markings should be specified on stave 0, as they will then be printed above the top
stave, whichever staves are selected for printing. Chapter 35 gives details of the stave 0 facility.

Rehearsal markings 133

 47. Stave directives

This chapter describes the directives that can appear interspersed with the notes and rests of a stave.
Each directive must be enclosed in square brackets, though if there are several in a row, a single set of
brackets suffices. After the first three, which do not involve the use of an alphabetic name, the
directives are given in alphabetical order.
Clefs are specified by directives which are the names of the clefs, and these appear in their alphabetic
positions below. The following are provided:
alto C3
baritone F3
bass F4
cbaritone C5
contrabass F4 with 8 below
deepbass F5
hclef percussion H clef
mezzo C2
noclef nothing printed
soprabass F4 with 8 above
soprano C1
tenor C4
treble G2
trebledescant G2 with 8 above
trebletenor G2 with 8 below
trebletenorb G2 with (8) below

47.1 Repeated expression marks

If a long sequence of notes are all to be marked staccato, or with accents, this can be specified by
giving the expression syntax for one note inside square brackets. For example
[\.\] a b c d
causes all the notes to be marked staccato. The only characters that may appear within backslashes in
this context are
. staccato
- accent
> horizontal wedge accent
v small, closed vertical wedge
V large, open vertical wedge
’ ‘start of bar’ accent
o ring (harmonic)
d string down bow mark
u string up bow mark
a<n> accent number <n>
/ single tremolo mark
// double tremolo mark
/// triple tremolo mark
! put accents on other side of notes
To cancel a setting, two backslashes with nothing between them should be given as a directive (in
square brackets). Cancellation can also be carried out for an individual note by means of the note
option letter x. For example, to print a non-staccato note in the middle of a run of staccato notes, the
following could be used:
[\.\] a b c d\x\ e f g [\\]
The note d would be printed without a staccato dot. Expression/option items are processed from left to
right; if there are two or more things being defaulted, one can be put back again after the x if
required.

134 Stave directives

47.2 Repeated bars
A bar which is repeated in the input need only be input once. The appearance of a number enclosed in
square brackets causes those items to the right of it in the bar to be repeated that number of times.
This is most commonly used for repeated rest bars, but it can be used with any bar. For example,
[45] R! |
[key C] [10] R! |
In the second example, the key signature is printed in the first bar only. If it had followed [10] it
would have been printed in every bar.
There is danger of confusion between repeated bars and rehearsal markings. Accidental omission of
the quotes from a numerical rehearsal marking such as
["42"]
can lead to some very strange effects.
Warning: Repeated input bars should not be used with multi-syllable underlay texts, as the syllables
are apportioned to notes as they are read from the input, and the repeated bars are not re-read.

47.3 [1st], [2nd], etc.

First and second time bars (and third and fourth, etc. if needed) are specified by enclosing the number,
followed by one of the sequences ‘st’, ‘nd’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’ in square brackets at the start of a bar. The
marking for the final one is terminated by the appearance of the directive [all]. For example
[1st] g a b g :) | [2nd] g a b c’ | [all] b a g f
More than one bar of music may appear between the items. The [all] directive must not be present if
the piece ends with the second time bar.
Often these markings are printed above the top stave of a score only. If parts are to be extracted from
a score, then the rehearsal markings should be specified on stave 0, as they will then be printed above
the top stave, whichever staves are selected for printing. Chapter 35 gives details of the stave 0
facility.
It is possible to specify vertical movements for 1st and 2nd time bar markings, to cope with unusual
cases. This is done by entering /u or /d followed by a number in the directive. For example,
[1st/u4]
specifies a first time bar whose marking is to be 4 points higher than it would be by default.
PMW normally puts the second time marking at the same level as the first, unless high notes in the
second time bar force it up.
More than one of these markings can be given in the same bar, for example:
[1st] [2nd] Grg | [3rd] GR |
When this is done, the numbers are printed with a comma and a space between them. Any movement
qualifiers must be specified on the first one.
The left-hand ends of these markings can be moved left and right as well as up and down by means of
/l and /r qualifiers. It is also possible to change the text that is printed by supplying a text string
after a slash, for example:
[1st/"primero"]
If there are several in one bar, separate strings can be supplied for each of them. The font size is set
by the repeatbarfont directive, which also sets the default font to be used.

47.4 [All]
See the immediately preceding section.

Stave directives 135

47.5 [Alto]
This specifies a C clef with its centre on the third stave line. If it is given without a parameter, no
change is made to the current default octave. However, it may be followed by a number to indicate a
new setting for the current octave, for example,
[alto 1]
A clef setting has no bearing on the interpretation of the pitch of the notes that go to make up a part
(apart from the octave setting). Changing the clef directive at the start of a part causes the music to be
printed out in the new clef, but at the same absolute pitch as before.
Clef changes in the middle of a stave that are not in the middle of a bar are normally notated
immediately before a bar line rather than immediately after. The clefsize heading directive is used to
specify the size of such clefs.

47.6 [Assume]
When an overprinted stave contains a sequence of skipped bars (see [skip]), the clef, key and time
signature for its partner stave may have changed while its bars were being skipped. The [assume]
directive can be used to set these things without causing anything to be printed. For example,
[skip 60] [assume bass 0] gbc |
has the effect of changing the stave into the bass clef so that ‘gbc’ are printed in this clef, and a bass
clef is printed at the next start of line, but no clef is printed where the directive occurs. Similar syntax
is used for setting the key and the time:
[assume key E$]
[assume time 3/4]
The use of this directive is not confined to overprinted staves.

47.7 [Baritone]
This specifies an F clef based on the third stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

47.8 [Barlinestyle]
This directive must be followed by a number, and it sets the bar line style for subsequent bar lines in
the stave. See section 38.7 for details of the available styles.

47.9 [Barnumber]
The heading directive barnumbers (see section 38.9) is used to request PMW to number bars
automatically. The stave directive [barnumber] is used to control the printing of numbers for individ-
ual bars.
If [barnumber] appears without any parameters in the stave data, then a number is printed for the
current bar, independently of the overall setting. The size of font used and whether or not the number
is printed in a box or ring is controlled by the heading directive. (The default is not to use boxes, and
the default size is 10 points.)
The position of the bar number can be altered by following the directive with a slash, one of the letters
l, r, u, or d, and a number. This is sometimes necessary when there are notes on high ledger lines at
the start of a numbered bar. For example,
[barnumber/l10/d5]
prints a number on the current bar, 10 points to the left and 5 points down from where it would appear
by default.
If [barnumber] appears followed by the word ‘off ’ then no bar number is printed for the current bar,
even if the heading directive implies there should be one.

136 Stave directives

47.10 [Bass]
This specifies a bass clef. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

47.11 [Beamacc]
This directive causes the next beam to be drawn as an accelerando beam. See section 42.4 for details.

47.12 [Beammove]
This directive, which takes a single number as its parameter, causes the following beam to be moved
vertically without altering its slope. A positive number moves it upwards, and a negative one
downwards. An attempt to move a beam too near the noteheads may give strange results.
Use of this directive is preferable to adjusting the stem length of one or more notes in the beam, as it
is not always clear which notes in the beam are those whose stems control the beam position.

47.13 [Beamrit]
This directive causes the next beam to be drawn as an ritardando beam. See section 42.4 for details.

47.14 [Beamslope]
PMW contains rules for choosing the slope of a beamed group which usually have the right effect.
However, it is possible to override them by means of the [beamslope] stave directive. This directive
takes as its parameter a number specifying the slope of the next beamed group on the current stave.
For example,
[beamslope 0.2] g-g-
[beamslope 0] c-g-
[beamslope -0.1] g-c’-
Positive slopes go upwards to the right, negative ones downwards. A slope of zero specifies a
horizontal beam. The values given are in the conventional form for gradients, with a slope of 1.0
giving an angle of 45 degrees. When a beam’s slope is specified explicitly, it overrides the setting of
the maximum beam slope (see maxbeamslope).
When a beam has notes on either side of it, it may not be possible to use the specified slope because
of the position of the notes. In this case, the default rules will come into play again and a smaller
slope will be chosen.

47.15 [Bottommargin]
This directive provides a way of changing the value given by the bottommargin heading directive for
a single page only. If there is more than one occurrence on the same page, the last value is used. To
leave 30 points at the bottom of one particular page, for example, use
[bottommargin 30]
in any bar on that page.

47.16 [Bowing]
String bowing marks are normally printed above the stave. The [bowing] directive is provided for
changing this. It must be followed by one of the words ‘above’ or ‘below’.

47.17 [Breakbarline]
An occurrence of this directive causes the bar line at the end of the current bar not to be extended
downwards onto the stave below, unless it is at the end of a system. See also [unbreakbarline].

47.18 [cbaritone]
This specifies a C-clef on the 5-th stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

Stave directives 137

47.19 [Comma]
The [comma] directive causes PMW to insert a comma pause mark above the current stave.

47.20 [Contrabass]
This specifies a bass clef with a little ‘8’ printed below it. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.21 [Copyzero]
This directive takes a dimension as an argument, and adjusts the vertical level of any stave zero
material in the current bar when stave zero is printed at the level of the current stave. For example,
[copyzero 4]
raises the stave zero material in the current bar by 4 points.
It is not necessary for there to be an instance of the copyzero heading directive specifying the current
stave for [copyzero] to take effect. In the default case, [copyzero] takes effect whenever the stave in
which it appears is the top stave of a system.
When first and second time bar markings are specified in stave zero, and there is a need to adjust their
height for certain staves, it should be noted that the markings are drawn when the bar in which their
end point is determined is processed. Consequently, it is that bar in which [copyzero] should appear.
The same applies to slurs and lines (though they are rarely specified in stave zero).

47.22 [Couple]
A single musical part, notated as one PMW stave, can be spread across a pair of bass and treble staves
when actually printed. This is commonly found in keyboard music. The directive
[couple up]
which should be given on a bass clef stave, specifies that notes higher than middle C should be printed
on the stave above, which is assumed to be a treble clef stave. Similarly,
[couple down]
couples a treble clef stave to the bass clef stave below, and
[couple off]
terminates the coupling. A stave can be coupled only one way at once. However, there is no reason
why a pair of staves should not both be simultaneously coupled to each other. An example of music
printed in this way is given in section 15.4.
Warning 1: Coupling only works properly if the upper stave is using the treble clef and the lower one
is using the bass clef.
Warning 2: Coupling requires the spacing between the staves to be a multiple of 4 points if it is to
work properly in all circumstances. The default spacing of 44 points satisfies this requirement.
Occasionally it is desirable to cause individual notes that would not normally be printed on the
coupled stave to be so printed. A notation for this is provided in the form of the \c\ note option. For
example,
[treble 1 couple down] g-e-c-\c\g`-
The middle C in this beam would normally remain on the original (upper) stave, but the use of \c\
forces it down onto the lower one.
If the \c\ option is used when coupling is not in force, the note is coupled upwards if it is on or
above the centre line of the stave; otherwise it is coupled downwards.
Similarly, there is a note option \h\ (for ‘here’) which prevents a note that would normally move
onto the other stave when coupling is in force from so doing.

138 Stave directives

47.23 [Cue]
The directive [cue] causes the subsequent notes of the current bar, on the current stave, to be printed
using the cue note font, instead of the normal font. Typically, the note spacing needs to be reduced as
well. This feature is normally used only when single parts are being printed; the conditional features of
PMW can be used to control this, as in the following example:
[35] R! | @ 35 bars rest
*if score
R! | @ if full score, rest bar
* else
[cue] [ns *1/2] @ if cue bar halve note spacing
"[flute]"/a @ print above stave
g a-g-f-e- e
| [ns] @ restore at next bar start
*fi @ end conditional section
The effect of the [cue] directive is automatically cancelled at the end of the bar in which it appears,
but it can also be explicitly cancelled by [endcue]. In addition to their use for cue bars, [cue] and
[endcue] can be used for printing complicated ornaments or optional notes. When cue notes are
dotted, the dots are spaced horizontally in proportion to the size of the cue notes. However, when
printing optional notes with full-sized notes above or below on the same stave, it is sometimes better
to arrange for all the dots to be aligned. You can request this by specifying
[cue/dotalign]
The space between the cue notes and their dots is increased in this case.

47.24 [Deepbass]
This specifies an F clef based on the fifth stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

47.25 [Dots]
Augmentation dots are normally printed in the space above when a note appears on a stave line. The
directive [dots] is provided for changing this. It must be followed by one of the words ‘above’ or
‘below’, and it applies to all subsequent notes on the stave, with the exception of certain adjacent
notes in chords. Note that the position for an individual note can be overridden by means of a note
option consisting of a colon (see section 41.13).

47.26 [Draw]
The [draw] directive is described in chapter 37.

47.27 [Endcue]
See [Cue] (section 47.23) above.

47.28 [Endline]
See [line] (section 47.40) below.

47.29 [Endslur]
See [slur] (section 47.75) below.

47.30 [Endstave]
The data for each stave of music must end with the directive [endstave]. This can be followed only by
the start of a new stave or the start of a new movement or by the end of the file.

47.31 [Ensure]
The [space] directive always inserts extra space before a note. Sometimes all that is needed is an
assurance that a certain amount of space is available, for example, when using the drawing facilities to
print markings that PMW doesn’t know about. The [ensure] directive provides this facility. If the

Stave directives 139

requested amount of space is not available between the next note (or the end of the bar) and the
previous note (or the start of the bar) on the current stave, a suitable amount of space is inserted.
Consider, for example,
G [ensure 32] G
If this is the only stave, then because minims are normally printed 20 points apart, the [ensure]
directive has the effect of inserting 12 points of space. However, if there is another stave containing
four crotchets, which print 16 points apart, there is already 32 points between the two minims, and no
extra space is inserted.
The additional space is inserted immediately before the note, thus moving it further away from any
other items, such as clefs, which lie between it and the previous note.

47.32 [Fbfont]
The default typeface for figured bass text that is printed with a stave can be set for an individual stave
by means of the [fbfont] directive. This directive takes as its parameter one of the standard font
names.
For example, supposing that the third extra font had been defined for use in figured bass text, then
[fbfont extra 3]
would be used at the start of that stave. The default typeface for figured bass text is roman. In any
given text string it is always possible to change typeface by using the appropriate escape sequence.

47.33 [Fbtextsize]
This directive must be followed by a number in the range 1 to 12. It selects the default size to be used
for figured bass text on the current stave. The actual font sizes that correspond to the twelve available
sizes are set by the textsize heading directive. If this directive is not used, the size set by the fbsize
heading directive (which is different from any of the sizes set by textsize) is used.
[Fbtextsize] is normally only needed if you want different sizes of figured bass text on different
staves.

47.34 [Footnote]
The stave directive [footnote] defines a text string that is printed at the foot of the page on which the
current bar is printed. Footnotes are different from footings, in that the space in which they are printed
is taken from the normal page length; consequently the bottom system of music is printed higher up
the page, in order to leave room for footnotes.
The syntax of [footnote] is the same as the syntax of the heading and footing directives, and like
them, if the text is longer than the line length, it is automatically split into several lines (see section
38.45 for full details of this). For example:
[footnote "A close friend of Schumann and
Mendelssohn, Sheffield-born Sterndale
Bennett founded the Bach choir, was for ten
years the conductor of the Philharmonic
Society, and in 1866 became principal of
the Royal Academy of Music."]
The initial font is roman, and the default size is 9 points, but this can be changed by the footnotesize
heading directive.
If there are several footnotes on one page, vertical white space is left between them. The default
amount of space is 4 points, but this can be changed by the footnotesep heading directive.
If there are several footnotes in one system, they are ordered by stave, those for the lowest numbered
stave being printed first.

140 Stave directives

47.35 [Hairpins]
Hairpins are normally printed below the stave. The [hairpins] directive is provided for changing this.
It must be followed by one of the words ‘above’ or ‘below’. It can also be followed by ‘middle’,
which causes hairpins to be printed below the stave, half way between it and the following stave
(unless low notes on the upper stave force them lower down).
Hairpins in fixed positions above or below the stave can be made the default by following ‘above’ or
‘below’ in the [hairpins] directive by a dimension. For example,
[hairpins above 10]
Individual hairpins can be moved from this position by the normal /u and /d qualifiers. In addition,
/a and /b can be used without a dimension to specify the default type of hairpin, whose vertical
position depends on the notes it covers.
It is also possible to set up a default adjustment for variable-position hairpins, by giving a dimension
preceded by + or - in the [hairpins] directive. For example, after
[hairpins below -4]
has been encountered, all hairpins are positioned as if they were followed by /d4.
Note the distinction between
[hairpins above 8]
and
[hairpins above +8]
The former causes all hairpins to be printed 8 points above the stave, while the latter adds 8 points to
whatever position PMW computes from the notes under the hairpin.

47.36 [Hairpinwidth]
This directive, which must be followed by a dimension, sets the width of the open ends of any
subsequent hairpins on the current stave.

47.37 [Hclef]
This directive causes a percussion ‘H-clef ’ to be used on the current stave. This behaves as a treble
clef as far as note positioning is concerned. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

47.38 [Justify]
The justification parameters can be changed by the appearance of this stave directive. Unlike the
heading directive of the same name, it specifies changes to the justification parameters only, and its
effect lasts only until the end of the current movement.
It must be followed by a + character (for adding a justification) or a - character (for removing a
justification) immediately preceding one of the words ‘top’, ‘bottom’, ‘left’, or ‘right’. For example, if
the last page of a piece uses only slightly more than half of the page depth, and vertical justification is
not wanted, then
[justify -bottom]
should be included in any bar on that page. Changes of parameter take effect from the system in which
they are encountered, and persist until a subsequent change. More than one change may be given at
once. For example,
[justify -right -bottom]
might be used in the last system of a piece.

47.39 [Key]
A change of key signature is indicated by the directive
[key <key signature>]

Stave directives 141

If the change of key falls at the start of a system, a cautionary key signature is printed at the end of
the previous line unless the word ‘nowarn’ is included in the directive, for example:
[key E$ nowarn]
There is also a heading directive, nokeywarn, for suppressing all cautionary key signatures.
Key signature changes are printed in ‘modern style’. That is, unless the new key is C major (or A
minor), all that is printed is the new signature. If ‘old style’ is required, where the new key signature
is preceded by an explicit cancelling of the old one with naturals, the new signature should be
preceded by a change to C major. For example,
[key C][key A]
prints a number of naturals to cancel the previous signature before printing three sharps.
When a bar starts with a new key signature and a repeat mark, the order in which these are printed
depends on the order in which they appear in the input.
[key G] (:
causes the key signature to be printed first, followed by the repeat mark, while
(: [key G]
causes the repeat mark to be amalgamated with the previous bar line, with the key signature following.
If, at the same point in the music, these items appear in different orders on different staves, then the
repeat sign is printed first on all staves.

47.40 [Line]
There are a number of situations in music where it is required to draw a straight line above or below a
sequence of notes, with or without small ‘jogs’ at the ends. With the ‘jogs’ one has a sort of horizontal
bracket.
There is a stave directive [line] to do this. It works exactly like [slur], except that what is drawn is a
straight line with a vertical ‘jog’ on each end. There is an [xline] directive that corresponds to [xslur].
The end of the line is marked by [endline] or [el] and there are the same options as for [slur] – for
example, /b, /u, /d, /rr etc. The /co and /ci options affect the length of the ‘jogs’; however, the
other options starting with /c, which for a slur move the Bezier curve control points, are ignored for
lines.
Unlike slurs, these markings are by default always positioned above or below the stave itself, never
actually overprinting it. Like slurs, they follow the ‘shape’ of the notes underneath (or above) to some
extent.
Lines can be positioned at fixed positions above or below the staves or at the underlay or overlay
levels. The fixed positions refer to the main part of the line, excluding the jogs, if any. See [slur] for
details of the relevant options.
The [linegap] directive can be used to leave gaps in lines and cause drawing or printing to take place
in the gap.
The following options can also be given with [line] in addition to those available for [slur]:
/ol requests that the line be ‘open on the left’
/or requests that the line be ‘open on the right’
An ‘open’ line has no ‘jog’ on the end. There is a directive [xline] that works like [xslur], and lines
can be ‘tagged’ in the same way as slurs. Note that the /i and /ip qualifiers are available, and cause
a dashed or dotted line to be drawn, respectively.

47.41 [Linegap]
The directive [linegap] requests that a gap be left in a line that was set up by the [line] directive. The
following options are provided:
• /=<letter> is used to identify which line is being referred to, in exactly the same way as it is
used on the [endline] directive.

142 Stave directives

 • /w followed by a number is used to specify the width of the gap; if it is not given, a width of
four points is used. The width is measured along the line.
• /h specifies that the centre of the gap is to be halfway along the line. It can be followed by a
number in the range 0–1.0 to specify a different fraction of the length; for example, /h0.75
specifies that the centre of the gap is to be three-quarters of the way along the line.
If /h is not specified, the centre of the gap is aligned with the centre of the notehead of the next
note, or with the barline if there are no more notes in the bar.
• /l and /r are used to move the position of the gap to the left or to the right by a given number
of points.
• /draw <arguments> <name> specifies that the named drawing is to be associated with the gap.
When the drawing code is obeyed, the origin of the coordinate system is set at the centre of the
gap, and the variables linegapx and linegapy define the start of the right-hand portion of the line
relative to this origin. For example, for a horizontal line, linegapx is half the width of the gap,
and linegapy is zero.
• /"<text>" associates the text with the gap. For example
[linegap/"\it\ad lib."]
The default font for the text is roman. If no width for the gap is given by the /w option, the
width is set to the length of the text plus a little bit. The text is printed centred in the gap, rotated
so that it has the same slope as the (imaginary) line joining the ends of the gap.
The text option must be the last option for [linegap] because any further options are taken as
options that apply to the string. The following text options are available: /u, /d, /l, /r, /s,
/box, and /ring. The movements are relative to a coordinate system whose ‘horizontal’ axis
lies on the line joining the ends of the gap.
If /h is used when a line is split between two systems, it is applied to whichever part of the line the
[linegap] directive falls in.
If a gap passes either end of the line, the ending jog is never drawn, even if specified. A drawing can
be associated with the start or end of a line by using /h0 or /h1, respectively.
To associate a drawing with a particular point on a line, but without leaving a gap, /w0 can be used.
When the /draw option is used, take care not to leave out the / by mistake. If a space is used
instead, the drawing is no longer associated with the line gap, but with the following note.
Any number of gaps may be specified for a single line. They are processed from left to right, and all
the drawings for a single line on one system are processed together in succession.
When defining drawings that are to be used with line gaps, it is useful to know that the width of lines
drawn by [line] is 0.3 points.
Here is an example when a gap is used in order to print some text in the middle of a horizontal line:
[line/a/h linegap/h/"unis. \it\ad lib"] fgaf |
c’bc [el] r

6 6
unis. ad lib

! 5 5 5 5 @
FCCCCCCCC - C@
=5

The /c option is used with the string in the drawing, to centre it at the current point, which is
specified as slightly below the origin because text strings are printed with their base lines at the current
point.
Because the /h option is used, the [linegap] directive can be given right at the start of the line. Do not
confuse /h as used with [line], where it means horizontal, with /h as used with [linegap], where it
means halfway. This latter usage was chosen to be similar to the /h option on hairpins.
Another use of the [linegap] facility is for drawing conventional piano pedal markings. Because these
appear often in a piece, it is sensible to define macros for the relevant directives:

Stave directives 143

 draw blip
linegapx linegapy moveto
0 linegapx 2 mul lineto
linegapx neg linegapy neg lineto
0.3 setlinewidth stroke
enddraw
draw ped
0 0 moveto "\**163\ " show
enddraw
*define ped [line/=P/b/h/ol/d4 linegap/h0/w30/draw ped]
*define blip [linegap/=P/draw blip]
*define ep [endline/=P]
[stave 1 bass 0]
r- &ped %a &blip b-_; b-; e &blip a‘-_ |
a‘- G‘ &ep r-r |
♮6 8 8
. 6 . - C@
"
FF 7@73
£

The ped macro starts the line, which is specified as horizontal and open (i.e. no jog) on the left. It is
also moved down four points, to allow for the height of the £ text, which is printed at the start by
means of the immediately following [linegap] directive.
The blip macro creates a gap in the line at the next note, and causes a ‘blip’ to be drawn. Notice that
the size of the blip is relative to the width of the gap. Thus the same drawing could be used for
different sized blips if required.
The ep macro simply ends the line. In simple cases it would be just as quick to type [el], the
abbreviation for [endline], but using the macro makes it clear that it is a pedal line that is terminating
as well as using the /= option to specify exactly which line is being referred to.

47.42 [Mezzo]
This specifies a C clef with its centre on the second stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.43 [Midichannel]
The [midichannel] directive can be used to change the MIDI channel that the current stave uses, from
the next note onwards:
[midichannel 5]
It can also be used to change the voice allocation of the new channel at the same time:
[midichannel 6 "flute"]
The voice change takes effect at the time of the next note (or rest), and of course it affects any other
staves that may be using the same channel. A relative volume may be given after the voice name:
[midichannel 1 "trumpet"/12]
See the midichannel directive for how to set up channels at the start of a piece.

47.44 [Midipitch]
The [midipitch] directive is used to alter the MIDI playing pitch for a stave, for the purpose of
selecting a different untuned percussion instrument. Its argument takes the same form as the final
argument of the midichannel heading directive:
[midipitch "bongo"]
To stop forcing the playing pitch on a stave, specify an empty string in quotes.

144 Stave directives

47.45 [Midivoice]
The [midivoice] directive can be used to change the MIDI voice without changing the channel:
[midivoice "french horn"]
Again, it will affect any other staves that are using the same channel.

47.46 [Move]
The directive
[move <n>]
causes the next non-textual thing that is to be printed on the current stave, whether it be a note or
something else, to be moved horizontally by <n> points, without affecting the position of anything else
in the bar (except slurs or ties that are attached to a moved note). If <n> is positive, movement is to
the right; if negative, it is to the left. Certain items can also be moved vertically, by specifying
[move <n>,<m>]
where <m> is the vertical movement required. For example, to print a mid-stave clef four points
higher than usual one might have
[move 0,4][treble 1]
The second parameter may be a positive or negative number; positive movement is upwards. If two or
more [move] directives appear in succession on a stave, they act cumulatively.
Vertical movement does not apply to notes, and is ignored if specified. Other features such as text and
slurs have their own syntax for vertical movement. Those items to which the [move] directive applies
are: clefs, key signatures, time signatures, dotted bar lines, repeat marks, caesuras, commas, ticks, and
notes (horizontal movement only).
When staves of different sizes are in use, any vertical movement specified by [move] is scaled for the
current stave, but horizontal movements are not scaled. However, there is a related directive called
[rmove] which scales in both directions.
A [move] directive can also be present in the first bar of a sequence of rest bars. If they are packed up
into a single multi-bar rest, the [move] is applied to the number that is printed above the long rest
sign.
See also [ensure], [rmove], [rsmove], [rpace], [smove] and [space].

47.47 [Name]
The [name] directive has two entirely separate functions. If its parameters are one or more strings or
calls to drawing functions, it is an alternative way of defining text or drawings to be printed at the left-
hand side of the stave. This can be useful when portions of the text are being skipped conditionally.
For example,
[stave 1 treble 1]
*if score
[name "Flute" "Fl."]
*fi
prints the name in the score, but not in the part. In this form, the parameters for [name] are exactly the
same as the text and drawing parameters of the [stave] directive.
Sometimes it is necessary to change what is printed at the start of a stave part-way through a piece, for
example, if a double choir becomes a single choir, or vice versa, and this is what the second form of
[name] is used for. In this usage, its parameter is a single number, which selects which string and/or
drawing is to be used on the current and subsequent staves.
Each ‘item’ for printing at the start of a stave consists of a string or a call to a drawing function, or
both, and they are numbered starting at one. For example, if the stave starts with
[stave 2 "Alto" "A" "Alto I"]
Then by default in the first system the stave is labelled ‘Alto’, and in all subsequent systems it is
labelled ‘A’. However, if

Stave directives 145

 [name 3]
is used at any point, then the system in which it appears and any subsequent ones will use the text
‘Alto I’ for this stave. A number greater than the number of items can be used to suppress printing of
anything at all; alternatively, empty strings can be used.

47.48 [Newline]
The directive [newline] can be used in stave data to force a new line (system) of music to be started at
a particular point. It need appear in one stave only. If a stave is not selected for printing, however, an
appearance of [newline] within it is ignored. An occurrence of [newline] should always be at the start
of a bar.

47.49 [Newmovement]
This directive must always appear immediately after an [endstave] directive. It signals the start of a
new section of music, and is followed by an optional set of new heading directives, and then more
staves of data.
When [newmovement] is used without a parameter, PMW looks to see if it can fit the new heading
lines (if any) and the first system of the new movement onto the current page. If it cannot, a new page
is started. (In the case of a system consisting of one stave only, PMW tries to fit on two systems,
because a single line of music at the bottom of a page doesn’t look good.)
By specifying [newmovement newpage], you can force PMW always to start a new page. You can
also specify [newmovement thispage] to stay on the current page when only a single stave of music
will fit.
When a new movement starts at the top of a page, any page headings that are in force are printed, in
addition to the headings for the movement. This means that, for example, if page numbers are
specified in the first movement by a page heading, they will be printed on all subsequent pages. Any
page headings specified in the new movement completely replace those set up in the previous
movement. Chapter 24 contains more details about the interaction of headings and footings with new
movements.
Sometimes, however, it is required to suppress page headings at the start of a new movement, for
example if they are being used to print the name of the movement at the head of pages. This can be
done by adding the keyword ‘nopageheading’ to the [newmovement] directive. For example:
[newmovement nopageheading]
This option can be used with or without the ‘newpage’ option; it takes effect only if the new
movement actually starts at the top of a page.
The lastfooting directive sets up footings for the final page of a piece. In some circumstances it may
be desirable to print a special footing at the end of an individual movement, and this can be done with
[newmovement uselastfooting]
In this case, if the new movement starts on a new page, the footing on the previous page is the
lastfooting from the previous movement, if present. To force a new page and cause the lastfooting
text to be printed, use
[newmovement newpage uselastfooting]
Use of this option does not cancel the lastfooting text; it is carried forward to the new movement, but
of course can be cancelled by a new lastfooting directive in the new movement.
Another possible form of the directive is [newmovement thisline]. This is for somewhat specialized
circumstances. It has the effect of starting a new movement without advancing the current vertical
position on the page. If there are no headings, the first system of the new movement prints with its
first stave at the same level as the first stave of the last system of the previous movement.
Two different uses are envisaged for this:
• Music for church services often contains very short sections of one or two bars, and it is
sometimes desirable to print two of them side by side.
• One style of printing incipits has white space between the incipit staves and the start of the main
system.

146 Stave directives

In both cases it is necessary to specify left justification for the last system of the first movement, and
right justification for the first system of the second.

47.50 [Newpage]
The directive [newpage] can be used in stave data to force a new page of music to be started at a
particular point. It need appear in one stave only. If a stave is not selected for printing, however, an
appearance of [newpage] within it is ignored. An occurrence of [newpage] should always be at the
start of a bar.

47.51 [Nocheck]
It is sometimes useful to disable PMW’s checking of bar lengths (at the start or end of a piece, for
example). The directive [nocheck] suppresses this check, for the current bar only. (See also the
heading directive of the same name for suppressing the check globally.) It is permitted to omit
[nocheck] from bars in which absolutely nothing appears other than a whole bar rest indication.

47.52 [Noclef]
This specifies an invisible clef. It acts as a treble clef as far as note pitch is concerned. It is useful
when setting incipits where no clef is required. It is also useful when setting fragments and musical
examples.

47.53 [Nocount]
In certain circumstances it may be necessary to prevent a bar in the middle of a piece from being
counted for the purposes of bar numbering, for example, when using an ‘invisible bar line’ to make
PMW split a bar over two lines on the page. Also, if the first bar of a piece is incomplete, it is
conventional not to include it in the bar numbering. The directive [nocount] causes the current bar not
to be counted; such a bar never has its number printed. It need only appear in one stave. If it appears
in a bar whose contents are repeated by means of a number in square brackets, all the repeated bars
are uncounted.

47.54 [Noteheads]
Three alternative note head shapes are supported: diamond-shaped for string harmonics, cross-shaped,
and invisible (i.e. no noteheads at all). It is also possible to print noteheads without stems.
The character ² (which is called ‘direct’) is sometimes seen on a stave in musical extracts (and
examination papers) to indicate a pitch without specifying a time value. This character is in PMW’s
font and can be positioned as a text item, but it is also available as an exotic form of notehead.
The stave directive [noteheads] is used to control these features. It must be followed by one of the
words ‘normal’, ‘harmonic’, ‘cross’, ‘none’, ‘direct’, or ‘only’. For example,
a b [noteheads cross] c d | [noteheads normal] e f
prints the second two notes in the first bar with cross-shaped noteheads.
Because this is quite a long directive to type, and one which might appear frequently in some music,
abbreviations are provided as follows:
[o] is equivalent to [noteheads normal]
[h] is equivalent to [noteheads harmonic]
[x] is equivalent to [noteheads cross]
[z] is equivalent to [noteheads none]
When no note heads are being printed, ledger lines are omitted, and breves and semibreves are totally
invisible. With cross-shaped note heads there is no difference between the appearance of a crotchet and
a minim. Breves are distinguished from semibreves only when normal note heads are being printed.
When [noteheads direct] is selected (to print notes as ²), ledger lines are printed as normal,
but no stems or beams are printed.
For printing stemless notes, the directive
[noteheads only]

Stave directives 147

requests that all stems and beams be suppressed until another occurrence of [noteheads] with a
parameter other than ‘only’.

47.55 [Notes]
The directive
[notes off]
suppresses the printing of notes and their stems on the stave. However, if the notes would have been
beamed, the beams are still drawn. This can be used for placing beams in non-standard places. In
addition, if the ornaments or fermatas are specified, these are also printed.
Making the note or chord at the end of a tie invisible is a convenient way to print ‘hanging’ tie marks.
The effect of [notes off] can be reversed by [notes on].

47.56 [Notespacing]
The [notespacing] directive may appear as a directive in stave data, to specify a temporary change in
the horizontal distances between notes. If the directive is given with no parameters, it resets to the
values that were current at the start of the movement. [Ns] is an abbreviation for [notespacing].
The most commonly used form of the [notespacing] directive is the one that changes each element in
the note spacing table by a multiplicative factor. This is done by following the keyword by an asterisk
and a number (possibly containing a decimal point) or a rational number, as in the following examples:
[ns *0.75] change to three-quarter spacing
[ns *3/4] change to three-quarter spacing
[ns *2] double the spacing
[ns *1.5] multiply the spacing by one and a half
[ns *3/2] multiply the spacing by one and a half
Internally, note spacings are held to an accuracy of 0.001 of a point.
Alternatively, the directive name can be followed (in the brackets) by up to eight numbers, which give
the change in the note spacing, in points, for notes of different lengths, starting with the value for
breves. (See the notespacing heading directive.) Trailing zero values can be omitted.
[notespacing 0 0 3 -2]
specifies that minims are to be printed three points further apart, while crotchets are to be two points
closer together.
The [notespacing] directive takes effect for the remainder of the current bar on the stave where it
occurs, and for all the notes in the same bar on staves of higher number (that is, those that print below
it on the page), and then for all notes in subsequent bars. Of course, this may have the effect of
moving notes in previous staves, in order to keep the music properly aligned.
Warning: To avoid unexpected effects, [notespacing] is best used only at the beginnings of bars, and
preferably in the top part. When changing the spacing for a single bar, it is all too easy to reset the
note spacing within the bar, for example,
[notespacing *0.8] a-b- g d [ns] |
This may behave strangely because PMW processes bars stave by stave. It will therefore obey the
resetting directive before considering the other staves, and only the one stave will have been processed
with the altered spacing. The correct form is
[notespacing *0.8] a-b- g d | [ns]
If a change of note spacing is always required, whatever combination of staves is selected for printing,
then it can be given on stave 0.

47.57 [Octave]
It is often useful to input music at a different octave from that at which it is to be printed. For
example, when a part is in the treble clef it is easier to enter if the letters c– b represent the octave
starting at middle C rather than the one below it. The directive
[octave <number>]

148 Stave directives

requests transposition by the number of octaves given. The octave can also be set at the same time as
the clef (see the [alto] directive for details). Each such octave setting replaces the previous one; they
are not cumulative. If the number is positive, transposition is upwards; if negative, it is downwards.
Octave transposition is in addition to any general transposition which is in force.

47.58 [Olevel] and [olhere]

These directives control the position of the overlay level in exactly the same way as [ulevel] and
[ulhere] do for the underlay level. See section 47.103 for details.

47.59 [Oltextsize]
This directive must be followed by a number in the range 1 to 12. It selects the default size to be used
for overlay text on the current stave. The actual font sizes that correspond to the twelve available sizes
are set by the textsize heading directive. If this directive is not used, the size set by the overlaysize
heading directive (which is different from any of the sizes set by textsize) is used.
[Oltextsize] is normally only needed if you want different sizes of overlay text on different staves.

47.60 [Omitempty]
When a stave is about to be suspended, it is sometimes desirable not to print stave lines after the final
bar which contains notes, and similarly, when a stave is resumed, empty bars preceding the resuming
bar may not be required.
If the directive [omitempty] appears at the start of a stave’s data, then nothing at all is ever printed
for bars for which no data is supplied. Such bars can be set up by means of the [skip] stave directive,
or simply by omitting them at the end of a stave’s data. Note that a bar which is specified as a rest bar,
visible or invisible, counts as a bar for which there is data, and a clef specification also counts as data.
Therefore, if bars are to be omitted at the start of a stave, the input should be as in this example:
[stave 3 omitempty skip 20]
with the clef specification (possibly made invisible by means of [assume]) following.
It is not necessary for the suspend mechanism to be used with this feature, though if is is not, vertical
white space will always be left for the stave, even if nothing is printed in that space.
When a non-empty bar follows an empty bar in a stave for which [omitempty] has been set, and it is
not the first bar in a system, a bar line has to be printed at its start. By default, a conventional solid
bar line is printed, but it is possible to specify other bar line styles, a double bar line, or an invisible
bar line, by using the normal PMW notations for these things at the end of the preceding empty bar.
For example,
[omitempty] gg | [skip 10] |? aa |
specifies that no bar line is to be printed at the start of the final bar if it falls in the middle of a system.
Note that because of the way [skip] works, this example contains 11 empty bars, not 10.
One or more [omitempty] staves can be used for printing isolated bars on a page, using empty bars
between them to cause horizontal white spaces to appear. The size of the white spaces can be
controlled by the use of [space] directives on stave 0 – they can’t be used in the empty bars, as that
causes PMW to treat them as not empty.

47.61 [Overdraw]
When a drawing is associated with a note or bar line by means of the [draw] command, the drawing
output happens before the note or bar line is output. The order does not matter when everything is
black, but if the setgray drawing operator is being used, the drawing may need to be done last to
achieve the correct effect.
[Overdraw] acts just like [draw] except that it saves up the drawn items, and outputs them only after
everything else in the system has been output. Using setgray and [overdraw] it is possible to ‘white
out’ parts of staves.

Stave directives 149

47.62 [Overlayfont]
The default typeface for overlay text that is printed with a stave can be set for an individual stave by
means of the [overlayfont] directive. This directive takes as its parameter one of the standard font
names. For example:
[overlayfont italic]
The default typeface for overlay text is roman. In any given text string it is always possible to change
typeface by using the appropriate escape sequence.

47.63 [Page]
Occasionally there is a requirement to skip a page in the middle of a piece – to insert commentary in a
critical edition, for example. The [page] stave directive can be used to set the page number for the
page on which it appears, but it is not possible to decrease the page number. The [page] directive can
specify an absolute page number, or an increment of the page number preceded by a plus sign, for
example:
[page 45]
[page +1]

47.64 [Percussion]
The [percussion] directive is now deprecated, having been superseded by the [stavelines] directive,
which should be used instead in all new input files.
The [percussion] directive, which has no parameters, specifies that the current stave is for untuned
percussion. It has the following effects:
• The stave is printed as a single line instead of five. The line is positioned where the middle line
of a five-line stave would be.
• No clef or key signature is printed at the start of the stave.
• Whole bar rests are printed under the third line (i.e. under the line which is printed) instead of
under the (invisible) fourth line of the stave.
• No ledger lines are printed for notes off the stave.
Otherwise the stave behaves as normal. Ordinary note heads are printed. Although no clef is printed,
the vertical positioning of notes is relative to the current clef. For example,
[stave 5 "Side Drum" "S.D." bass 0]
[10] d d-d- | [20]R! |
The use of the bass clef ensures that the note d prints on the middle line of the stave, that is, the
single line of the percussion stave.

47.65 [Playtranspose]
The [playtranspose] directive can be used to change the playing transposition of a stave, which is
initially set from the playtranspose heading directive. The value given in [playtranspose] is added to
the current playing transposition for the stave at the point it is encountered. One use of this is to
arrange for 8va passages to be played (via MIDI) at the correct pitch. Changes made by
[playtranspose] do not persist beyond the end of the movement.
This directive can be used to change the relative MIDI playing volume of a particular stave part way
through. Its single argument is number between 0 and 15, specifying the new relative volume for the
current stave.

47.66 [Printpitch]
When inputting a file that is both to be printed and played on a MIDI instrument, the [midipitch]
directive can be quite cumbersome to use if a percussion part changes instruments frequently, even
though the amount of typing can be reduced by using macros. An alternative facility which forces the
printing pitch instead of the playing pitch is therefore provided.
The [printpitch] directive takes a note letter and optional octave indication as its argument. It causes
all subsequent notes on the stave to be printed on the corresponding line or space, whatever pitch is

150 Stave directives

specified for the note in the input. The input pitch can then be used to select different percussion
instruments for MIDI output. To do this, you need to know that middle C corresponds to MIDI note
60, C-sharp is 61, and so on upwards, while B is 59 and so on downwards.
Of course, some indication in the printed music is also required to tell a human player what to do –
this can take the form of graphic signs above the notes, or different noteheads or stem directions can
be used.
Here is an invented example, where the first three beats of the bar are played on a snare drum
(General MIDI pitch 38), with the last beat on the cowbell (General MIDI pitch 56), indicated by a
downward pointing stem.
[stave 8 hclef 0 stavelines 1]
[printpitch b’ stems up]
d‘d‘d‘ $a-\sd\$a- |
The effect of [printpitch] can be cancelled by supplying an asterisk as its parameter.
When a percussion stave with more than one line is used to separate different instruments, or if notes
are placed above and below the line, it is probably easiest to input each instrument’s part on a separate
PMW stave, and arrange for them to overprint each other. Then the appropriate MIDI sound can be
permanently set for each stave.

47.67 [Reset]
Sometimes it is convenient to notate a bar as two different sequences of notes, to be overprinted on the
stave. The stave directive [reset] has the effect of resetting the horizontal position to the start of the
current bar. Anything that follows it is overprinted on top of whatever has already been specified. For
example,
[stems up] gabc’ [reset] [stems down] efga |
prints a bar containing the chords (eg), (fa), (gb) and (ac’), but with the stems of each component of
the chord drawn in opposite directions.
More than one [reset] may appear if necessary, and only one set of notes need be of the correct length
to satisfy the time signature. The facility for printing invisible rests, notated by the letter Q, can be
useful in conjunction with [reset].
If a large number of bars require overprinting, it may be more convenient to set up an entire
overprinting stave by specifying a stave spacing of zero. [Reset] should in any case be used with
caution, because it can cause unexpected effects if items such as slurs are in use.
Because PMW processes bars from left to right, [reset] must not appear between two notes which are
connected in some way, for example, between two tied or slurred notes. It must also not appear
between any other printing item and the note or bar line which follows, since such items are always
‘attached’ to the following note or bar line.
Specifically, [reset] must not follow any of the following: a clef, a tied note, the first note of a
glissando, the start of a hairpin, a mid-bar dotted line, a repeat sign, a caesura, a text item, [slur],
[xslur], [line], [xline], [key], [time], [comma], [tick], [move], [smove], [space], or a rehearsal
marking. Also, [reset] may not occur in the middle of an irregular note group.

47.68 [Resume]
This directive forces a resumption of a suspended stave – see [suspend] for details.

47.69 [Rlevel]
Rests are normally printed centrally on the stave, as is conventional for single parts. When two staves
are being overprinted to combine two different parts, it may be necessary to move rests up or down.
There is a note option that can be used to do this for individual rests (see section 41.13 above). The
directive
[rlevel <n>]
specifies an adjustment that applies to all subsequent rests. Any adjustment specified for individual
rests is added to the current rest level as set by this directive.

Stave directives 151

The parameter for [rlevel] may be positive or negative; it specifies a number of points by which the
rest is moved vertically. A positive number moves upwards, and a negative one moves downwards.
For example,
[rlevel -12]
causes rests to be printed 12 points lower than normal, so that a whole bar rest, which normally prints
below the fourth line, now prints below the bottom line of the stave.
Semibreve and minim rests that are moved off the stave are printed with a single ledger line to
indicate which they are.
Each occurrence of [rlevel] sets a level relative to the default position. They are not cumulative.

47.70 [Rmove]
This directive operates exactly as [move], except that horizontal movements are scaled to the relative
stave size.

47.71 [Rsmove]
This directive operates exactly as [smove], except that horizontal movements are scaled to the relative
stave size.

47.72 [Rspace]
This directive operates exactly as [space], except that horizontal dimensions are scaled to the relative
stave size.

47.73 [Sghere] and [sgnext]

[Sghere] and [sgnext] affect the system gap value, that is, the amount of vertical space that is left
between systems. (When vertical justification is enabled, this value is the minimum amount of space.)
Sghere changes the spacing for the current system only (that is, the one in which the current bar is to
appear), while sgnext makes the change for all systems that follow the current one.
In each case a single number is required as an parameter. It can be preceded by a plus or minus sign to
indicate a relative change from the existing value. Note that when a single part is being printed, it is
the system gap that determines the distance between staves.
If more than one occurrence of [sghere] is encountered in a single system, the largest spacing value is
used. In the case of multiple occurrences of [sgnext], the last value is used (for the next system).

47.74 [Skip]
When setting keyboard music it is common to use two overprinting staves for notes with stems in
different directions. Frequently, though, there are long sequences of bars for which the second stave is
not required.
Such a sequence can be notated using invisible whole bar rests, but if this is done it is still necessary
to keep the clef and key signature in step with the other stave so that they are printed correctly at the
beginnings of lines, and at least the final time signature change must appear in the correct place so that
it is available for checking when notes resume.
An alternative is to use the [skip] stave directive, which should appear at the beginning of a bar, and
which causes PMW to leave a given number of bars totally empty. For example,
[stave 2] gg | [skip 50] aa | [endstave]
defines a stave in which only bars 1 and 52 are defined. When a totally empty bar occurs at the start of
a system, the clef and key signature are not printed. Otherwise such bars are treated as if they
contained invisible whole bar rests.
If [skip] is used at the very start of a stave, then no clef directive should be given, as otherwise the
clef directive is taken as part of the resumed bar after the skip.
See also the [assume] directive.

152 Stave directives

47.75 [Slur]
Slurs between adjacent single notes can be input simply by inserting an underline character after the
first note, as described in section 41.20 above. When a slur spans several notes, it must be coded using
the [slur] and [endslur] directives. [Es] is an abbreviation for [endslur].
The options for the [slur] directive are also applicable to the [line] directive, which is described in
section 47.40 above.

47.75.1 Normal slurs

The [slur] and [endslur] directives enclose the notes which are to be slurred. For example:
a [slur] b-a-g-f- [endslur] g
causes a slur to be drawn over the four beamed quavers. Slurs are drawn above the notes by default.
The shape of slurs is correct in many common cases, but when there is a large variation in pitch in the
notes being slurred, the slur mark may sometimes need adjustment.
To allow the user to adjust the printing of slurs, various options are provided for the [slur] directive.
The options are separated from each other, and from the directive name, by slashes. The following are
available:
/a slur above the notes (default)
/a<n> slur above, at fixed position above stave
/ao slur above, at overlay level
/b slur below the notes
/b<n> slur below, at fixed position below stave
/bu slur below, at underlay level
/h force horizontal slur
/ll<n> move the left end left by <n> points
/lr<n> move the left end right by <n> points
/rl<n> move the right end left by <n> points
/rr<n> move the right end right by <n> points
/u<n> raise the entire slur by <n> points
/d<n> lower the entire slur by <n> points
/lu<n> raise the left end by <n> points
/ld<n> lower the left end by <n> points
/ru<n> raise the right end by <n> points
/rd<n> lower the right end by <n> points
/ci<n> move the centre in by <n> points
/co<n> move the centre out by <n> points
The options /u and /d are simply shorthand for specifying an identical vertical adjustment of both
ends of the slur. Specifying /ci causes the slur to become flatter, while specifying /co causes it to
become more curved.
The /h qualifier requests a horizontal slur, that is, one in which both ends are at the same horizontal
level before any explicit adjustments are applied. This is implemented by forcing the right-hand end to
be at the same level as the left-hand end.
Use of the /a or /b options with a fixed position (e.g. /a8), or use of the /ao or /bu options
initializes the vertical positions of both end points, resulting in a horizontal slur by default. However,
the normal options for moving the ends can also be applied. Since the total combination of options
specifies the positions exactly, the /h option is not relevant, and is ignored if given.
The /ao and /bu options are probably more useful with [line] than with [slur], for cases when
several lines at the same level are required on a single system. For example, if lines are being drawn
for piano pedal markings (see [linegap] for an example), using the /bu option causes them all to be at
the same level below a given stave, and to be positioned just below the lowest note on that stave.
If there is overlay or underlay text for a stave, the overlay or underlay level is computed by taking into
account only those notes which actually have associated text or dashes or extender lines. If not, all the
notes on the stave are taken into account.
Repeated movement qualifiers are accumulated; the following two examples are equivalent:
[slur/a/u4/ld2]
[slur/a/lu2/ru4]

Stave directives 153

Here are some examples of the [slur] directive:
[slur]
[slur/b]
[slur/u4]
[slur/lu2/co4]
[slur/rr6]
One particular use of the options for moving the ends of slurs horizontally is for printing a slur (or tie)
that extends from the last note of a bar up to the bar line and no further, or from the bar line to the
first note in a bar. These are needed for some kinds of first and second time bar. A slur that includes
only one note, such as
[slur] a [endslur]
provokes a PMW error, since it represents an attempt to draw a slur of zero horizontal extent.
However, input such as
[slur/rr15] a [endslur]
is acceptable. The slur starts at the note, and extends for 15 points to the right.
Slurs may be nested to any depth; for example,
a b [slur] c d | [slur/b] e f g [es] a |
f e [es] d c |
This would print as a long slur extending from the middle of the first bar to the middle of the third
bar, with a shorter slur below three notes in the second bar. In other words, the first [slur] matches
with the last [es]. A similar example, together with its output, is shown in chapter 11.

47.75.2 Additional control of slur shapes

Slurs are drawn using Bezier curves. They are defined by two end points and two control points. The
control points are normally positioned symmetrically, giving rise to a symmetric curve. The /co and
/ci (‘curve out’ and ‘curve in’) options described above are used to move the control points further
from or nearer to the line between the endpoints, respectively.
Occasionally, non-symmetric slurs are needed, and so some additional options are provided to enable
the positions of the two control points to be separately moved. These options are:
/clu<n> move left control point up <n> points
/cld<n> move left control point down <n> points
/cll<n> move left control point left <n> points
/clr<n> move left control point right <n> points
/cru<n> move right control point up <n> points
/crd<n> move right control point down <n> points
/crl<n> move right control point left <n> points
/crr<n> move right control point right <n> points
Thus, for example,
[slur/a/clu40]
draws a slur that bulges upwards somewhat on the left. Experimentation is usually needed to find out
the precise values needed for a given shape.
The directions of movement for these options are not the normal ones, except when a slur is
horizontal. When a slur ’s end points are not at the same level, the coordinate system is rotated so that
the new ‘horizontal’ is the line joining the end points. In most cases this rotation is small, and so the
difference is not great. In all cases, the left control point relates to the left-hand end of the slur, and the
right control point relates to the right-hand end, whichever way up the slur is drawn.

47.75.3 Editorial and dashed slurs

Three alternative forms of slur are provided: dashed slurs, dotted slurs, and ‘editorial’ slurs. The latter
have a short vertical stroke through their midpoint if they are symmetric in shape, or near the midpoint
otherwise. The alternatives are specified by qualifiers on the directive:

154 Stave directives

 /i draw an ‘intermittent’ (i.e. dashed) slur
/ip draw an ‘intermittent points’ (i.e. dotted) slur
/e draw an editorial slur
These qualifiers can be freely mixed with the other slur qualifiers. If a slur is dashed or dotted, and
also marked ‘editorial’, no attempt is made to ensure that the editorial mark coincides with a solid bit
of slur.

47.75.4 Wiggly slurs

The option /w causes the curvature of the slur to change sides in the middle. Thus a wiggly slur below
some notes starts curving downwards, but then changes to curving upwards. The slur may be solid,
dashed, dotted, or editorial. If a wiggly slur crosses the end of a system, the portion on the first system
curves one way, and the portion on the next system curves the other way.

47.75.5 Split slurs

Slurs are correctly continued if they span a boundary between two systems on the page. By default,
such slurs are not continued over warning key or time signatures at the ends of lines, but PMW can be
requested to do this by means of the sluroverwarnings heading directive.
The shape and positioning of the end of the first part of a split slur are controlled by the
endlineslurstyle and endlinesluradjust directives.
The sections of a slur that extends over one or more line ends are numbered from 1. An option in a
[slur] directive that consists just of a number means that subsequent options apply only to the given
section. Thus, for example,
[slur/3/lu4/co4]
moves the left-hand end of the third section upwards, and increases its curvature. Spaces are allowed
between options, and these can be used to make a complicated slur more readable by separating the
various sections. For example:
[slur /1/co2 /2/lu4/rd6]
The only options that may appear after a section selector are those that move endpoints or control
curvature, that is, /u, /d and those options beginning with /l, /r, and /c.
If a section number is given that is greater than the number of sections, its data is ignored, and when a
slur is not split, all section-specific options are ignored.
Movement and curvature options that appear before the first section selector are handled as follows:
• All options beginning with /c apply only when the slur is not split.
• /u and /d always apply to all endpoints of all sections, whether the slur is split or not.
• Options beginning with /l (the letter) apply to the starting point of the slur, whether or not it it
split. To move the starting point only when the slur is split (but not if it is not) these options can
be given after /1 (the digit), in which case they are added to any values given before the
selector.
• Any vertical movement specified with /lu or /ld is also applied to the right-hand end of the
first section of a split slur. To affect only the left-hand end, put these options after /1 (the digit).
• Options beginning with /r apply to the final endpoint of the slur, whether or not it is split. To
move the endpoint only when the slur is split (but not if it is not) these options can be given after
/<n>, where <n> is the number of the final section, in which case they are added to any values
given before the selector.
• Any vertical movement specified with /ru or /rd is also applied to the left-hand end of the
final section of the slur. To affect only the right-hand end, put these options after /<n>.
If /ao or /bu is specified for a slur which is split, each section of the slur is positioned at the overlay
or underlay level for its own stave, but can of course be moved by suitable options after a section
selector. Similarly, /a and /b, if given with a dimension, cause all sections of a split slur to be
positioned at the given vertical position.
If a wiggly slur is split, the first section curves one way, and all subsequent ones curve the other way.

Stave directives 155

Earlier versions of PMW used a more restricted set of options starting with /s to control split slurs.
These are still supported, but are no longer documented and should not be used in new files.

47.75.6 Overlapping nested slurs

Normally, in music, slurs are properly nested, that is, if a second slur starts within a slur, the second
slur ends before the outer slur. The slur notation in PMW is naturally nested, and automatically
ensures that this convention is followed. Very occasionally, however, it is useful to be able to start a
second slur within a slur and have it cross over the outer slur. More commonly, it is sometimes
necessary to have one slur ending and the next beginning on the same note – a situation that is not
possible using the normal PMW slur notation, because slur starts are notated before notes and slur
ends afterwards.
It is possible to have the innermost nested slur crossing over the one immediately outside it, by using
the special directive [xslur] (‘crossing slur’). Thus, for example, the input
[slur] a [xslur] b [es] c [es]
draws one slur covering the first two notes, and the next slur covering the second two notes. (The first
[es] is made to refer to the [slur] directive and the second to the [xslur] instead of the other way
round.) This facility is available for the innermost nested slur only.

47.75.7 Tagged slurs

In very complicated music, even the [xslur] facility is not powerful enough to describe what is
wanted, and it is necessary to use ‘tagged’ slurs.
Any number of slurs may be started at any one time on a stave. The data for a given slur (starting
coordinates, etc.) are placed on a ‘stack’ when the [slur] directive is obeyed. If another slur is started
before the first one is complete, its data goes on top of the stack, temporarily ‘hiding’ any previous
data that may be already there.
When a simple [endslur] directive is obeyed, it terminates the slur whose data is on the top of the
stack (and that data is removed). This is why simple use of [slur] and [endslur] results in ‘nested’
slurs.
The [xslur] directive does not place its data on the top of the stack (unless the stack is empty).
Instead, it places it one position down in the stack. Thus the next [endslur] terminates the previously
started slur, leaving the latest one still incomplete.
The qualifier /= can be used within a [slur] directive to ‘tag’ a slur. It must be followed by a single
identifying character. It is recommended that capital letters normally be used, as they are visually
distinctive. A tagged slur is placed on top of the stack as normal. The [endslur] directive may also
contain a tag, using the same syntax. When a tagged [endslur] directive is obeyed, the stack of
unterminated slurs is searched for a slur with a matching tag, and if one is found, it is that slur which
is terminated. If no matching slur is found, an error message is given and the slur on the top of the
stack is terminated.
When [endslur] does not contain a tag, the topmost slur is terminated, whether or not it is tagged.
Here is an example of the use of tagged slurs:
[slur/=A] [slur/b/=Z] ggg [slur/=B]
a [es/=A] a [es/=Z] a [es] |

47.76 [Slurgap]
The [slurgap] directive has the same options as [linegap], and can be used to leave gaps in slurs
where they would otherwise cross over other items. For example, to avoid drawing a slur through a
key signature:
r [slur] G‘+ [slurgap/w30/r10] |
[key e$] c G’ [es] |
Specifying a gap associated with a text string or a drawing function provides a way of adding arbitrary
annotation to a slur – a width of zero can be given if no actual gap in the slur is required. When an
associated drawing function is obeyed, the origin is halfway along the straight line joining the edges of
the gap, and the linegapx and linegapy variables are set as for [linegap].
Bracketed slurs can be done using a drawing function, but the text option is probably easier:

156 Stave directives

 [slur slurgap/h0/w0/"( " slurgap/h1/w0/" )"]
String options can be used to alter the size or position of the text as required.
A gap specified for a dashed slur is liable to result in partial dashes being drawn, unless its length is
carefully adjusted.

47.77 [Smove]
This directive is a shorthand for combining a [move] and a [space] directive. The following two lines
of input are equivalent:
[move 6] a [space 6]
[smove 6] a
This is common usage when adjusting the position of notes on overprinting staves. The space is not
scaled by the stave size – use [rsmove] if you want scaled space.

47.78 [Soprabass]
This specifies a bass clef with a little ‘8’ printed above it. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.79 [Soprano]
This specifies a C clef with its centre on the bottom stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.80 [Space]
The directive
[space <n>]
causes <n> points of space to be inserted before the next note in the bar, or before the bar line if there
are no more notes. The remainder of the bar, including appropriate items on other staves, is adjusted
accordingly. The number <n> can be positive or negative; a negative value removes space from the
bar. The space is not scaled by the relative stave size. If you want to insert scaled space, use [rspace].
Note that, unlike [move], [space] always affects the position of the next note (or bar line if there are
no more notes in the bar), even if some other item intervenes. Items other than notes are always
printed in relation to the note (or bar line) which follows them. Therefore, adjusting the position of a
note with [space] affects these items too. The following two examples have exactly the same effect:
[comma] [space 6] A
[space 6] [comma] A
because [space] does not affect non-note items such as commas. The [move] directive can be used in
conjunction with [space] to insert space between a non-note item and the note to which it is related,
for example
[space 6][move -6][comma] A
[Space] is obeyed when PMW is figuring out where to position the notes in the bar, while [move] is
obeyed at the moment of printing.
When there are two or more occurrences of [space] at the same position in a bar, PMW takes the
largest if previous ones specified a positive amount of space, and the smallest if they specified a
negative amount. This normally gives the right effect if extra space is accidentally specified in two
different staves.
See also [ensure], [move], [smove], [rspace], [rmove], and [rsmove].

47.81 [Sshere] and [ssnext]

Sshere and ssnext affect stave spacing. Sshere changes the spacing for the current system only (that
is, the one in which the current bar is to appear), while ssnext makes the change for all systems that
follow the current one.

Stave directives 157

If either of these directives is followed by a single number, this applies to the current stave only,
except when the current stave is number zero, in which case the value applies to all staves (as it does
for the [stavespacing] heading directive). They can also be followed by two numbers separated by a
slash, in which case the first is a stave number and the second is a spacing. For example, a bar with
very low notes might require notating thus:
[treble 1]
[sshere 60] f` a` c e |
This has the effect of setting the stave spacing to 60 points, for the current stave in the current system
only.
An alternative format is available for specifying a change to the existing spacing. This is notated by
preceding a single number by a plus or minus sign. For example,
[sshere +10]
adds 10 points to the stave spacing for the current stave only. If more than one occurrence of [sshere]
is encountered in a single system, the largest spacing value is used. In the case of multiple occurrences
of [ssnext], the last value is used (for the next system). When [ssnext] is used with a plus or minus
sign, the value is relative to the original spacing for the current stave, ignoring any changes that might
have been made with [sshere].

47.82 [Stave]
The first directive in each stave’s data must be the [stave] directive. The most basic form is just
[stave <n>]
where <n> is the number of the stave whose data follows (terminated by [endstave]). The number
must always be present. Further, optional, parameters may be given to specify text or drawings to be
output at the start of the stave. Most commonly, [stave] is used just with text, and this form is
described first.

47.82.1 Text at stave starts

The text-only form of [stave] has the following format:
[stave <n> "<string1>" "<string2>" ...]
There may be any number of string parameters. The first one is used for the very first stave of the
piece, and the second one for all other occurrences of this stave, by default. These strings are normally
used for the name of the instrument or voice for which the stave is intended. For example,
[stave 1 "Soprano" "S"]
If there is only one string, only the first stave will have text printed next to it. If a vertical bar appears
in one of these strings, it specifies the start of a new line of text, for example,
[stave 5 "Trumpet|in G"]
The options /c and /e can be used to cause the text to be printed horizontally centred or right-
justified, respectively. If both /c and /e are given, and the text consists of multiple lines, (delimited
with | characters) then the longest line is right justified, and all the other lines for the stave have their
centres aligned with the centre of the longest line.
Third and subsequent strings from [stave] directives are not used automatically, but can be selected at
any point in the piece by means of the [name] stave directive, which also provides an alternative way
of specifying text and drawings for the beginnings of staves.
It is possible to specify a size for text by following the string with /s and a number. The number
selects a text size from the list given to the textsizes directive, as for any other text on staves. For
example,
[stave 1 "Flute"/s2]
The size is not affected by any relative magnification that may be applied to the stave. If no size is
specified, the text is printed using a 10-point font.
It is also possible to request that text be vertically positioned halfway between two succesive staves.
This is specified by appending /m (for ‘middle’) to the text on the upper of the two staves, for
example

158 Stave directives

 [stave 1 "Piano"/m]
If two over-printing staves are being used for a keyboard part, the text may appear with either of them,
because if the space after the current stave is set to zero, the space for the next stave is used when
positioning such text.
Finally, it is possible to specify that the text be rotated through 90° so that it prints vertically up the
page. This is specified with the /v option, for example:
[stave 3 "Chorus"/v]
When /v is combined with /m, the text is both rotated and moved down so that its centre is at the
midpoint of the staves. To make other adjustments to the position, the space character and the moving
characters in the music font can be used. Only a single line of text is supported when printing is
vertical, and hence the vertical bar character has no special meaning in this case.
If more than one string is given for any stave, the /c, e, /s, /m, and /v qualifiers can be used on
any of them, and apply only to those strings on which they appear.

47.82.2 Drawings at stave starts

It is possible to cause a drawing function (see chapter 37) to be obeyed when a stave name is to be
output. This can be instead of, or as well as, a text string. The amount of space to the left of the stave
is controlled by the text string, and so a string consisting of blanks can be used to ensure an
appropriate amount of space is left. The syntax is as follows:
[stave <n> <string> draw <arguments> <drawing name>]
and this feature also available for the [name] directive. If both a string and a call to a drawing
function are present, the string must come first. An example of this usage is:
[stave 3 " " draw thing]
As in all drawings, the arguments (which may be numbers or strings) are optional. The origin of the
coordinate system is at the left-hand margin of the page and at the level of the bottom line of the
stave. The drawing variable stavestart contains the x-coordinate of the start of the stave itself.
Just as there may be more than one string specified, for use on different systems, there may also be
more than one drawing function. They are simply listed in order, following the corresponding strings,
if present. For example:
[stave 23 "Trumpet" draw 2 d1 "Tr." draw 3 d2]
There is an ambiguity if an item which consists only of a string (with no associated drawing) is
followed by an item consisting only of a drawing. In this case, an empty string must be specified for
the second item, to prevent the drawing being incorrectly associated with the first item.
The is also a possibility of ambiguity if the first item on the stave itself is a call to a drawing function,
and there is no other intervening directive. The drawing must be put into a new set of square brackets
to prevent this:
[stave 35 "Flute"] [draw thing3]
As the stave directive is terminated by the closing square bracket, the draw directive in this example
is taken as part of the stave data and is associated with the following note in the usual way.
The Contrib directory on the PMW distribution disc contains an example where a drawing function
associated with a stave is used to print a special kind of ‘clef’ for guitar tablature.

47.83 [Stavelines]
This directive specifies the number of lines to be drawn for the current stave. Its parameter is a
number in the range 0– 6. For example:
[stavelines 2]
A stave with no lines is an invisible stave. [Stavelines] applies to the entire stave, independently of
where it appears. It has no implications for the printing of key signatures or clefs.
The [percussion] directive is equivalent to [stavelines 1] except that, in addition, it suppresses the
printing of key signatures and clefs. This directive is retained for compatibility, but its use is
deprecated. New input files should instead use

Stave directives 159

 [stavelines 1 noclef key C]
or
[stavelines 1 hclef key C]
The two-line and three-line staves have double the normal stave line spacing, and are centred about the
middle line of the normal five-line position. They are designed for multiple percussion parts. A three-
line stave at the normal spacing can be obtained by overprinting a one-line and a two-line stave.
The four-line and six-line staves are five-line staves with the top line missing and an additional line
added above the top, respectively. When used for guitar tablature they should normally be enlarged by
means of the stavesize heading directive. The Contrib directory on the PMW distribution disc
contains an example of guitar tablature.
For all staves other than normal five-line staves, no ledger lines are printed for notes off the stave. On
one-line staves, whole bar rests are printed under the single line which is printed, and on three-line
staves they are printed under the top line. In all other respects the behaviour of PMW is unchanged by
the number of stave lines.

47.84 [Stemlength]
The [stemlength] directive is used to set a default value for the stem length adjustment on a stave. For
example, after
[stemlength -2]
subsequent notes will have stems that are 2 points shorter than normal. Giving a value of zero resets to
the initial state. Any stem length adjustments that are given on individual notes are added to the
overall default. The name [sl] is a synonym for [stemlength]. The default stem length can be changed
as often as necessary on a stave.
PMW can also be instructed automatically to shorten the stems of notes whose stems point the ‘wrong’
way. See the shortenstems heading directive for details.

47.85 [Stems]
Normally PMW chooses for itself in which direction to draw note stems. Details of the rules it uses
are given in chapter 43 (Stem directions); some variation is possible by means of the stemswap
heading directive (section 38.109).
It is also possible to force note stems to be above or below the noteheads, wherever the noteheads are
on the stave. For individual notes there is an option qualifier to do this. The directive
[stems <direction>]
forces the stem direction for all subsequent notes that are not explicitly marked. The direction must be
one of the words ‘above’, ‘below’, or ’auto’ – the last causing a reversion to the default state.

47.86 [Suspend]
When a part is silent for a long time, it is often desirable in full scores to suppress its stave from the
relevant systems. The term ‘suspended’ is used in PMW to describe a stave that is not currently being
printed.
The directive [suspend] tells PMW that it may suspend the current stave from the start of the next
system, provided that there are no notes or text items to be printed in that system. The suspension ends
automatically when a system is encountered in which there are notes or text items to be printed. It can
be ended earlier by including the [resume] directive in the stave data. For example,
[suspend] [108] R! |
specifies 108 bars rest, which can be suspended where possible. Since the [suspend] directive actually
appears in the first rest bar, at least one rest bar will be printed before the stave is suspended. If it is
desired that no rest bar need be printed before the suspension, [suspend] should be placed in the
preceding bar:
abcd [suspend] | [108] R! |

160 Stave directives

If at least one rest bar is required when the stave is resumed, an explicit [resume] must appear in the
last rest bar, as by default the stave may resume with a non-rest bar at the beginning of a system. For
example
[suspend] [107] R! | [resume] R! |
When a single part is being printed, [suspend] has no effect, as multiple rest bars are automatically
packed up into a single bar with a multiple rest sign.
Since the [suspend] stave directive only takes effect from the start of the following system of staves, it
cannot be used to cause suspension right at the start of a piece. The suspend heading directive is
provided for this purpose.

47.87 [Tenor]
This specifies a C clef with its centre on the fourth stave line. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.88 [Text]
The default type for text within a stave (which implies a default vertical level and size) can be set for
an individual stave by means of the [text] directive. It takes a word as its parameter:
[text above] selects printing above the stave
[text above <n>] ditto, at a given level
[text below] selects printing below the stave
[text below <n>] ditto, at a given level
[text underlay] selects underlay printing
[text overlay] selects overlay printing
[text fb] selects figured bass printing
To override a default with an absolute position, for example,
[text above 15]
a plain /a or /b without a following number can be used (as well as /ul, /fb, or /m). Similarly, the
appearance of a [text] directive without a number resets to the initial state, where the default vertical
position depends on the next note.
Ordinary text that is printed above or below the stave is by default printed at size 1 (as specified by
the textsize heading directive). Underlay, overlay, and figured bass text is printed by default at the
sizes specified by the underlaysize, overlaysize, and fbsize heading directives.
The default text type can always be overridden by explicit qualifiers following the string. For
example, if
[text underlay]
has been specified, then an italic dynamic marking to be printed above the stave is coded as
"\it\ff"/a
The text type can be changed many times within one stave.

47.89 [Textfont]
The default typeface for non-underlay, non-overlay text that is printed with a stave can be set for an
individual stave by means of the [textfont] directive. This directive takes as its parameter one of the
standard font names. For example, supposing that the third extra font had been defined for some
special use in a stave’s text, then
[textfont extra 3]
would be used at the start of that stave. The default typeface for non-underlay, non-overlay text is
italic. In any given text string it is always possible to change typeface by using the appropriate escape
sequence.

Stave directives 161

47.90 [Textsize]
This directive must be followed by a number in the range 1 to 12. It selects the default size to be used
for text that is neither underlay nor overlay nor figured bass. The actual font sizes that correspond to
the twelve available sizes are set by the textsize heading directive. If this directive is not used, the
default size is size 1. Individual text strings can have their sizes set by means of the /s option.

47.91 [Tick]
The [tick] directive causes PMW to insert a tick pause mark above the current stave.

47.92 [Ties]
Normally PMW draws tie marks on the opposite side of the noteheads from the stem. However, it is
possible to force ties to be above or below the noteheads. For individual ties there is an option
qualifier to do this. In addition, the directive
[ties <direction>]
is available for forcing the tie direction for all subsequent ties that are not explicitly marked. The
direction must be one of the words ‘above’, ‘below’, or ’auto’ – the last causing a reversion to the
default state.
The effect on chords of forcing the direction of tie marks is to force all the marks for a chord to the
given side of the noteheads.

47.93 [Time]
The time signature of a part can be changed at the start of a bar by the directive
[time <time signature>]
If the change of time falls at the start of a system, a cautionary time signature is printed at the end of
the previous line unless the word ‘nowarn’ is included in the directive, for example:
[time 6/8 nowarn]
There is also a heading directive, notimewarn, for suppressing all cautionary time signatures.
PMW will not work sensibly by default if different time signatures are used on different staves, unless
they represent the same number of musical notes. For example, if one stave is in 3/4 time and another
is in 6/8 all will be well, but PMW cannot cope with 2/4 against 6/8 without additional input (see
below).
Sometimes it is required to print two time signatures at the start of a piece (for example, if there are
alternate bars in different times). The simplest way to do this is to make use of the printtime heading
directive.
When a bar starts with a new time signature and a repeat mark, the order in which these are printed
depends on the order in which they appear in the input.
[time 4/4] (:
causes the time signature to be printed first, followed by the repeat mark, while
(: [time 4/4]
causes the repeat mark to be amalgamated with the previous bar line, with the time signature
following. If, at the same point in the music, these items appear in different orders on different staves,
then the repeat sign is printed first on all staves.

47.93.1 Staves with differing time signatures

PMW requires no special action to handle staves with different time signatures if the actual barlengths
(measured in notes) are the same. For example 3/4 and 6/8 bars both contain six quavers, and so are
compatible.
PMW can also handle time signatures that are not compatible in this way, for example, 6/8 in one
stave and 2/4 in another, but because PMW handles just one stave at a time when it is reading the
music in, it is necessary to tell it what is going on by giving a second time signature in the [time]
directive, preceded by ->. For example:

162 Stave directives

 time 6/8
[stave 1 treble 1] a. b-a-g- | [endstave]
[stave 2 bass 0 time 2/4 -> 6/8]
c-d-; e-f- | [endstave]
The first signature is the one printed, and this corresponds to the printed notes in the bar; the second
signature is the one from the other stave, and the notes are stretched or compressed (in position when
printing and in time when generating a MIDI file) to make the bar lengths match.

47.94 [Topmargin]
This directive provides a way of changing the value given by the topmargin heading directive for a
single page only. If there is more than one occurrence on the same page, the last value is used. To
leave 30 points at the top of one particular page, for example, use
[topmargin 30]
in any bar on that page.

47.95 [Transpose]
The directive
[transpose <n>]
specifies that the current stave is to be transposed by <n> semitones when printed. It normally appears
at the beginning of a stave’s data. If transposition is also specified at an outer level (either in the
heading, or by using the -t command line option), the transposition specified here adds to, rather than
replaces it.
Octave transposition, as specified in a clef-setting directive or by the [octave] directive, is added to
any general transposition.
PMW does not transpose the current key signature when it encounters the [transpose] directive, but it
does transpose any subsequently encountered key signatures. If you require a transposed key signature
for a stave which has its own transposition specified, you must include the key signature after
[transpose], even if it is the same key signature that is specified in a heading directive for the whole
piece. For example:
key G
[stave 1]
@...
[endstave]
[stave 2 transpose 1 key G]
@...
[endstave]
Note that it is the old key signature that is specified. In this example it is transposed to become A-flat.
Further details about transposition of notes are given in chapter 29, and details of the transposition of
chord names are given in section 34.6.

47.96 [Transposedacc]
This directive must be followed by one of the words ‘force’ or ‘noforce’. It changes the option for
forcing the printing of an accidental on a transposed note when there was an accidental on the original,
even if the accidental is not strictly needed. For details, see chapter 29.

47.97 [Treble]
This specifies a treble clef. See [alto] for further details of clef directives.

47.98 [Trebledescant]
This specifies a treble clef with a little ‘8’ printed above it. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

Stave directives 163

47.99 [Trebletenor]
This specifies a treble clef with a little ‘8’ printed below it. See [alto] for further details of clef
directives.

47.100 [TrebletenorB]
This specifies a clef that is exactly like the trebletenor clef, except that the little ‘8’ is printed enclosed
in round brackets.

47.101 [Tremolo]
It is possible to print tremolo markings that appear as beams between notes that are not normally
beamed, or as disconnected beams between notes.
This is requested by placing the stave directive [tremolo] between the two notes. There are two
optional qualifiers: /x followed by a number specifies the number of beams to draw, while /j
followed by a number specifies the number of beams which are to be joined to the note stems. The
default is to draw two beams, neither of which is joined to the stems. Thus,
g [tremolo] b
prints two crotchets, with two disconnected beams between them, while
G [tremolo/x3/j3] B
prints two minims, joined by three beams. The /j qualifier should not be used with breves or
semibreves.
For the most commonly encountered tremolos, it is necessary to print a note of the ‘wrong’ length. For
example, a tremolo that lasts for the length of a crotchet is printed as two crotchets, at the positions
two quavers would occupy, with tremolo bars between them. This effect can be achieved by using the
masquerading feature described in section 41.13.
The [tremolo] directive must appear between two notes in a bar. It is ignored if it appears at the
beginning or end of a bar, or if it is preceded or followed by a rest. It assumes that the notes are of the
same kind, and have their stems in the same direction. Notes with flags should not be used, though
tremolos can be added underneath the normal beams of a beamed group if necessary.

47.102 [Triplets]
This directive is used to control the printing of triplet and other irregular note group markings. Despite
its name, it applies to all irregular note groups. It must be followed by one of the words
on off above below bracket nobracket auto
The words ‘on’ and ‘off ’ are used to control the printing of the ‘3’, with or without a bracket, above
or below a group of triplets (or equivalent for other groups). When the ‘off ’ option is selected, nothing
is printed. Note that the qualifier /x can be used to suppress printing for an individual triplet, or to
enable it, if it has been disabled by the [triplets] directive.
The other words set default options for printing irregular note groups, and they are independent of
each other. Specifying
[triplets above]
causes all the irregular note markings to be printed above the notes, but (unlike the /a option on an
individual group) it does not specify whether a horizontal bracket should be drawn or not.
The words ‘above’ and ‘below’ can be followed by a dimension, to set a fixed vertical position for all
subsequent irregular note group markings. If the dimension is preceded by + or -, this does not set a
fixed position, but provides a default vertical adjustment for subsequent irregular groups. For example,
[triplets above +4]
causes subsequent markings to be printed four points higher than they would otherwise appear.
Brackets can be forced or inhibited by means of ‘bracket’ and ‘nobracket’. If neither has been
specified, then a bracket is drawn unless the note group is beamed.

164 Stave directives

The ‘auto’ option resets both the position and the bracketing options to their initial states, where the
markings may be printed above or below the notes, depending on their pitch, and the bracket is
omitted only if the notes are beamed.
Options given on an individual note group override the defaults set by the [triplets] directive. Note
that the use of /a or /b forces a bracket to be drawn, unless followed by /n.

47.103 [Ulevel] and [ulhere]

For each stave that it prints, PMW chooses a default underlay level at which to print underlay text.
The standard position for this level (the base line level for the text) is 11 points below the bottom line
of the stave, but a lower level is chosen if there are low notes present on the stave. There are two
different ways of changing this level. The [ulhere] directive specifies a temporary change for the
current line, while the [ulevel] directive sets an absolute level to be used until further notice.
[Ulhere] takes a positive or negative number as an parameter. This is interpreted as a number of points
to add to the automatically computed level for the line in which the current bar appears. For example,
[ulhere -2]
has the effect of lowering the current underlay line by two points. If a subsequent occurrence of
[ulhere] appears in the same line for the same stave, it is accepted if its parameter is negative and
specifies a lower level than the previous one, or if its parameter is positive and all previous ones were
positive and it is greater than any of them.
[Ulhere] has no effect if an absolute underlay level is being forced by means of the [ulevel] directive,
which sets a level relative to the bottom of the stave. Thus, for example,
[ulevel -15]
requests a level fifteen points the bottom of the stave. This directive takes effect for the text that is
printed under all the notes that follow it, even if the text was input earlier as part of a multi-syllable
input string.
[Ulevel] may appear as often as necessary; its effect lasts until the end of the movement or its next
appearance. However, if [ulevel] appears with an asterisk for an parameter:
[ulevel *]
then the underlay level reverts to the value automatically selected by PMW, and any subsequent
[ulhere] directives will be honoured.

47.104 [Ultextsize]
This directive must be followed by a number in the range 1 to 12. It selects the default size to be used
for underlay text on the current stave. The actual font sizes that correspond to the twelve available
sizes are set by the textsize heading directive. If this directive is not used, the size set by the
underlaysize heading directive (which is different from any of the sizes set by textsize) is used.
[Ultextsize] is normally only needed if you want different sizes of underlay text on different staves.

47.105 [Unbreakbarline]
An occurrence of this directive causes the bar line at the end of the current bar to be extended
downwards onto the stave below. This could be used, for example, to print a double barline right
through a system at the end of a verse or other important point in a choral piece, where the barlines
are normally broken after each stave. See also [breakbarline].

47.106 [Underlayfont]
The default typeface for underlay text that is printed with a stave can be set for an individual stave by
means of the [underlayfont] directive. This directive takes as its parameter one of the standard font
names.
For example, supposing that the third extra font had been defined for use in underlay text, then
[underlayfont extra 3]

Stave directives 165

would be used at the start of that stave. The default typeface for underlay text is roman. In any given
text string it is always possible to change typeface by using the appropriate escape sequence.

47.107 [Xline]
See [line] (section 47.40) and subsection 47.75.6 within the description of [slur].

47.108 [Xslur]
See subsection 47.75.6 within the description of [slur].

166 Stave directives

 48. Characters in text fonts

PostScript text fonts such as Times-Roman contain over 300 printing characters. From release 4.10,
PMW gives access to all these characters by making use of Unicode encoding, which allows for
character codes that are greater than 255. There are several ways in which characters other than the
standard ASCII set can be specified; these are described in section 34.3. This chapter lists all the
characters in the PostScript text fonts, with their Unicode values (in hexadecimal, as is conventional),
their PMW escape sequences when defined, and their PostScript character names.
The use of the escape sequence \fi for the ‘fi’ ligature is no longer necessary, because PMW now
automatically uses the ligature for variable width fonts when it is available. The escape sequence is
retained for backwards compatibility. PMW does not use the ‘fl’ ligature automatically.
Printing characters whose code values are less than 007F (127) are ASCII characters that correspond
to the keys on the computer keyboard. However, in PMW strings, the literal characters grave accent
and single quote (codes 0060 and 0027) are converted into Unicode characters 2018 and 2019 so that
they print as opening and closing quotes, respectively. If you want to print a grave accent or an ASCII
single quote character, you can use the appropriate escape sequences \‘ and \’ or a numerical escape
sequence such as \x60\.
0020 space
0021 exclam !
0022 quotedbl "
0023 numbersign #
0024 dollar $

'
0025 percent %
0026 ampersand &
0027 \’ quotesingle
0028 parenleft (
0029 parenright )
002A asterisk *
002B plus +
002C comma ,
002D hyphen -
002E period .
002F slash /
0030 zero 0
↓ ↓ ↓
0039 nine 9
003A colon :
003B semicolon ;
003C less <
003D equal =
003E greater >
003F question ?
0040 at @
0041 A A
↓ ↓ ↓
005A Z Z
005B bracketleft [
005C \\ backslash \
005D bracketright ]

`
005E asciicircum ^
005F underscore _
0060 \‘ grave

Characters in text fonts 167

 0061 a a
↓ ↓ ↓
007A z z
007B braceleft {
007C bar |
007D braceright }
007E asciitilde ~
00A1 exclamdown ¡
00A2 cent ¢
00A3 sterling £
00A4 currency ¤
00A5 yen ¥
00A6 brokenbar ¦

ª
00A7 section §
00A8 dieresis ¨
00A9 copyright ©

®
\c)
00AA ordfeminine


00AB guillemotleft «
00AC logicalnot ¬

±
00AE registered

²
00AF macron
00B0 degree °
00B1 plusminus
00B2 twosuperior
00B3 threesuperior ³
00B4 acute ´
00B5 mu µ
00B6 paragraph ¶

º
00B7 bullet •
00B8 cedilla ¸
00B9 onesuperior ¹
00BA ordmasculine
00BB guillemotright »
00BE onequarter ¼

Á
00BD onehalf ½
00BE threquarters ¾
00BF \? questiondown ¿
00C0 \A‘ Agrave À
00C1 \A’ Aacute
00C2 \A^ Acircumflex Â
00C3 \A~ Atilde Ã
00C4 \A. Adieresis Ä
00C5 \Ao Aring Å
00C6 AE Æ
00C7 \C, Ccedilla Ç
00C8 \E‘ Egrave È
00C9 \E’ Eacute É
00CA \E^ Ecircumflex Ê
00CB \E. Edieresis Ë
00CC \I‘ Igrave Ì
00CD \I’ Iacute Í
00CE \I^ Icircumflex Î

168 Characters in text fonts

00CF
00D0
00D1
00D2
\I.

\N~
\O‘
Idieresis
Eth
Ntilde
Ograve
Ð
Ï

Ñ
Ò

Ý
00D3 \O’ Oacute Ó
00D4 \O^ Ocircumflex Ô
00D5 \O~ Otilde Õ
00D6 \O. Odieresis Ö
00D7 multiply ×
00D8 \O/ Oslash Ø
00D9 \U‘ Ugrave Ù
00DA \U’ Uacute Ú
00DB \U^ Ucircumflex Û
00DC \U. Udieresis Ü
00DD \Y’ Yacute
00DE Thorn Þ
00DF \ss germandbls ß
00E0 \a‘ agrave à
00E1 \a’ aacute á
00E2 \a^ acircumflex â
00E3 \a~ atilde ã
00E4 \a. adieresis ä
00E5 \ao aring å
00E6 ae æ
00E7 \c, ccedilla ç
00E8 \e‘ egrave è
00E9 \e’ eacute é
00EA \e^ ecircumflex ê
00EB \e. edieresis ë
00EC \i‘ igrave ì
00ED \i’ iacute í
00EE \i^ icircumflex î
00EF \i. idieresis ï
00F0 eth ð

û
00F1 \n~ ntilde ñ
00F2 \o‘ ograve ò
00F3 \o’ oacute ó
00F4 \o^ ocircumflex ô
00F5 \o~ otilde õ
00F6 \o. odieresis ö
00F7 divide ÷
00F8 \o/ oslash ø
00F9 \u‘ ugrave ù
00FA \u’ uacute ú
00FB \u^ ucircumflex
00FC \u. udieresis ü
00FD \y’ yacute ý
00FE thorn þ
00FF \y. ydieresis ÿ
0100 \A- Amacron Ā
0101 \a- amacron ā
0102 \Au Abreve Ă

Characters in text fonts 169

 0103 \au abreve ă
0104 Aogonek Ą
0105 aogonek ą
0106 \C’ Cacute Ć
0107 \c’ cacute ć
010C \Cv Ccaron Č
010D \cv ccaron č
010E \Dv Dcaron Ď
010F \dv dcaron ď
0110 \D- Dcroat Đ
0111 \D- dcroat đ

ĢģĪīĮį
0112 \E- Emacron Ē
0113 \e- emacron ē
0116 Edotaccent Ė
0117 edotaccent ė
0118 Eognonek Ę
0119 eogonek ę

İıĶķĹĺ
011A \Ev Ecaron Ě
011B \ev ecaron ě
011E \Gu Gbreve Ğ
011F \gu gbreve ğ
0122 Gcommaaccent
0123 gcommaaccent

ĻļĽľŁł
012A \I- Imacron
012B \i- imacron
012E Iogonek
012F iogonek
0130 Idotaccent
0131 dotlessi

ŃńŅņŇň
0136 Kcommaaccent
0137 kcommaaccent
0139 \L’ Lacute
013A \l’ lacute
013B Lcommaaccent
013C lcommaaccent

ŌōŐőŒ
013D \Lv Lcaron
013E \lv lcaron
0141 \l/ Lslash
0142 \l/ lslash
0143 \N’ Nacute

œŔ
0144 \n’ nacute
0145 Ncommaaccent
0146 ncommaaccent
0147 \Nv Ncaron
0148 \nv ncaron
014C \O- Omacron
014D \o- omacron
0150 Ohungrumlaut
0151 ohungrumlaut
0152 OE
0153 oe
0154 \R’ Racute

170 Characters in text fonts

 ŕ
Ŗ
ŗ
0155
0156
\r’ racute
Rcommaaccent
Ř
řŚ
ś
0157 rcommaaccent


0158 \Rv Rcaron


0159 \rv rcaron

Š
015A \S’ Sacute

š
015B sacute

Ť
\s’
015E \S, Scedilla

ťŪ
015F \s, scedilla
0160 \Sv Scaron

ū
Ů
0161 \sv scaron
0164 \Tv Tcaron

ů
0165 tcaron

Ű
\tv
016A \U- Umacron

ű
016B \u- umacron

Ų
016E \Uo Uring

ų
016F \uo uring

Ÿ
0170 Uhungrumlaut

Ź
0171 uhungrumlaut

ź
0172 Uogonek

Ż
0173 uogonek

ż
0178 \Y. Ydieresis

ž
0179 \Z’ Zacute
017A \z’ zacute
017B Zdotaccent

Ș
017C zdotaccent

ș
017D \Zv Zcaron


017E \zv zcaron

˜
0192 florin ƒ
0218 Scommaaccent
0219 scommaaccent
021A Tcommaaccent
021B tcommaaccent

˚
0302 circumflex ˆ
0303 tilde
0306 breve ˘
0307 dotaccent ˙
030A ring

!
030B hungrumlaut ˝
030C caron ˇ
0326 commaaccent 

’‚‘
0328 ogonek ˛
0394 Delta
2013 \-- endash –
2014 \-– emdash —
2018 quoteleft
2019 quoteright
201A quotesinglbase
201C quotedblleft “
201D quotedblright ”
201E quotedblbase „
2020 dagger †

Characters in text fonts 171

 €™
2021 daggerdbl ‡
2026 ellipsis …
2027 periodcentred ·

∑
2031 perthousand ‰
2039 guilsinglleft ‹

√
203A guilsinglright ›
2044 fraction ⁄
20AC Euro
2122 trademark
2202 partialdiff ∂
2211 summation
2212 minus −
221A radical
2260 notequal ≠
2264 lessequal ≤
2265 greaterequal ≥
25CA lozenge ◊
FB01 \fi fi fi
FB02 \fl fl fl

172 Characters in text fonts

 49. The PMW musical font

This chapter contains a list of all the available characters in the musical font, which is called PMW-
Music. Characters from the music font can be referenced by number in character strings. Those with
character codes less than 127 can also be referenced by switching to the music font and entering the
corresponding ASCII character. The following two examples produce the same effect:
"\rm\this clef \*33\ is treble"
"\rm\this clef \mu\!\rm\ is treble"
The second method is more convenient when a whole sequence of music font characters is required.
Most of the characters in the music font print ‘on the baseline’ in the typographic sense, though some
have ‘descenders’. The only exceptions to this are the constituent parts of notes, such as stems and
quaver tails. The typographic character widths, which are not used by PMW when setting music, are
set to values which are useful when these characters are printed as text.
Here is a list of the characters in the font, giving both their numbers (in decimal) and, where relevant,
the corresponding ASCII characters. The printing width is also given, as a fraction of the font size. For
example, when a 10-point treble clef is printed, the printing position is advanced to the right by 15
points.
32 0.75 space
! 33 1.5 !

" 34 1.5 "

# 35 1.5 #

⋆
♯
$ 36 1.0 piano end pedal sign
% 37 0.6
& 38 0.6 & double sharp
♭
♮
' 39 0.5
( 40 0.45
) 41 0.0 )
* 42 0.66 * breve rest
+ 43 0.66 + semibreve rest
, 44 0.66 , minim rest
– 45 0.66 -
. 46 0.59 .
/ 47 0.0 /
0 48 3.5 0 many bars rest
1 49 1.34 ˘
2 50 0.84 2
3 51 0.84 3
4 52 0.84 4
5 53 0.84 5
6 54 0.84 6
7 55 1.2 7
8 56 0.84 8
9 57 1.2 9
: 58 0.84 :
<
;
; 59 0.0 repeatable tail
< 60 0.0 repeatable tail
= 61 0.0 = ledger line
> 62 0.0 > vertical dot (above note on base line)
? 63 0.4 ? horizontal dot
@ 64 0.6 @ bar line
A 65 0.76 A double bar line

The PMW musical font 173

 B 66 0.76 B thick bar line
C 67 1.0 C normal stave
D 68 1.0 D percussion stave
E 69 0.0 E up quaver tail
F 70 10.0 long stave
H
G 71 10.0 long percussion stave
H 72 0.0 down quaver tail
I 73 0.6 I
J
K
J 74 0.0 upward note stem
K 75 0.0 downward note stem
L 76 0.84 L solid notehead
M 77 0.84 M minim notehead
N 78 0.6 ,
O 79 0.0 O
P 80 0.0 P
Q 81 0.0 Q
R 82 0.0 R
S 83 0.0 S
T 84 0.0 ħ horizontal bar accent
U 85 0.0 U
V 86 1.0 V
W 87 0.0 W
X 88 0.0 X
Y 89 0.0 Y
Z 90 0.0 Z
[ 91 0.6 [ dashed bar line
| 92 1.0 \ single-line caesura
] 93 0.0 ] for use with clefs
^ 94 1.0 C
_ 95 1.0 _
` 96 0.4 ˜ suitable for following ˆ
a 97 0.0 a
b 98 0.0 b
c 99 1.5 c
d 100 1.5 d
e 101 0.0 e
f 102 0.0 f
g 103 0.0 g
h 104 0.0 h
i 105 0.0 i
j 106 0.55 7
k 107 0.76 4
l 108 0.84 l solid diamond notehead
m 109 0.84 m diamond notehead
n 110 0.84 n cross notehead
o
p
o 111 0.0 up stem for cross
p 112 0.0 down stem for cross
q 113 0.0 q up stem fragment, 0.2 to 0.4
r 114 0.0 r down stem fragment, 0 to – 0.2
s 115 0.5 6
t 116 0.55 ā dot for guitar box
u 117 0.55 u circle for guitar box

174 The PMW musical font

v 118 0.0 prints nothing; moves down by 0.1
w 119 0.0 prints nothing; moves down by 0.4
x 120 0.0 prints nothing; moves up by 0.4
y 121 -0.1 prints nothing; moves left by 0.1
z 122 0.1 prints nothing; moves right by 0.1
{ 123 -0.33 prints nothing; moves left by 0.33
| 124 0.0 prints nothing; moves down by 0.2
} 125 0.55 prints nothing; moves right by 0.55
~ 126 0.0 prints nothing; moves up 0.2
127 - unassigned
128 0.6 €
129 0.0 ‚ accaciatura bar
130 0.0 accaciatura bar
ƒ
131 0.0 for guitar chords
132 0.6 „ short bar line
133 0.0 …
134 0.0 †
135 0.0 ‡
136 0.8 ˆ
137 0.6 ‰ short vertical caesura
138 0.6 Š long vertical caesura
139 0.35 ‹
140 0.35 Œ

brackets for accidentals
141 0.35
142 0.35 Ž
143 0.5 
144 0.0 
145 0.0 ṽ for arpeggios – moves upwards by 0.4
146 0.0 ’ tremolo bar – moves upwards by 0.4
147 1.0 “
”
•
148 1.0
–
149 0.0 slur
150 0.0 slur
—
˜
151 0.0
152 0.0
153 1.0 ™
154 1.0 š
155 1.58 › unison breve
156 0.0 œ ‘start of bar’ accent

]
157 0.35
ž
for bracketing
158 0.35
159 0.33 Ÿ for 8va lines etc.
160 0.33  
161 0.33 ¡
162 0.33 ¢
163 1.4 £
164 0.0 ¤ for arpeggios – moves upwards by 0.4
165 0.0 ¥ for arpeggios – moves upwards (sic) by 0.4
¦
§
166 0.0 harp nail symbol
167 0.333 alternate bracket angles
168 0.333 ¨

The PMW musical font 175

 ©
169 1.0 2-line stave
170 1.0 ª 3-line stave
171 1.0 « 4-line stave

¬
172 1.0 6-line stave

­
173 1.5 percussion clef
®
174 1.5 old-style F clef
175 1.5 ¯ old-style C clef
176 0.0 ° bracket top
177 0.0 ± bracket bottom
178 1.0 ² symbol for pitch without duration (‘direct’)
179 0.55 5
180 0.75 ´ major chord sign (jazz notation)
181 0.675 µ diminished chord sign
182 0.675 ¶ ‘half diminished’ chord sign
185 prints nothing; moves left 0.42, up 0.4
186 prints nothing; moves left 0.76, down 0.4
187 prints nothing; moves up 1.2
188 prints nothing; moves down 1.2
247 10.0 long 2-line stave
248 10.0 long 3-line stave
249 10.0 long 4-line stave
250 10.0 long 6-line stave
The characters numbered 118– 126 and 185– 188 do not cause anything to be printed; instead they just
cause the current printing position to be moved by a distance which depends on the point size of the
font. The values given above are the factors by which the font’s point size must be multiplied in order
to get the relevant distance. For example, if a 10-point font is in use, then character number 119 (w)
moves the current printing position down by 4 points. If a space character (number 32) is printed from
the music font, it moves the printing position by 0.75 units to the right.
The larger round and square brackets (characters 139– 142) are designed so that they can be printed
directly before and after an accidental, except that for a flat they need to be raised by one note pitch (2
points).
The large circle characters have a diameter of two stave spaces, and are intended for printing original
time signatures (see the example in section 38.118).
The slur characters are not used by PMW itself, but are for printing ties when using note characters in
text. The first is the correct width for two successive note characters; the second is the correct width
when the first note is followed by a dot. Because they have zero width, they should be printed before
the notes. For example, the PMW string
"\**m.\ = \mf\\149\\51\\53\"
prints as
3? = •35
The slanting arrows are for use at the ends of staves when a stave containing multiple parts is about to
be split into two or more staves, and vice versa.

176 The PMW musical font

 50. The PMW-Alpha font

Richard Hallas contributed an auxiliary font for use with PMW and with other programs. It is called
PMW-Alpha, because it is designed for printing musical symbols in conjunction with normal
alphabetic text. The font was originally designed as an Acorn RISC OS font; the PostScript version
was generated automatically from the original.
The characters that PMW-Alpha contains fall into four classes:
• There is a set of letters such as f and p which are in a style commonly seen in music, and which
can be used to print dynamic markings.
• There is a set of digits in a style commonly seen in time signatures, together with a matching
plus sign.
• There is a set of fractions, suitable for use in organ registrations. There are also two sets of small
digits, one raised and one lowered, that can be used to build additional fractions.
• There are small versions of many musical characters such as notes, accidentals, and clefs. These
are at appropriate sizes for mixing with text fonts of the same nominal size, which makes it
easier to include them with text when using desktop publishing programs.

50.1 Use of PMW-Alpha from within PMW

Here is an example of some heading directives that could be used to make use of the PMW-Alpha font
from within PMW:
Textfont extra 1 "PMW-Alpha"
Timefont extra 1
*Define f "\x1\f"
*Define fr37 \x1\\203\\222\\217\
The textfont directive sets up PMW-Alpha as the first extra font; the timefont directive specifies that
numerical time signatures are to be printed using this font.
The first *define directive defines a macro for the forte marking that prints f. The second macro is for
printing the fraction Ë/Ù. It is set up without surrounding quote marks so that it can be included in a
longer string, for example
"an unusual fraction is &fr37\rm\"

50.2 Use of PMW-Alpha in other programs

From within a desktop publishing program, PMW-Alpha can be used as a kind of musical typewriter.
Richard Hallas explains:
“The keys Q, W, E, R, T, Y produce notes of descending duration from breve to semiquaver. The
lower-case versions of the letters produce notes with up-stems, and the upper-case characters produce
down-stem notes. The dot key produces a dot which is suitable to follow any up-stem note, and the >
key (shifted dot) produces a suitable dot for the down-stem notes. There are also some simple beams
which can be used with the crotchet characters. The keys h, j, and k produce beams for upstemmed
notes, while H, J, and K are for use with downstemmed notes. They should be typed after the first
note, and all have a width of zero, so do not move the cursor. For example, typing ‘rh,r RK><R’
produces rh,r RK><R.
The five keys to the left of return produce rests: [ and ] for a semibreve rest [ and a minim rest ],
semicolon and quote for a quaver rest ; and a semiquaver rest ', and / for a crotchet rest /. Pressing
any of these keys in conjunction with shift produces a smaller version of each rest, suitable for use in
among the notes. The letters G, B and V produce treble, bass, and alto clefs, and are named after the
G clef, Bass clef and Viola clef. These are suitable for use with the notes.
These symbols may of course be used on their own, but a stave symbol is also provided so that the
symbols can be printed on it. The symbols have all been positioned correctly so that the work with the
stave. The stave is obtained by entering the ‘hard’ space character ASCII 160. (How you do this
depends on the keystroke conventions of your wordprocessor.) The stave character has a width of zero,
so following it with one of the notes etc. will produce a composite symbol. The actual space taken up

The PMW-Alpha font 177

by the stave character is 640, the same as the normal <space> character moves, so a string of
alternating hard and soft spaces produces an empty stave.
The breves are not supposed to be used with dots, and have a width of 640. All the other notes have a
width of 380 and can be followed by either two dots, a dot and a ‘dot space’ (< character) or a
‘double-dot space’ (comma character) to make up a 640-width ‘unit’.
The three clefs each have a 640 ‘unit-width’. The small rests have a width of 260, and can either be
followed by a note or a ‘note space’ (\ character). The | character produces a bar line, whose actual
width is identical to its printing width so that it can be immediately followed by another stave
character.
Example: If ‘Hd’ represents a hard space character, then this sequence
Hd V Hd < Hd Q Hd < | Hd < Hd E > < Hd R , | Hd , Hd e , Hd } \ |
produces:

 V <˘ <| <E>< R,| , e, }\|
There are two systems available for fractions. Firstly, the most common fractions ⅓, ⅔, and ⅗ are in
the ASCII positions normally occupied by superscript digits É, Ê, and Ë. The standard ¼, ½, and ¾ are in
their normal ASCII positions, and various other common fractions are available in a fairly sensible order
from adjacent characters.
Secondly, any fraction can be made from the individual fraction numbers and character 222. The
ready-made fractions are preferable to the custom ones because the relative positions of the numbers
and the slash are slightly neater, but nevertheless the custom fractions will usually give a good result.
The fractions are in Times-Roman style, and should go well with that font.”

50.3 Characters in the font

Here is alist of the characters in the PMW-Alpha font, in the same format as the list of characters in
the PMW-Music font above. The stemless notes (breve and semibreve) appear twice, in both the
‘upstem’ and ‘downstem’ positions, and for technical reasons, the treble clef appears on the lower case
g as well as the upper case G.
32 0.64 space
" 34 0.26 " small semiquaver rest
# 35 0.46 ♯
$ 36 0.38 ♭
% 37 0.36 ♮
& 38 0.7 &
' 39 0.38 ' big semiquaver rest
( 40 0.924 (
) 41 0.924 )
* 42 0.77 ⋆
+ 43 0.64 + for time signatures
, 44 0.26 , ‘double dot’ space
. 46 0.13 . dot for upstemmed notes
/ 47 0.38 / big crotchet rest
0 48 0.64 0
1 49 0.64 1
2 50 0.64 2
3 51 0.64 3
4 52 0.64 4
5 53 0.64 5
6 54 0.64 6
7 55 0.64 7
8 56 0.64 8
9 57 0.64 9
178 The PMW-Alpha font
: 58 0.26 : small quaver rest
; 59 0.38 ; big quaver rest
< 60 0.13 < ‘dot’ space
= 61 0.564 =
> 62 0.13 > dot for downstemmed notes
? 63 0.26 ? small crotchet rest
B 66 0.64 B
C 67 0.64 C
E 69 0.38 E
F 70 0.80 F
G 71 0.64 G
H 72 0.00 H
J 74 0.00 J beams for downstemmed notes
K 75 0.00 K
L 76 0.38 L crotchet notehead
M 77 0.38 M minim notehead
O 79 0.80 O
P 80 1.40 P
Q 81 0.64 ˘
R 82 0.38 R
S 83 0.72 S
T 84 0.38 T
V 86 0.64 V
W 87 0.38 W semibreve
Y 89 0.38 Y
[ 91 0.51 [ minim rest, with ledger
\ 92 0.38 \ ‘note’ space
] 93 0.51 ] semibreve rest, with ledger
^ 94 0.46 ^ double sharp
_ 95 0.53 _ for joining words
` 96 0.70 `
c 99 0.64 c
d 100 0.817 d
e 101 0.38 e
f 102 0.47 f
g 103 0.64 g
h 104 0.00 h
j 106 0.00 j beams for upstemmed notes
k 107 0.00 k
m 109 0.88 m
o 111 0.76 o
p 112 0.69 p
q 113 0.64 q
r 114 0.38 r
s 115 0.32 s
t 116 0.38 t
u 117 0.817 u
w 119 0.38 w semibreve
y 121 0.38 y
z 122 0.42 z
{ 123 0.26 { small semibreve rest
| 124 0.02 | bar line

The PMW-Alpha font 179

 } 125 0.26 } small minim rest
~ 126 0.70 ~
160 0.00   stave segment
178 0.75 ⅔
179 0.75 ⅗
180 0.75 ⅕
181 0.75 ⅖
182 0.75 ⅘
183 0.75 ·
184 0.75 ¸
185 0.75 ⅓
186 0.75 º
187 0.75 »
188 0.75 ¼
189 0.75 ½
190 0.75 ¾
200 0.30 È for fraction numerators
201 0.30 É
202 0.30 Ê
203 0.30 Ë
204 0.30 Ì
205 0.30 Í
206 0.30 Î
207 0.30 Ï
208 0.30 Ð
209 0.30 Ñ
210 0.30 Ò for fraction denominators
211 0.30 Ó
212 0.30 Ô
213 0.30 Õ
214 0.30 Ö
215 0.30 ×
216 0.30 Ø
217 0.30 Ù
218 0.30 Ú
219 0.30 Û
222 0.75 / for building fractions

180 The PMW-Alpha font

 51. Syntax summary

51.1 Preprocessing directives

These may occur at any point in an input file; each one must occupy a line on its own.
*comment <rest of line>
*define <name> <rest of line>
*else
*fi
*if <condition>
*if not <condition>
*include "<file name>"

51.2 Heading directives

Those marked with an asterisk may appear only at the head of a PMW input file, not at the start of the
second or subsequent movements. Those marked with a dagger affect only the movement in which
they appear.
Accadjusts <n> <n> ... <up to 8 numbers>
Accspacing <n1> <n2> <n3> <n4> <n5>
Bar <n>
Barcount <n>
Barlinesize <n>
Barlinespace <n>
Barlinestyle <n>
Barnumberlevel <sign><n>
Barnumbers <enclosure> <interval> <fontsize> <font>
Beamendrests
Beamflaglength <n>
Beamthickness <n>
Bottommargin <n>
Brace <n-m> ...
Bracestyle <n>
Bracket <n-m> ...
Breakbarlines <n1> <n2> ...
Breakbarlinesx <n1> <n2> ...
Breveledgerextra <n>
Breverests
Caesurastyle <n>
Check
Checkdoublebars
Clefsize <n>
Clefstyle <n>
Clefwidths <n1> ... <n5>
Copyzero <n>/<m> ...
Cuegracesize <n>
Cuesize <n>
Dotspacefactor <n>
Doublenotes
Draw <drawing definition> enddraw
Endlinesluradjust <n>
Endlineslurstyle <n>
Endlinetieadjust <n>
Endlinetiestyle <n>
Extenderlevel <n>
Fbsize <n>
Footing <fontsize> "<string>" <space>
Footing draw <name> <space>
Footnotesep <n>

Syntax summary 181

 Footnotesize <n>
Gracesize <n>
Gracespacing <n> <m>
Gracestyle <n>
Hairpinlinewidth <n>
Hairpinwidth <n>
Halvenotes
Heading <fontsize> "<string>" <space>
Heading draw <name> <space>
Hyphenstring "<string>"
Hyphenthreshold <n>
Join <n-m> ...
Joindotted <n-m> ...
Justify <edges>
†Key <key signature>
Keydoublebar
Keysinglebar
Keywarn
*Landscape
Lastfooting <fontsize> "<string>" <space>
Lastfooting draw <name> <space>
†Layout <n1> <n2> ...
Leftmargin <n>
Linelength <n>
Longrestfont <fontsize> <font>
*Magnification <n>
Maxbeamslope <n>
*Maxvertjustify <n>
Midichannel <n> "<name or number>" <staves>
Midkeyspacing <n>
Midtimespacing <n>
*Musicfont "<font name>"
Nobeamendrests
Nocheck
Nocheckdoublebars
*Nokerning
Nokeywarn
Nosluroverwarnings
Nospreadunderlay
Notespacing *<factor>
Notespacing <n1> ... <n8>
†Notime
Notimebase
Notimewarn
Nounderlayextenders
Overlaydepth <n>
Overlaysize <fontsize>
*Page <n> <m>
Pagefooting <fontsize> "<string>" <space>
Pagefooting draw <name> <space>
Pageheading <fontsize> "<string>" <space>
Pageheading draw <name> <space>
*Pagelength <n>
Playtempo <n> <n/m> ...
Playtranspose <n/m> ...
Playvolume <n> <n/m> ...
Pmwversion <n>
Printtime <time> "<string 1>" "<string 2>"
Psfooting "<PostScript string>"
Psheading "<PostScript string>"
Pslastfooting "<PostScript string>"

182 Syntax summary

 Pspagefooting "<PostScript string>"
Pspageheading "<PostScript string>"
*Pssetup "<PostScript string>"
Rehearsalmarks <style> <fontsize> <fontname>
Repeatbarfont <fontsize> <font>
Repeatstyle <n>
Selectstaves <n-m> ...
*Sheetdepth <n>
*Sheetsize A4 or A3
*Sheetwidth <n>
Shortenstems <n>
Sluroverwarnings
Smallcapsize <n>
†Startbracketbar <n>
Startlinespacing <c> <k> <t> <n>
†Startnotime
Stavesize(s) <n/m> ...
Stavespacing <n> <n/b> ...
Stavespacing <n> <n/a/b> ...
Stemlengths <n1> ... <n6>
Stemswap <direction>
Stemswaplevel <n/m> ...
†Suspend <n> ...
Systemgap <n>
*Textfont <fontword> "<font name>"
Textsize(s) <n> ...
Thinbracket <n-m> ...
†Time <time signature>
Timebase
Timefont <fontsize> <name>
Timewarn
Topmargin <n>
†Transpose <n>
Transposedacc force
Transposedacc noforce
Transposedkey <key 1> use <key 2>
Trillstring "<string>"
Tripletfont <fontsize> <name>
Tripletlinewidth <n>
Underlaydepth <n>
Underlayextenders
Underlaysize <fontsize>
Underlaystyle <n>
†Unfinished
Vertaccsize <n>

51.3 Note and rest components

The order of the items that go to make up one note is given below. Few notes require all possible
components to be present.
accidental # ## $ $$ %
invisible ?
over note o
under note u
transposed ^# ^## ^$ ^$$ ^% ^- ^+
bracketed ) ]
moved < or <number
note letter a-g A-G q Q r R s S
octave sign ’ to raise, ` to lower
note flags - = =- == following a small letter
+ ++ following a capital letter

Syntax summary 183

 ! following q, Q, r, R, s, or S
move dot > or number>
dot(s) . or .. or .+
expression/options \<expression and options indications>\
tie/slur _
above/below /a /b
editorial /e
dashed/dotted /i /ip
full beam break ;
partial beam break ,
The possible expression/option codes are:
! accent on stem side, trill or fermata below
: augmentation dot other side if note on line
:: augmentation dot raised if note in space
’ ‘start of bar’ accent
. staccato
- accent
> horizontal wedge accent
~ upper mordent
~| lower mordent
~~ double upper mordent
~~| double lower mordent
/ single tremolo
// double tremolo
/// triple tremolo
a<n> accent <n>
ar arpeggio
aru arpeggio with up arrow
ard arpeggio with down arrow
c print on coupled stave
C centre if only note in bar
d string down bow
f fermata (pause) above note
f! fermata (pause) below note
g grace note
g/ crossed grace note
h don’t print on coupled stave
l<n> rest level
m<flags> masquerade
o harmonic
sl<n> extend stem length
sl-<n> shorten stem length
sp spread chord
su stem up
sd stem down
sw swap stem direction in beam
t turn
t| inverted turn
tr trill
tr# trill with sharp
tr$ trill with flat
tr% trill with natural
u string up bow
v small, closed vertical wedge accent
V large, open vertical wedge accent
x cancel default expression
Accent numbers:

184 Syntax summary

 1 staccato dot
2 horizontal bar
3 horizontal wedge
4 small, closed vertical wedge
5 large, open vertical wedge
6 string down bow
7 string up bow
8 ring
9 ‘start of bar’ accent
All accents and ornaments can be moved in any direction by following the code with /u, /d, /l, or
/r and a number. For this reason, the tremolo options must not directly follow an accent or ornament.
Use a space to separate, or put the tremolo first.

51.4 Special characters in stave data

These characters, along with text items, occur interspersed in the notes and rests:
| bar line
|| double bar line
|? invisible bar line
|= bar line with beam carried over it
|<n> bar line in style <n>
: dotted bar line in middle of bar
(: start repeated section
:) end repeated section
{ start triplet
{<n> start non-standard group
} end non-standard group
// caesura
> decrescendo hairpin
< crescendo hairpin

51.5 Stave text item options

These options may occur after any text item, but for a rehearsal marking inside square brackets only
those specifying movement are relevant, and /bar, /c, /e, /nc, /ne, and /ts are ignored on
underlay and overlay strings.
/a print above the stave
/ao print above, at the overlay level
/a<n> print <n> points above the stave
/b print below the stave
/bar position at previous bar line
/box print inside a rectangular box
/bu print below, at the underlay level
/b<n> print <n> points below the stave
/c centre the string horizontally
/d<n> move down <n> points
/e align end of string, not start
/fb string is figured bass
/h position halfway between notes
/l<n> move left <n> points
/m print below, halfway to the next stave
/nc cancel a previous /c
/ne cancel a previous /e
/ol string is overlay
/ps insert PostScript string in output
/r<n> move right <n> points
/ring print inside a ring shape
/rot<n> rotate <n> degrees
/s<n> print using font size <n> (1– 12)
/ts position at time signature

Syntax summary 185

 /ul string is underlay
/u<n> move up <n> points
Font sizes are defined in the heading by the textsizes directive.
For underlay and overlay strings, additional strings may follow as options, to control the printing of
hyphens between syllables. See section 45.5 for details.

51.6 Character string escapes

The escape sequences that specify accented and other special characters in text fonts are shown in the
character list in chapter 48. The remaining escape sequences are summarized here.
\c] prints  from the PostScript Symbol font
\p\ page number
\pe\ page number, if even
\po\ page number, if odd
\@ start of in-string comment; ends at next \
\*b\ breve
\*s\ semibreve
\*m\ minim
\*c\ crotchet
\*Q\ quaver
\*q\ semiquaver
Any of the above can include a dot after the note letter to print the dotted form of the note.
\*#\ sharp
\*$\ flat
\*%\ natural
\*u\ moves up by 0.2 times the music font’s size
\*d\ moves down by 0.2 times the music font’s size
\*l\ moves left by 0.33 times the music font’s size
\*r\ moves right by 0.55 times the music font’s size
\*<\ moves left by 0.1 times the music font’s size
\*>\ moves right by 0.1 times the music font’s size
Musical escapes with a single asterisk use a font at 9/10 that of the surrounding text. A double asterisk
gets the full size.
\t<x> transpose chord name <x> (one of A– G)
The note letter can be followed by # or $.
\<n>\ character number <n> from the current font
\*<n>\ character number <n> from the 9/10 music font
\**<n>\ character number <n> from the full sized music font
\s<n>\ character number <n> from the Symbol font
The character number can be given as a decimal number, or as a hexadecimal number preceded by x,
for example \*109\ or \x20ac\.
\rm\ change to roman type
\it\ change to italic type
\bf\ change to bold face type
\bi\ change to bold-italic type
\sc\ change to a small caps font size
\sy\ change to the symbol font
\mu\ change to the music font at 9/10 size
\mf\ change to the music font at full size
\x1\ change to the first extra font
...
\x12\ change to the twelfth extra font
Extra fonts are defined in the heading by the textfont directive.

186 Syntax summary

51.7 Underlay strings
These characters are treated specially in underlay strings:
- end of syllable in mid-word
= continue syllable over additional note
# print as space; doesn’t terminate a word
^ centre only characters to the left of this
or between two ^ characters

51.8 Bracketed stave directives

These directives occur in square brackets interspersed in among the notes and rests:
[\!\] repeated accent movement
[\.\] repeated staccato
[\-\] repeated accent
[\>\] repeated horizontal wedge accent
[\v\] repeated small vertical wedge accent
[\V\] repeated large vertical wedge accent
[\′\] repeates ‘start of bar’ accent
[\d\] repeated string down bow
[\u\] repeated string up bow
[\o\] repeated harmonic ring
[\a<n>\] repeated accent <n>
[\/\] repeated single tremolo
[\//\] repeated double tremolo
[\///\] repeated triple tremolo
[\\] no repeated marks
[<n>] specify repeated input bars
[1st] first time bar
[2nd] second time bar
[3rd] third time bar
[<n>th] <n>th time bar
["<text>"/<options>] rehearsal marking
[all] end 1st/2nd time bars
[alto <octave>] select alto clef
[assume <setting>] assume key, time, or clef
[baritone] select baritone clef
[barlinestyle <n>] select bar line style for stave
[barnumber</movement>] explicit bar number print
[barnumber off] suppress bar number print
[bass <octave>] select bass clef
[beamacc] next beam is an accelerando beam
[beammove <n>] move next beam vertically
[beamrit] next beam is a ritardando beam
[beamslope <n>] force slope of next beam
[bottommargin <n>] bottom margin for this page
[bowing <above|below>] select bow marks position
[breakbarline] break one bar line on one stave
[cbaritone] select cbaritone clef
[comma] comma pause
[contrabass <octave>] select contrabass clef
[copyzero <n>] move stave zero material
[couple up] spread music to stave above
[couple down] spread music to stave below
[couple off] no coupling
[cue] specify cue bar
[deepbass] select deep bass clef
[dots <above|below>] position of augmentation dots
[draw <name>] obey a drawing definition
[el] synonym for [endline]
[endcue] end cue notes before bar end

Syntax summary 187

 [endline] end line
[endslur] end long slur
[endslur/=<char>] end tagged long slur
[es] synonym for [endslur]
[endstave] end of this stave
[ensure <n>] ensure space between notes
[fbfont <name>] set default figured bass font
[fbtextsize <n>] default size for figured bass text
[footnote "<string>"] define footnote
[h] synonym for [noteheads harmonic]
[hairpins above] select hairpins position
[hairpins below] select hairpins position
[hairpins middle] select hairpins position
[hairpinwidth <n>] set hairpinwidth for this stave
[hclef] select percussion H-clef
[justify +<edge>] add to justification edges
[justify -<edge>] take away a justification edge
[key <key signature>] set key signature
[line/<options>] line above/below notes
[linegap/<options>] leave gap in line
[mezzo <octave>] select mezzo-soprano clef
[midichannel <n>] change MIDI channel
[midipitch "<name>"] change MIDI percussion pitch
[midivoice "<name>"] change MIDI voice
[move <n>] move next item horizontally
[move <n>,<m>] ditto horizontally & vertically
[name "<string>" ...] specify stave start text(s)
[name <n>] select stave start text
[newline] force new line of music
[newmovement <option>] start new movement
[newpage] force new page of music
[nocheck] don’t check this bar ’s length
[noclef] select invisible treble clef
[nocount] don’t count this bar for numbering
[noteheads <style>] select note head shape
[notes on] turn on note printing
[notes off] turn off note printing
[notespacing *<n>] adjust note spacing
[notespacing <n> <n> ...] adjust note spacing
[ns] synonym for [notespacing]
[o] synonym for [noteheads normal]
[octave <n>] set transposition octave
[olevel <n>] force overlay level
[olevel *] revert to automatic overlay level
[olhere <n>] adjust overlay level for this system
[oltextsize <n>] set text size for overlay
[omitempty] print nothing for empty bars
[overdraw ...] as [draw] but done last
[overlayfont <name>] set default overlay font
[page <n>] increase page number to <n>
[page +<n>] increase page number by <n>
[percussion] specify percussion stave (old method)
[stavelines] is now preferred
[playtranspose <n>] change playing transposition
[playvolume <n>] set relative playing volume
[printpitch <note>] force printing pitch
[reset] reset position to bar start
[resume] resume printing stave
[rlevel <n>] set rest level
[rmove ...] as [move] but scale horizontally
[rsmove <n>] as [smove] but scale horizontally

188 Syntax summary

 [rspace <n>] as [space] but scale horizontally
[sghere <n>] set system gap for this system
[sgnext <n>] set system gap for next system
[skip <n>] skip <n> bars
[slur/<options>] start long slur
[slurgap/<options>] leave gap in slur
[smove <n>] combined [move] & [space]
[soprabass <octave>] select soprabass clef
[soprano <octave>] select soprano clef
[space <n>] insert space before next note
[sshere <n>] set stave spacing for this system
[ssnext <n>] set stave spacing for next system
[stave <n> "<string>" ...] start new stave
[stavelines <n>] set number of stave lines
[stemlength <n>] set default stemlengh adjustment
[stems <direction>] force/unforce stem direction
[suspend] suspend stave at next system
[tenor <octave>] select tenor clef
[text <name>] select default text type
[textfont <name>] set default text font
[textsize <n>] set default text size
[tick] tick pause
[ties <direction>] force/unforce tie direction
[time <time signature>] set time signature
[time <sig1> -> <sig2>] scale to other signature
[topmargin <n>] set top margin for current page
[transpose <n>] set transposition
[transposedacc force] print cautionary accidentals
[transposedacc noforce] don’t print cautionary accidentals
[treble <octave>] select treble clef
[trebledescant <octave>] select trebledescant clef
[trebletenor <octave>] select trebletenor clef
[trebletenorB <octave>] select trebletenorB clef
[tremolo] print tremolo between notes
[triplets off] don’t print triplet indications
[triplets on] print triplet indications
[triplets <options>] control triplet printing
[ulevel <n>] force underlay level
[ulevel *] revert to automatic underlay level
[ulhere <n>] adjust underlay level for this system
[ultextsize <n>] set text size for underlay
[unbreakbarline] join one barline to next stave
[underlayfont <name>] set default underlay font
[x] synonym for [noteheads cross]
[xline] crossing line
[xslur <args>] crossing slur
[z] synonym for [noteheads none]

51.9 Slur options

/=<char> specify tagged slur
/a slur above (default)
/a<n> above, at fixed position
/ao above, at overlay level
/b slur below
/b<n> below, at fixed position
/bu below, at underlay level
/e editorial (crossed) slur
/h force horizontal slur
/i intermittent (dashed) slur
/ip intermittent point (dotted) slur

Syntax summary 189

 /<n> following apply only to section <n>
/ll<n> move the left end left by <n> points
/lr<n> move the left end right by <n> points
/rl<n> move the right end left by <n> points
/rr<n> move the right end right by <n> points
/u<n> raise the entire slur by <n> points
/d<n> lower the entire slur by <n> points
/lu<n> raise the left end by <n> points
/ld<n> lower the left end by <n> points
/ru<n> raise the right end by <n> points
/rd<n> lower the right end by <n> points
/ci<n> move the centre in by <n> points
/co<n> move the centre out by <n> points
/clu<n> move left control point up <n> points
/cld<n> move left control point down <n> points
/cll<n> move left control point left <n> points
/clr<n> move left control point right <n> points
/cru<n> move right control point up <n> points
/crd<n> move right control point down <n> points
/crl<n> move right control point left <n> points
/crr<n> move right control point right <n> points
Most of the options for slurs also apply to lines over groups of notes, as they are just a different kind
of ‘slur’ to PMW. The options for moving the Bezier curve control points are not relevant to lines, but
/co and /ci have the effect of changing the length of the ‘jogs’. In addition, lines can take the
following options:
/ol requests that the line be ‘open on the left’
/or requests that the line be ‘open on the right’

51.10 Default values

Bar length check enabled
Bar lines solid through system
Beam flag length 5
Beam thickness 1.8
Bottom margin 0
Bracket/brace bracket whole system
Breve rests not used
Caesurae two strokes
Clef treble
Clef size 1.0
Dot space factor 1.2
Figured base size 10 points
First page number 1
Font family Times
Footnote separation 4 points
Grace size 7 points
Grace spacing 6 points
Hairpin line width 0.2 points
Hairpin width 7 points
Heading type sizes
first heading 17, 12, 10, 8
movement heading 12, 10, 8
Hyphen string one hyphen character
Hyphen threshold 50 points
Justify top bottom left right
Key C major
Key warnings enabled
Left margin computed for centring
Line length 480
Long rest font size 10

190 Syntax summary

Magnification 1.0
Maximum number of bars 500
Note spacing 30 30 22 16 12 10 10 10
Note stem direction automatically chosen
Note style with stems
Overlay depth 11 points
Overlay size 10 points
Page length 720
Repeat bar font size 10
Repeat style standard
Sheet depth 900 points
Sheet size A4
Sheet width 608 points
Small cap size 0.7
Stave spacing 44 points
Stave style five-line
System gap 44 points
Text size 10 points
Time signature 4/4
Time signatures printed
Time siguature warnings enabled

ˆ
Top margin 10
Trill string
Triplet font roman
Triplet size 10 points
Transposition none
Underlay depth 11 points
Underlay size 10 points

Syntax summary 191

 Index

bar lines (continued)

| in strings 13, 57, 87, 158 between staves only 79
& (insert) character 23, 39, 41 breaking 82, 100, 165
8va 131 dashed 79
# character in text 21, 128 dotted 109
@ (comment) character 15, 39 double 89, 93
\ (escape) character 20, 58 dummy 107
\* escape sequence 60 for different sized staves 79
\** escape sequence 60 invisible 107
key change 89
A3, A4, A5 paper size 56, 98 single & double 107
accadjusts 78 space after 79
accelerando beams 122 style 79
accented characters in strings 20, 58 thick & thin 100
list of 167 bar numbers
accents, on notes 17, 114 counting 18, 147
accents, position of 116 forcing 136
accidentals level adjustment 80
above or below notes 111 moving 136
bracketed 111 requesting 18, 80, 136
forcing transposed 163 size 100
in key signatures 51 starting value 78
in text strings 60 suppressing 136
in transposed staves 103 barcount 78
invisible 111 [baritone] 136
moved 110, 111 barlinesize 79
on chords 110 barlinespace 79
size when printed above 105 barlinestyle 79
spacing 78 [barlinestyle] 136
specifying 110 [barnumber] 136
transposed 52, 111 barnumberlevel 80
accspacing 78 barnumbers 80
additional fonts 102 bars
alignment of underlay 105 count of 45
alla breve 50 identification of 45
alternatives to 5-line staves 159 maximum number of 78
[alto] 136 omitting if empty 149
annotating input 15, 39 repeated 135
antialising 4 skipping 152
arguments for macros 41 [bass] 137
arithmetic operators for draw 67 bass/treble coupling 138
arpeggios 114 [beamacc] 122, 137
aspect ratio of fonts 55 beamendrests 80, 122
[assume] 136 beamflaglength 80
augmentation dots beaming
inverted 139 accel. and rit. 122
moving horizontally 113 across rests 16, 121
vertical position 113 across rests at beam ends 122
breaking a beam 16, 121
B5 paper size 56, 98 chords 110
backslash 20, 58 default stem direction 124
bar 78 irregular note groups 119
bar counting 18, 45, 147 moving a beam 137
bar lengths 18, 147 notes on both sides 122
bar lines over bar lines 121
at end of piece 105 slope 91, 137
beaming over 121 stem length 116

Index 193
[beammove] 122, 137 clefstyle 83
[beamrit] 122, 137 clefwidths 83
beams without notes 148 [comma] 138
[beamslope] 137 command line interface 6
beamthickness 80 command line options 6
Bezier curves 154 *comment 41
bitwise operators for draw 67 comment character 39
borders for pages 87 comment on *define 41
bottommargin 81 comments in strings 59
[bottommargin] 137 common time 50
[bowing] 137 comparison operators for draw 67
bowing marks 114, 137 concert posters 40
brace 27, 81 conditional directives 43
brace, shape of 82 [contrabass] 138
bracestyle 82 copyright symbol 58
bracket 27, 81 copyzero 83
bracket, horizontal 142 [copyzero] 138
bracket, thin 102 counting bars 18, 45, 147
bracketed accidentals 111 [couple] 138
[breakbarline] 137 coupled staves 30, 138
breakbarlines 13, 82 crescendo mark 108
breakbarlinesx 82 crop marks 71, 87
breaking a beam 121 crossing slurs 156
breve [cue] 139
extra ledger length 82 cue bars 139
rest 82 cuegracesize 83
specifying 112 cuesize 83
breveledgerextra 82
breverests 82 dashed slurs 154
dashed ties 119
caesurae 109 decrescendo mark 108
caesurastyle 82 [deepbass] 139
case-sensitivity 39 default values 190
[cbaritone] 137 *define 23, 41
centred notes 114 depth of paper 98
changing stem rules 101 differing time signatures 162
character codes dimensions 48
backwards compatibility 58 ‘direct’ character for note heads 147
discussion of 57 direction of stems 101, 124
character strings see strings directives
check 82 conditional 43
checkdoublebars 83 first movement only 46
checking bar lengths 93 heading 78
chords preprocessing 41
accidentals 110 stave 134
beaming 110 [dots] 139
specifying 17, 110 dotspacefactor 84
spread 114 dotted bar lines 109
tied 119, 162 dotted notes 112
clefs moving dots horizontally 113
assuming 136 vertical position of dots 113
invisible 147 dotted ties 119
list of 134 double bar lines
moving 145 at key change 89
old-fashioned 83 specifying 107
percussion 150 suppressing bar length check 93
size 83 doublenotes 84
space before 99 doubling note lengths 84
style of 83 draw 65
see also under clef names [draw] 65
clefsize 83 draw 84

194 Index
drawing figured bass (continued)
on top of everything 149 default size 61
drawing facility 65 size 84, 102
arithmetic operators 67 specifying 125
at stave starts 159 file format 39
bitwise operators 67 file heading 39
blocks 73 files, including 43
comparison operators 67 first time bar 25, 135
conditional operators 73 flags 16, 112
coordinate origin 68 font changes 20, 60
coordinate systems 68 font names 54
examples 74 fonts
font size 73 additional 102
graphic operators 69 alternative music 93
headings and footings 87 aspect ratio 55
in line gaps 143 default at string start 61
logical operators 67 default for figured bass 140
looping operators 73 default for overlay 150
moving the origin 69 default for text 161
stack description 65 default for underlay 165
stack manipulation 68 default sizes 61
string operators 72 for repeat bars 98
string width 73 for time signatures 103
subroutines 73 for triplets 104
system variables 70 including in the output 3
testing 74 long rest numbers 91
text strings 72 music font characters 173
true values 67 music in text 60
user variables 71 names of 54
overlay 130
editorial slurs 154 PMW-Alpha 177
editorial ties 119 PMW-Music 173
*else 36, 43 rotating 127
empty bars, omitting 64, 149 shearing 55
empty staves, omitting 149 sizes 55, 61
endcue 139 Symbol 59
endlinesluradjust 84 underlay 130
endlineslurstyle 84 unicode characters 167
endlinetieadjust 84 foot lines 32
endlinetiestyle 84 footing 32, 85
[endslur] 153 footing
[endstave] 139 at end of movement 146
[ensure] 139 for first page 85
errors, in input 11 for last page 90
[es] 153 for middle pages 95
escaped characters 20, 58 new movement 46
expression items and rests 117 printing outside margins 32
expression marks 17, 114 [footnote] 140
extenderlevel 84 footnotes 140
extracting parts from a score 36 footnotesep 85
footnotesize 85
*fi 36, 43 forcing new lines 146
[fbfont] 140 forcing new pages 147
fbsize 84 format of input file 39
[fbtextsize] 140 format option 6, 36, 43
fermata
below note 116 gaps in lines 142
specifying 114 gaps in slurs 156
with whole bar rest 114 Ghent, Emmanuel 112
figured bass glissandos 24, 120
default font 61, 140 grace notes 85, 86, 114

Index 195
grace notes, stem direction 115 irregular note groups (continued)
gracesize 85 font for number 104
gracespacing 85 forcing brackets 164
gracestyle 86 forcing position 164
graphic operators for draw 69 moving the number 118
suppressing the number 118, 164
hairpin position 141 ISO-8859-1 57, 58
hairpinlinewidth 86 isolated bars 149
hairpins 26, 108
[hairpins] 141 join 88
hairpinwidth 86 joindotted 88
[hairpinwidth] 141 joining signs 27, 81, 88, 102
halvenotes 86 justification 49
halving note lengths 86 justify 88
hanging ties 119 [justify] 141
harmonics 114, 147
[hclef] 141 kerning 61
head lines 32 key 89
heading 32, 86 [key] 141
heading key signatures
directives 78 after transposition 52, 104, 163
for first page 86 alignment 83
for middle pages 95 bar line at change 89
for PMW file 39 changing 141
new movement 46 specifying 51, 89
paragraph 87 suppressing warning 93
printing outside margins 32 keyboard staves 29
size of type 86 keydoublebar 89
spacing 87 keysinglebar 89
height of rests 117 keywarn 90
horizontal brackets 142
horizontal justification 49, 88 landscape 90
hyphen lastfooting 90
in underlay string 128 layout 90
multiple in underlay 88 layout of pages 34
printing in underlay 88 leftmargin 90
hyphenstring 88 length of notes 14, 112
hyphenthreshold 88 length of rests 112
length of stems 114, 116, 160
identification of bars 45 lengths of bars 18
*if 36, 43 level of extender lines 84
image position adjustment 9 level of rests 151
incipits 53, 146 level of underlay 130, 165
*include 43 [line] 142
included files 43 line length 91
information about the piece 10 line over notes 142
input errors 11 line under notes 142
input file format 39 line width for triplets 104
input short cuts 120 [linegap] 142
insert character 39 linelength 91
installing PMW 3 lines, gaps in 142
invisible accidentals 111 lines, straight 142
invisible bar lines 107 logical operators for draw 67
invisible clefs 147 longrestfont 91
invisible note heads 147, 148 lyrics see underlay
invisible notes 119
invisible rests 30, 112 macros
invisible stave 159 argument defaults 42
invisible stems 147, 148 arguments 41
irregular note groups 16, 117 definition 23, 41
beaming 119 form of names 41

196 Index
macros (continued) [nocheck] 147
insertion 23, 39 nocheckdoublebars 93
magnification 35, 48 [noclef] 147
magnification 91 [nocount] 147
magnification 91 nokerning 93
many bars rest 16, 135 nokeywarn 93
margin non-PostScript printer 5
bottom 137 non-printing music characters 60, 176
printing outside 32 nosluroverwarnings 94
top 163 nospreadunderlay 94
masquerading notes 116
note accents 114
maxbeamslope 91
maximum number of bars 78 note heads
maximum number of staves 39 alternative shapes 147
maxvertjustify 91 ‘direct’ character 147
[mezzo] 144 invisible 147, 148
MIDI note length
changing channel 144 doubling 84
changing pitch 144 halving 86
changing voice 145 note spreading for underlay 130
channel allocation 91 note types 16
relative channel volume 92 [noteheads] 147
untuned percussion 92, 150 [notes] 148
midichannel 91 notes
[midichannel] 144 accents 17, 114
[midipitch] 144 accidentals above or below 111
[midivoice] 145 beaming 16, 121
midkeyspacing 93 dotted 14, 112
midtimespacing 93 expression 17, 114
missing staves 39 flags 112
mordent 114
followed by plus 112
[move] 145
moved accents 116 grace 85, 86, 114
moved accidentals 110, 111 in strings 22
moved ornaments 116 in text strings 60
movement 46 invisible 119
continuing bar numbers 78 length 112
first 46 masquerading 116
heading sizes 86 movement of dots 113
new page 46 on both sides of beam 122
non-persistent parameters 46 options 114
specifying 40, 146 pitch 14, 110
suppressing page heading 46 repeated 120
moving augmentation dots 113 repeated expression 134
moving notes 145 spacing 94, 148
multi-syllable underlay 128 spacing for dotted 84
music font characters 173 specifying 110
musical characters in text 60 stem direction 101, 124
musicfont 93 tremolo between 164
width of head 48
[name] 145
notespacing 46, 94
name 158
naming fonts 54 [notespacing] 148
naming staves 145 notime 94
new movement see movement notimebase 94
new page for movement 46 notimewarn 95
[newline] 146 nounderlayextenders 95
[newmovement] 40, 46, 146 [ns] 148
[newpage] 147 number lists 78
nobeamendrests 93, 122 numbering bars 18, 45, 80, 136
nocheck 93 numbering pages 32, 59, 95

Index 197
[octave] 148 pause (continued)
octave markings 131 comma 138
odd bar lengths 18, 147 tick 162
[olevel] 149 PDF files 4
[olhere] 149 pedal markings 143
[oltextsize] 149 [percussion] 150
[omitempty] 149 percussion clef 141
omitting empty bars 149 percussion staves 150
omitting empty staves 149 pitch, indicating without duration 147
optional notes 139 pitch of note 14, 110
options plainsong 86
command line 6 playing
default 10 tempo setting 96
for notes 114 transposing parts 96
ornament printing 139 volume 96, 150
ornaments, position of 116 playtempo 96
[overdraw] 149 playtranspose 96
overlapping slurs 156 [playtranspose] 150
overlay 125, 128 playvolume 96
line depth 95 [playvolume] 150
size 95 plus after notes 112
see also underlay PMW-Alpha font 177
overlaydepth 95 PMW-Music font 173
[overlayfont] 150 pmwversion 96
overlaysize 95 point, definition of 48
overprinting posters 40
single bars 30, 151 PostScript
sparse staves 152 including in PMW output 127
staves 29, 101 music font 173
unicode characters 167
page 95 PostScript printer 5
[page] 150 preprocessing directives 41
page printing paragraphs 87
borders 87 [printpitch] 150
bottom margin 137 printtime 96
crop marks 87 psfooting 97
forcing stave to bottom 89, 91 psheading 97
skipping a number 150 pslastfooting 97
top margin 163 pspagefooting 97
page footing pssetup 97
for first page 85
for last page 90 range of notes on a stave 10
for middle pages 95 reference syntax 38
page heading rehearsal marks 22, 133
for first page 86 rehearsalmarks 97
for middle pages 95 repeat marks 25, 98, 107
page layout 34 repeatbarfont 98
page layout, forcing 90 repeated bars 16, 135
page length 91 repeated expression marks 134
page numbers 32, 59, 95 repeated notes 120
page side selection 9 repeated rest bars 16, 114, 135
pagefooting 32, 95 repeatstyle 98
pageheading 32, 95 [reset] 30, 151
pagelength 91 rests 16, 110, 112
pages in pamphlet order 8 beaming across 16, 121, 122
paper size 56 expression items 117
paragraphs, printing 87 invisible 30, 112
part names 158 length 112
parts, extracting from score 36 level 117, 151
pause masquerading 116
caesura 109 repeated bars 16, 114, 135

198 Index
rests (continued) space at page bottom 81
whole bar 82, 112, 113 space at page top 81
[resume] 151, 160 space character 39, 106
ritardando beams 122 space, inserting in staves 157
[rlevel] 151 spacing
[rmove] 152 accidentals 78
rotated text 127 bar lines 79
[rsmove] 152 dotted notes 84
[rspace] 152 ensuring sufficient 139
heading 87
second time bar 135 notes 94, 148
selectstave 98 start of line 99
[sghere] 152 staves 27, 100, 157
[sgnext] 152 systems 27, 102, 152
shape of brace 82 underlay 21
shape of note heads 147 special characters in strings 57, 58
sheared fonts 55 split slurs 155
sheetdepth 56, 98 spread chords 114
sheetsize 56, 98 [sshere] 157
sheetwidth 56, 98 [ssnext] 157
short slurs 119 staccato 114
shortenstems 99 stack underflow 66
size staff see stave
accidentals above notes 105 startbracketbar 99
clefs 83 startlinespacing 99
fonts 61 startnotime 100
of paper 56, 98 [stave] 39, 158
of window 56, 98 stave
staves 100 coupled 30, 138
text 61, 102, 127 data 106
[skip] 152 directives 106
skip 152 drawing at start 159
skipping bars 152 invisible 159
slope of beams 91, 137 joining signs 27, 81, 88, 102
[slur] 153 keyboard 29
[slurgap] 156 missing 39
sluroverwarnings 99 names 145, 158
slurs number of lines 159
control of shape 154 omitting if empty 149
crossing 156 overprinted 29
dashed 154 range of notes on 10
editorial 154 rotated names 159
gaps in 156 selection 98
line ending 84 spacing 27, 100, 157
overlapping 156 suspending 64
shape of continued 84 stave zero 39, 63, 138
short 119 [stavelines] 159
specifying 24, 153 stavesizes 100
split 155 stavespacing 100
tagged 156 [stemlength] 160
wiggly 155 stemlengths 101
slurs, over warning signatures 99 stemless notes 147
small caps 61 [stems] 160
smallcapsize 99 stems
[smove] 157 automatic shortening 99
solid bar line 105 direction 101, 114, 124, 160
[soprabass] 157 direction in beamed groups 124
[soprano] 157 invisible 147, 148
[space] 157 length 114, 116, 160
space length adjustment 101
for mid-line signatures 93 length in beam 116

Index 199
stemswap 101 text (continued)
stemswaplevel 101 see also strings
straight lines 142 textfont 102
string comments 59 [textfont] 161
strings 57 [textsize] 162
accented characters 58 textsizes 102
encoding 57 thickness of beams 80
escaped characters 58 thinbracket 102
hyphen in underlay 128 [tick] 162
including notes 60 ties 24, 119
macro-defined 41 [ties] 162
special characters 57, 58 ties
use of music font 60 dashed 119
vertical bar 57 direction 119, 162
see also text dotted 119
style of clef 83 editorial 119
summary of syntax 181 hanging 119
suspend 102 line ending 84
[suspend] 160 shape of continued 84
suspending staves 64, 102, 160 ties, over warning signatures 99
Symbol font 59 time 103
syntax for reference section 38 [time] 162
syntax summary 181 time signatures
system gap 27, 102, 152 changing 162
systemgap 102 different on different staves 162
differing 162
tagged slurs 156 one number only 94
tails see flags selecting font 103
tempo for playing 96 specifying 50, 103
[tenor] 161 specifying print format 96
terminology 2 suppressing 94, 100
tessitura 10 suppressing warning 95
testing draw code 74 timebase 103
[text] 161 timefont 103
text timewarn 103
aspect ratio 55 title pages 40
at stave start 28 topmargin 81
baseline level 48 [topmargin] 163
boxed 127 trademark symbol 59
centred 126 transpose 103
centred in bar 126 [transpose] 163
default font 161 transposedacc 103
default type 161 [transposedacc] 163
enclosed 127 transposedkey 104
end alignment 126 transposing instruments 96
font changes 60 transposing parts 96
fonts 54 transposition 9, 52, 103
halfway between staves 158 accidentals 111
horizontal alignmnent 126 chord names 52, 59
in line gaps 143 control of accidentals 103
kerning 61 control of keys 104, 163
on staves 22, 125 for playing 96
qualifiers 125 general 163
ringed 127 key signatures 52
rotated 127 octave 148
rotated stave names 159 transposition for playing 150
shearing 55 [treble] 163
sizes 55, 61, 102, 127 treble/bass coupling 30, 138
strings 57 [trebledescant] 163
underlay 20, 128 [trebletenor] 164
vertical position 126 [trebletenorB] 164

200 Index
tremolo 114 warning signatures 93, 94, 95
[tremolo] 164 slurs & ties over 99
trill 114 whole bar rests 16, 82, 112, 113
trill, choice of string 104 width of hairpin lines 86
trill, position of 116 width of hairpins 86
trill, with wiggly line 131 width of notehead 48
trillstring 104 width of paper 98
tripletfont 104 wiggly slurs 155
tripletlinewidth 104 window size 56, 98
[triplets] 164
[xline] 142
triplets see irregular note groups
[xslur] 156
turns 114
two-up printing 6

[ulevel] 165
[ulhere] 165
[ultextsize] 165
[unbreakbarline] 165
uncounted bars 147
underflow of stack 66
underlay 14, 125, 128
alignment 105
default font 61, 165
default size 61
extender level 84
extension 129
fonts 130
level 130, 165
line depth 104
multiple notes per syllable 20, 105
multi-syllable 128
note spreading 130
size 102, 105
spacing 21
suppressing note spreading 94
text size 165
use for other text 130
word alignment 128
underlaydepth 104
underlayextenders 105
[underlayfont] 165
underlaysize 105
underlaystyle 105
unfinished 105
Unicode 57
unicode characters 167
uninstalling PMW 5
untuned percussion 92
user variables in drawings 71
UTF-8 encoding 57

variable bar lengths 18, 147

variables for draw 70, 71
vertaccsize 105
vertical bar in strings 57
vertical justification 49, 88
viewing music on screen 4
vocal underlay see underlay
volume for playing 96

Index 201