Bar spacing problem
Hi,
I've written out 2 pages of grand staff piano music with lyrics. For the first page I've highlighted bars and used the shift and square brackets command to shrink bars which has given me the 3 bars to a line that I want with relatively even spacing.
However on the second page, some bars are really long and unevenly spaced and only 2 to a line. I've held down shift and the square brackets, highlighting bars, but it won't shrink the bars any more and they are still too big and only 2 to a line, with the first being far too big.
I tried copying and pasting into another bar and it let me shrink this, but when I pasted back to my original bar, it was oversized again. Are there any solutions to this please so I can get 3 bars to a line on my second page? I don't understand why this has happened.
Many thanks for any advice given.
Comments
OK, I have some further info. I deleted the lyrics on page 2 and got the bars back to 3 to a line, so it's obviously an issue with the lyrics. Though am still stuck as what to do. I had no issues with shrinking bars with or without lyrics on first page.
In reply to OK, I have some further info. by [DELETED] 12906286
You could try reducing the size of the lyrics first.
In reply to OK, I have some further info. by [DELETED] 12906286
Lyrics indeed to take space
In reply to Lyrics indeed to take space by Jojo-Schmitz
Thank you for the answers. Reducing the lyrics to size 8 has sorted the issue. I'd had problems with trying this before, as was just trying to reduce the size of lyrics for the individual lines where the bars were too widely spaced and it didn't help. I've reduced the size of the lyrics for the whole piece and it has sorted the problem. Many thanks, and sorry if it seemed obvious! I'd spent a good hour or more trying to find a workaround! Thank goodness for the forum!
In reply to Thank you for the answers. by [DELETED] 12906286
Don't worry. I'm sure we've all been in the same shoes, many times.
In reply to Thank you for the answers. by [DELETED] 12906286
At a space setting of 1.5 or lower anything below a font size of 11 (the default) is unreadable in any printout. And if using a large space setting, like 2.5, where it might be readable, but won't really mix and match with the large size of everything else in the score
FWIW, you shouldn't normally be messing with bar widths just to limit a chart to three bars per line - instead, simply add line breaks. Or, if the default spacing is sometimes giving you *fewer* than three bars per line, you should reduce spacing uniformly, not on a measure by basis. Otherwise you'll likely end up with bad spacing *within* bars, like two bars on the same line that have different amounts of space for the same rhythm.
Best to attach your score and describe what you are trying to accomplish, and we can then better advise the best way of doing that.
In reply to FWIW, you shouldn't normally by Marc Sabatella
Thank you very much. I have the problem sorted now, and the chart is how I want it. However a couple of things you've said are new to me and may help me to further improve what I'm doing.
I've just read about line breaks in the handbook section, although from my very limited understanding, it seems these would be used if too many bars were on one line, so as to put a line break in on one bar to force it to be moved to the next line - have I understood correctly?
Regarding reducing space uniformly, how is this achieved? My current method is to highlight bars and use decrease/increase stretch until I have the desired number of bars on one line and then play with the spacing using decrease/increase stretch until it looks right. Is there a simpler method?
Re lyrics, they printed out fine set to a size of 8, although I've just had a look at bar spacing and it is set to 1.2.
Many thanks for all replies.
In reply to Thank you very much. I have by [DELETED] 12906286
"I've just read about line breaks in the handbook section, although from my very limited understanding, it seems these would be used if too many bars were on one line, so as to put a line break in on one bar to force it to be moved to the next line - have I understood correctly?"
Yes.
In reply to Thank you very much. I have by [DELETED] 12906286
Yes, to get more measures per line then the default your need to decrease spacing - but as I said, best to do so globally so spacing remains consistent.
Spacing *is* uniform by default. That is, all notes of the same duration on the same system get the same space (more or less). That's the standard in music engraving. So you shouldn't have to do a thing.
Sounds like you are deliberately trying to create *inconsistent* spacing - forcing bars to have similar widths even though they have different rhythms. That isn't recommended. But if you have some special reason to want this, then indeed, adjusting stretch individually would be the way to go.
Again, if you need further help, best to attach your score.
In reply to Yes, to get more measures per by Marc Sabatella
Many thanks for taking the time to reply and for all clarification. Very much appreciated. I will certainly attach a score if I get stuck again, thank you.
The only thing I'm not clear on from the post, is how does one decrease stretch globally?
In reply to Many thanks for taking the by [DELETED] 12906286
Two ways. The "right" way is to go to Style / General / Measure and reduce the "Spacing" value. This is what controls the default spacing, so it will affect all measures equally, including measures you haven't added yet. But the easier way for many cases is to wait until you are done adding measures and entering notes, then simply use the regular stretch commands after first selecting all measure (eg, Ctrl+A to select all, "{" as many times as necessary to decrease stretch).
If you do either of these things, then all measures will have the same spacing/stretch, so your spacing will be correct accoridng to standard engraving practice with no "eyeballing" of the result required.
In reply to Two ways. The "right" way is by Marc Sabatella
Brilliant, thank you so much Marc and to everyone else who took the time to reply.
Another question has arisen, though I'll post that under a separate heading, so it can be referenced by others who may find a similar difficulty that I've encountered.
Thank you again.