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:

full render

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:

measure-only render

or no rhythm information at all, and we are back to CRD and ChordPro:

no-rhythm render

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