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Topic: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics (Read 4694 times) previous topic - next topic

RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough when I asked this question before....

I am using Noteworthy Composer V1.70 to write out piano music with lyrics. In some cases, the tune is split between treble and bass clefs. I have found that if there is a long word in the lyrics at the point where the tune moves between clefs, the note spacing is not widened to make room for the longer word; instead, the lyrics jump to a lower line (where more than one lyric line is in use) or get printed on top of one another.
Is there any way to correct this?

I hope this is a little clearer.
Thanks again.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #1 –
Please help me, someone!! If this can't be done... say so!!

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #2 –
I do not understand what you are asking. It is also not clear what you mean by "asked this questions before" in your post.

In NWC, a lyric is assigned to one staff. It does not switch between parts. Each syllable is measured, and space is automatically made available for it under its assigned note.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #3 –
I think you're trying to do something that NWC is just not set up to do. NWC associates a given set of lyrics with one and only one staff; having the lyrics jump from one staff to another is bound to be unsuccessful.

By the way, what is "piano music with lyrics"? Most people, when dealing with lyrics, write out the individual vocal line(s) with lyrics and then provide a separate, wordless accompaniment on piano or other instruments. (I know piano teachers tell you to make the instrument sing, but I don't think they intend this to involve actual words.)

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #4 –
I found the prior message (I thought your question rang a bell): https://forum.noteworthycomposer.com/?topic=1334

You can do a lot of little tricks with lyrics to get to a satisfactory result. It is not clear what you are trying to do, but here are some tricks to consider:

- In version 1.70, you can have the lyric line skip whole note sections by using the Lyric Syllable note property (selct the notes, press Alt+Enter).

- You can combine two syllables such that they attach to a single note by separating them with an underscore.

- You can move lyrics around using the Alignment feature

- You can use staff layering to perform some interesting lyric tricks by overlapping a staff and using it for special lyric situations

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #5 –
"Piano music with lyrics" - The lead sheet is almost universal as the method of presenting a song for sale.
The lead sheet has a vocal staff with lyrics and a grand stave piano accompaniment below usually with chord notation.

It's the recognizd way to submit a song for copyright registration.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #6 –
Barry, you're describing exactly what I was - a vocal staff with lyrics and separate staves for the accompaniment. If I read Susan's initial posting correctly, she is dispensing with the vocal staff and assigning the lyrics to the piano staves. At least this is how I interpret the odd behavior she sees "at the point where the tune moves between clefs" [I presume she really means "staves", not "clefs"]. If this isn't what she's trying to do, why is she having trouble at all?

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #7 –
You do not need to use the increase note spacing for longer durations. Extra space is added to a note automatically if it is needed by the attached lyric syllable.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #8 –
The scenario of placing a lyric in a piano grand staff is also covered by the tutorial in the User's Guide, if you are unsure of how to set this up.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #9 –
By "piano music with lyrics" I mean a score of very simple piano music (2 staves) with lyrics in between the two staves. This is for Christmas Carols etc. so that the pupil can "singalong" the words in his head as he plays.

This music is being created solely for my piano pupils, and I do not intend publishing it!!

There seems to be some difficulty in understanding what I need to do. Basically, in plain english... I need to know how I can widen the spacing of notes. I need to widen them further than the "increased spacing for longer note durations" option.

I hope this is a little clearer!!

Many thanks for your help so far.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #10 –
So, you have the two standard piano staves, the melody switches from one to the other, leaving some bars with nothing but rests, and you want to assign lyrics.

I think you have to use both staves for lyrics. The lyrics can be set so they both occupy the same line. You have to assign an underscore for every note where you don't want the lyrics to appear. For example, if the bass line has chords, each one needs an underscore because the lyrics are on the other staff.

If for some reason you want to increase note spacing, you can do it by padding a lyric with underscores, like ___this___.

I hope this helps. If not, tell me what I don't understand about your problem.

Re: RE: Widening note spacing to make room for lyrics

Reply #11 –
The other thing to try would be to insert text items containing nothing but blanks and give them the "preserve width" attribute.