Next: Centering lyrics between staves, Previous: Lyrics independent of notes, Up: Specific uses of lyrics
To increase the spacing between lyrics, set the minimum-distance property of LyricSpace.
{ c c c c \override Lyrics.LyricSpace #'minimum-distance = #1.0 c c c c } \addlyrics { longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext }
To make this change for all lyrics in the score, set the property in the layout.
\score { \relative c' { c c c c c c c c } \addlyrics { longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext longtext } \layout { \context { \Lyrics \override LyricSpace #'minimum-distance = #1.0 } } }
Checking to make sure that text scripts and lyrics are within the margins is a relatively large computational task. To speed up processing, LilyPond does not perform such calculations by default; to enable it, use
\override Score.PaperColumn #'keep-inside-line = ##t
To make lyrics avoid bar lines as well, use
\layout { \context { \Lyrics \consists "Bar_engraver" \consists "Separating_line_group_engraver" \override BarLine #'transparent = ##t } }