Overview
LCR (Lyrics, Chords and Rhythm) is a textual format for describing songs in a simpler way than sheet music.
What it looks like
You write text like this:
Scarborough Fair
Authors = Simon & Garfunkel
Meter = 3/4
Key = Em
---
Verse 1 =
| Em~ Are ` ` you | going ` ` to | D~ Scar- ` \ bo- ` rough | Em~ Fair? ` ` |
| G~ ` Par- ` sley, | Em~ sage, ` ` rose- | G~ ma- ` A~ ry ` and | Em~ thyme ` ` |
| ` ` Re- | mem- ` ` ber | G~ me ` ` to | one ` who ` lives | D~ there ` ` |
| Em~ she ` ` once | D~ was ` ` a | true ` love ` of | Em~ mine ` ` |
and it gets converted to this:
The output is similar to popular CRD song sheets, and the source text and operations are similar to the ChordPro format. The main added value is the rhythmic information: it shows measure boundaries (the black vertical lines) and beat boundaries (the grey lines).
Then again, the rhythmic information is optional. We could have only measures but not beats:
or no rhythm information at all, and we are back to CRD and ChordPro:
The Time in Music Notation article has a fuller comparison of the main music notations.
Other features
The format also has the following features:
- arbitrary fields in the song header
- song sections (verse, chorus etc.) with title and description
- multiple songs in one file
- optional column layout
- page layout in PDF and print