How can I add more space between the lines of verse 1 and verse 2?

• May 25, 2021 - 17:51

I would like to add more space between verses of the lyric, to make them easier to read. Single spaced is too close together; double-spaced is too far apart. How can I set the spacing to something in between single and double spaced, please?

The attached screenshot shows the song and the Inspector, when I clicked on "true". The text is Lucida Grande, 12 pt, 1.00 li. "Follow Staff Size" is checked. Centered is selected. No frames.

I am using Musescore 3.6.2.548020600, revision 3224f34
on a MacMini (M1, 2020) running macOS Big Sur, v11.3.

The "li" option in Inspector appears to control spacing before the first verse and after the last verse, but not between verse lines.

The spacing I really want is 1.25 or 1.3 between lines. Can I get that from basic Musescore without installing custom extensions?

Thank you!

Attachment Size
Musescore Verse Spacing 2021-05-25.pdf 375.69 KB

Comments

In reply to by Shoichi

There are two ways to do so, but there is no perfect solution.

One way would be to write all verses, then select all elements of verse 2 (for example) and increase the offset. That's what I do when I want to group verses by bunches of 3 or 4. I do so when I have more than 4 verses, with (for example) verses 1, 2, 3 at 3 sp, verses 4, 5, 6 at 4,5 sp, verses 7, 8, 9 at 6 sp, etc. (mind you, I have yet to go beyond 5 verses).

To select all words from a given verse, right-click on one word, then go to Select –> More –> All words of same verse. One warning, however, if you have customised word placement, all of that will be lost.

For even placement of lyrics, your best bet is to go through Style –> Lyrics (close to the end) and change the line spacing. Default line spacing is at 100%; make it to 120% and you will notice the difference. And best of all, this setting doesn't change particular word placements.

In reply to by mgagnonlv

Thank you! I used the instructions for selecting all words from a given verse, then set the Y offset, and that was perfect.

Thank you for the other information. I did have a song with 5 verses, but it turned out that each verse needed a different accompaniment so I didn't try stacking the verses.

In reply to by anna278

For horizontal space between words in a lyric, you can also try a style setting: Format > Style > Lyrics > Minimum Distance. The default is 0.25. I increased it to 0.40, and my lyrics are now much easier to read.

My original question was about vertical spacing between verses when I want to put more than one verse under the same line of music.

In reply to by anna278

For horizontal space between words in a lyric, you can also try a style setting: Format > Style > Lyrics > Minimum Distance. The default is 0.25. I increased it to 0.40, and my lyrics are now much easier to read.

My original question was about vertical spacing between verses when I want to put more than one verse under the same line of music.

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