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Topic: Staff boundary change not working. (Read 4169 times) previous topic - next topic

Staff boundary change not working.

Hello.  I've been trying to change staff boundaries half way through a choral piece because for the first half there are two lyric lines and for the last part only one.  I've got the lyrics between the sop and alto staves, and between the tenor and bass staves, so I've been trying to reduce the upper limit of the alto, and the upper limit of the bass staves after the end of the two lyrics part.  I've followed Richard's notes (29/12/09 How to use some of the new features of V. 2.5) on the piece called 'Rose' and it worked fine on that, but when I tried to do the same on my piece, nothing happened.  I can't work out what I'm doing wrong.  I'd be very grateful for any help anyone can offer.  Thanks.

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #1 –
You might want to set your printer for A5 paper and take a look as 'St. Theodulphus.nwc' that is attached to Seasonal Sample for NWC Viewer 2.5 (Beta)

It adjusts from 2 lines to 5 lines and back to to 2 lines, so you can see that it is at least possible and that your difficulties are not because of something wrong with NWC. Due to this hymn's unusual flow and the general problems of producing hymn format in NWC, this example is rather complex.
It would help to have at least the template of your piece to add to your description of it. I will try to work from your description, but it will take a while.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #2 –
Thanks for your reply, Rick, I'll have a look at the file you mentioned, bu tin the meantime I'm attaching a copy of the file I'm working on, I hope you are able to open it.  As you can see, after the repeat for verses 1 and 2, there's a big space between the S and A staves and between the T and B staves.  These are what I wanted to reduce, if that's possible.

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #3 –
The easiest fix is attached. For complex work, I put lyrics on control staves that have no staff lines. They are harder to set up, but easier to control.
Someone will probably suggest that the Boundary command include a 'Lyric Offset'. I don't disagee, but I have not found it to be necessary.
Registered user since 1996

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #4 –
Thanks again, Rick, I can see that the alto and bass staves have been raised slightly.  I''ll try to experiment with control staves to see if I can compress them even more.

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #5 –
Hello again, Rick, I've experimented with control staves for the lyrics, and Eureka! It worked.  Amended file attached.  Thanks a lot for your advice.

Re: Staff boundary change not working.

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Rick G. –
Someone will probably suggest that the Boundary command include a 'Lyric Offset'. I don't disagree, but I have not found it to be necessary.

I don't need to suggest it because you just did :-) One trick that I've done to change the lyric offset, in cases where the lyrics go from a larger number of lines to one line (i.e. a refrain) is to move the single line portion from line 1 to line 3 or 4 (or whichever line gives the proper spacing when the lower margin is reduced). If my description isn't making sense, I can include an example to show what I mean.