Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: The bars rest problem (Read 2563 times) previous topic - next topic

The bars rest problem

I have just found a reasonable ‘workaround’ for the problem of ‘bars rests’ in instrumental parts (provided the number of such bars is not too large).
Suppose I have a sequence empty bars: highlight from (and including) the end barline of the first bar up to (but not including the barline of the last bar) and from the visibility menu select ‘never display’. Move the rest in the first bar above or below the stave somewhere ‘out of the way’ then insert your favorite text notation for the number of empty bars (e.g. using boxmarks) with its width set to zero just before the insertion point for the rest in the first bar. On printing (and indeed on preview) it will be seen the hidden bars occupy a much reduced (although still finite) space. The rest in the first bar can then be ‘whited’ out. The notation for the number of bars rest may need padding out with spaces at the start to make it more central in the gap left by the invisible bars. The great thing is that the bar count remains correct! (the number of hours I have previously spent checking and writing in the bar numbers doesn’t bear thinking about) The problem is that with a large number of empty bars (say > 10) the gap left does become excessive, but for up to 5 or so it seems to work fine. Perhaps someone can suggest some improvements?

Re: The bars rest problem

Reply #1 –
I use the Boxmarks symbol. When printing out individual parts I first go through and number every 10 bars, again using Boxmarks. I have given up on Noteworthy's bar numbering because it counts every bar line. So half measures and multi-bar "second endings" are counted. I don't happen to agree with this, hence my own numbering system.

If I'm going to indicate 10 bars rest I first erase the ten whole-note rests, then, using Boxmarks with "preserve width" selected, key in: [10] and hit the space bar 4 times. This centers everything in the bar nicely. Oh, the cursor should be placed on the second space of the staff. I like the look of this. It's far better than any of the other makeshift things I've tried.

Re: The bars rest problem

Reply #2 –
Go to the wish list and ask for a "don't count this bar" property on the barline.
 

Re: The bars rest problem

Reply #3 –
Hmmm, interesting, this has always been an issue for me.
With a bit of experimentation, it looks like it's better
to hide ALL the rests and inner bar lines. Using the
Boxmarks sequence "[n]" (possibly with leading or trailing
spaces). Use expression placement Preseve Width, CENTER
justified and Alignment "at next note/bar". I'm not sure
exactly what that means, but it seems to give the best
result.

As it happens, most of the multibar rests in the score I
tried this on have a text rehersal mark at the beginning
of the bar, so it may also be necessary to add some text
(a single space?) at the beginning of the bar with
LEFT/BEST FIT to stop the multi bar rest from overlapping
into the previous bar. For long runs of rests, it may also
be worth moving the text towards the middle to help balance
the white space.

Now if we could just compress the white space from the
invisible bars, I'd would be reasonably happy with this
solution. I'd prefer to have the computer count the bar
lines though and generate the number automatically.

Now that we've got the concept of bar line properties,
the obvious way to implement multi bar rests properly is
to add properties "start multi bar rest" and "end multi
bar rest". Note that these should NOT be mutually exclusive
to allow constructs like:

notes | 8 | 8 | 2 | notes.

So how about it guys? Should be easy!