How to control spacing when using vertical frames to add "line breaks"?

• Feb 22, 2024 - 10:57

In my score I want to ensure each new section (denoted with a rehearsal mark) starts on a new line.

I achieve this by inserting vertical frames between the end of a section and the start of a new section.

I adjust the vertical frame properties such that the height is very small and the gap above and below is 1.

Sometimes this results in exactly what I want, but other times the spacing between the lines is too large.

Refer to my attached screenshot, the spacing marked in red is very large and is causing the layout to flow onto multiple pages. The spacing marked in green is what I am hoping to achieve.

swappy-20240222_115340.png

Both frames pictured have the same properties.

How can I reduce the whitespace marked in red?


Comments

In reply to by SteveBlower

Thanks for the reply. I knew about staff spacer, but not the "fixed down" variant!

Staff spacer fixed downs alone do not solve the problem as I need to have a line break before each rehearsal mark. Vertical frames in combination with staff space fixed downs do indeed work:

swappy-20240222_122535.png

However I have to add those spacer where necessary onto every part.. which, while manageable is quite cumbersome.

Is there no other way to affect that spacing? I find it strange that sometimes the spacing is fine (see the green in my first image), and other times it is wildly off.

This is difficult to say if you do not have the score available.

These red areas do not have a vertical frame, so their spacing depends on the settings under Format -> Style -> Page.

But to make sure your rehearsal marks are always at the beginning of a new staff, why not just use a staff break at the measure before it?

There are also some staff spacings in the "Breaks & Spacers" palette that you can use to control the spacing of the staves.

The automatically created spacings also depend on whether you have set additions, such as dynamic markings, staff texts or just very low or high notes whose stems reach far down or up.

"In my score I want to ensure each new section (denoted with a rehearsal mark) starts on a new line.
I achieve this by inserting vertical frames between the end of a section and the start of a new section."

"Starting a new line" is usually done by using a system break in the last measure of the line (aka system). And that would ensure that the space between systems is kept to a minimum.

Handbook: https://musescore.org/en/handbook/4/systems-and-horizontal-spacing#syst…

PS. Attaching a sample score (as a .mscz file) is usually more useful than just posting an image.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.