Top-aligning scores inside Lilypond \markup blocks

Question

I'm currently trying to typeset a hymn. Below the actual score I want two things:

• Some additional verses
• The voicing for "Amen."

I'd like to lay these out adjacent to each other to save space, like so:

However, when I put the \score block with the Amen voicing inside a \markup block, the default vertical alignment is off: it appears to align the bottom clef with the text to its left. This leads to a bunch of excess vertical space in the left column. I can fix it with a \lower command (as I did to produce the image above). However, I would think there should be a way of doing this that doesn't rely on that kind of fine-tuning.

Is there any way to tell Lilypond that an entire score within \markup should be top-aligned? Alternately, is there another way of getting the layout I want (perhaps a way to do multi-column layout without the entire thing being wrapped in a \markup block?)

Lilybin link

My code:

\version "2.18.2"

Amen = <<
    \new Staff << \key g \major
        \relative c'' { \voiceOne g2 g  \bar"|." } 
        \new Voice \relative c' { \voiceTwo e2 d  \bar"|." }
    >>
    \new Lyrics \lyricmode { A2 -- men. }
    \new Staff << \key g \major \clef bass 
        \relative c' { \voiceOne c2 b  \bar"|." }
        \new Voice \relative c { \voiceTwo c2 g  \bar"|." }
    >>
>>

\markup {
    \hspace #0.1
    \column {
        \line { \bold "4."
            \column {
                "A verse"
            }
        }
        \combine \null \vspace #0.1
        \line { \bold "5."
            \column {
                "Another verse"
            }
        }
    }
    \hspace #4
    \column {
        \lower #13 
        \score { 
            \Amen
            \layout { }
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

Try something like

\version "2.18.2"

Amen = <<
    \new Staff << \key g \major
        \relative c'' { \voiceOne g2 g  \bar"|." } 
        \new Voice \relative c' { \voiceTwo e2 d  \bar"|." }
    >>
    \new Lyrics \lyricmode { A2 -- men. }
    \new Staff << \key g \major \clef bass 
        \relative c' { \voiceOne c2 b  \bar"|." }
        \new Voice \relative c { \voiceTwo c2 g  \bar"|." }
    >>
>>
\markup {
  \general-align #Y #CENTER
  { \column { \line { \bold "4." "A verse" }
              \vspace #2
              \line { \bold "5." "Another verse" }
            }
    \hspace #4
    \score {
      \Amen
      \layout { }
    }
  }
}

PostScriptum: if you want to align to the top, use #UP instead of #CENTER for the second \general-align parameter.