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Score – the master of all contexts

This is the top-level notation context.¹² No other context can contain a Score context. This context handles the administration of time signatures. It also makes sure that items such as clefs, time signatures, and key signatures are aligned across staves.

You cannot explicitly instantiate a Score context (since it is not contained in any other context). It is instantiated automatically when an output definition (a \score or \layout block) is processed.

An alias called Timing is established by the Timing_translator in whatever context it is initialized, and the timing variables are then copied from wherever Timing had been previously established. The alias at Score level provides a target for initializing Timing variables in layout definitions before any Timing_translator has been run.