# Lyrics and chord symbols

## A lyric row follows its music

Write `lyrics:` immediately below the musical row. Separate syllables with
spaces and align lyric barlines with the music's barlines.

```scorescript
4C5 D E F | 2G E
lyrics: Sing- ing a song | for you
```

`Sing- ing` divides a word across two notes. `_` extends the previous
syllable over the next note, `*` skips a note, and `~` joins two words on
one note. A second lyric row, or `lyrics 2:`, supplies another verse.

```scorescript
4C5 D E F
lyrics: Joy _ * to~you
```

A multirest is one printed column even when it occupies several semantic
measures. Lyric alignment counts the row's columns. The checker reports
misaligned bars. A music continuation backslash does not join a lyric row
to the music above it.

## Chord symbols stand above the music

Prefix a chord symbol with `@`: `@F7`, `@fm7`, or `@Bbmaj7`.
A chord symbol is text/harmony information; it does not add sounding chord
notes. See [chord spellings](chords.md) for the full implemented quality
vocabulary, explicit sounding chords, and the requested compact-chord grammar.

```scorescript
@C 4C5 D E F | @G7 1G
```

Without `@`, `F7` is the pitch F in octave 7. Lowercase roots can carry
minor-side quality; case never substitutes for an octave. Seventh qualities
include `maj7`, `m7`, `mMaj7`, `dd7`, `dm7`, `+M7`, and `+m7`.
Extended chords use forms such as `m9b5`, `9#5`, and `13`. `no5` describes
an omitted fifth; it does not remove separately written pitches. Unknown
suffixes can survive checking, so a successful check is not complete chord
validation. See the chord reference for slash-bass and formatter limitations.

## Figured bass

Figured bass appears in the element registry as an incomplete feature.
The statement reader recognizes it, but the resolved model does not yet carry
a complete figured-bass realization. It is not a supported finished engraving
workflow. Ordinary quoted text can print figures as text, but that does not
give them figured-bass semantics.