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Topic: last two things (Read 3191 times) previous topic - next topic

last two things

Hi all,

I think I've gotten a good grip of NWC now, but two
things still mystify me (I promise I won't disturb you any
more after this :-) -

- Is there a way to make the 'Extend last system' option
look nicer? Because I have this piece where there is
only one bar on the last page... and it looks VERY
strange. Appearantly, the bar is just extended, no matter
what notes it contains.

- How do I make NWC understand that two staffs are
both the same instrument (e.g. right and left hands on
the piano) on the printed page? Because NWC promts you
for a name for each bar, and it seems impossible to
tell it to put just 'Piano' between the two bars, instead
of Piano1 and Piano2... In the demo file CAVERNS, this
problem has been solved, but I cannot see how it has
been done... any help appreciated.

Thanks
- Seb

Re: last two things

Reply #1 –
You need to use Force System Break in Bar Line/Properties in two different ways.

Your first problem is to get more bars on the bottom system, so force a break before the desired first bar for the final system and put a break on the top staff. You may have to adjust more of the piece in a similar fashion to get a decent look. Don't do this until you have the entire piece more or less as you want it or you'll have to undo it all when you make a change!

Now to get a tidy ending insert a decorated bar line at the very end of the top staff, making it a Section Close and putting a break on it too.

Re: last two things

Reply #2 –
Rather than have a few orphaned bars at the top of a new page, you might fit the score onto fewer pages by fiddling with the size of the notes (File / Page Set Up / Options / Staff size) and choose smaller notes.  A setting of 26, which seems to be the default in the piano template, is probably needed by the visually impaired, but I think you'll find a setting of 16 is very satisfactory, or even 14 or 12.

You might also try adjusting the number of staffs that will fit on a page by adjusting the staff height settings.  I assume you're using the template for piano scores.

Go to the top staff, press F2, choose the Visual tab, and reduce the Vertical Size Upper from 18 (default) to 16 (you could try smaller numbers as well, keep fiddling until you get the size you want).

With less space between staffs, you'll get more on a page, and your pianist will appreciate one less page to turn.

Both ideas, together or separately, should help with your orphaned staffs problem.  Good luck.

You also wrote "I promise I won't disturb you any
more after this"  Forget it.  This is what the forum is for.  Your questions are needed, because you can bet your bottom dollar there's someone else somewhere out here in Noteworthyland who is struggling with the same problem.  We all learn from the questions and the answers, and soon you'll find yourself helping other users.

Re: last two things

Reply #3 –
Another little trick to try is to put a "Section Close" barline at the end of the staff (immediately to the left of the one already at the end of the staff) and set its properties to force a system break.  Put this barline on each staff, but you can only set the first staff to force a system break.  This tends to even things out a little bit, as well.

John

Re: last two things

Reply #4 –
Songwriters take note: The size of the lyrics font is often the determining factor in how much (horizontal) space is required by the measures.

Re: last two things

Reply #5 –
In the demo file CAVERNS, this problem has been solved, but I cannot see how it has been done... any help appreciated.

There are two aspects to this:

1) Give the staves an invisible name. This is easiest to do by using "non-breaking spaces", which you can enter directly into the name field by holding the ALT key while typing 0160 on the numeric keypad. The top staff's name would be one of these nbsp's, and the second (left hand) staff would be named with two consecutive nbsp's.

2) Now enter a text item as the very first item (before the clef), "Piano    ", (note that a few ordinary spaces follow the actual letters) using the Staff Bold font setting, alignment "before other staff signatures", justification "right." Adjust its exact positioning by changing the number of ordinary spaces after the "Piano" portion.
 

Re: last two things

Reply #6 –
enter a text item as the very first item (before the clef)
Adding text items before the clef creates a little bit of extra space between the brace and the clef.  Add the text item after the clef instead, and use a few more spaces in the text item itself.