Boilerplate Sheet Music for Pop Ensemble

LilyPond boilerplate for small acoustic pop ensembles.

Default Setting

• Melody: a fiddle
• Harmony: a folk guitar
• Bassline: an acoustic bass guitar
• Rhythm: a drum kit as if a cajon

If your ensemble setting varies from either, modify the boilerplate by yourself.

A drum kit instead of a cajon is applied here because there is no cajon in the MIDI instruments. You may apply a cajon tone later with a proper virtual instrument in a DAW.

System Requirements

• A recent LilyPond

Usage

Clone the repo locally and rename it:

$ git clone https://github.com/fourstringmate/pop-ensemble-boilerplate.git my-music

Alternatively, download the ZIP file or create a new repo out of this template repo.

Edit either boilerplate to create your own piece. Here are some hints:

Always write down the notes of a piece in a variable:

% Record the melody of a piece.
melody = {
    % Write your melody here.
    s1
}

Those same notes will be called several times. In a full score, in a score partitioning and in a tablature.

Modify the string tuning to fit your ensemble:

melody-tuning = \stringTuning <g d' a' e''>
harmony-tuning = \stringTuning <e, a, d g b e'>
bassline-tuning = \stringTuning<e,, a,, d, g,>

You may use other lute-family instrument like the baritone ukulele, the banjo or anything else. Modify it accordingly.

Modify the style of a percussion part:

\score {
    \header {
        % Omit some code.
    }

    <<
    \new DrumStaff \with {
        % Use a cajon as if it is a drum kit.
        drumStyleTable = #drums-style
    } \drummode {
        % Omit some code.
    }
    >>

    \layout {}
}

You may use any percussion instrument(s) other than cajon. Modify the style table to fit your instrument(s).

Finally, compile the sheet music with LilyPond:

$ lilypond your-next-awesome-piece.ly

You may change the name of this boilerplate sheet music as well.

Copyright

The boilerplates are licensed under MIT.

You keep your own pieces generated with the boilerplate in any license you prefer.