minimise measure width
I thought it might be on Style /measure /minimum measure width. But doesn't seem to skinny up the measure.
I tried Arial skinny font to skinny the lyrics. What am I doing wrong? if it can be done at all.
I tried decrease stretch as well. But the score is staying adamant. I want the notes as big as the page setting / scaling is fine but more measures per line. Tall and skinny, I'm probably being finicky. Oh well.
Comments
Score needed
In reply to Score needed by Jojo-Schmitz
Achy Breaky it's in Big Notes. I want to squash the measures up more. Also take the clef and time signature off each line. Leaving only the top staff with this information. thanks
In reply to will do by mpvick
Taking clef and time sig off is done via staff properties
Format >Style > Measure offers some more options to save space, Note left marning, minimum note distance, note to barline distance, etc.d
In reply to Taking clef and time sig off… by Jojo-Schmitz
yes tried this. But I just want to leave the first bar with the clef and time signature and none of the others. I can't find option for just the one bar.
In reply to yes tried this. But I just… by mpvick
[Format]>[Style]>[Page] Create clef for all systems - untick; Create key signature for all systems - untick.
In reply to [Format]>[Style]>[Page]… by SteveBlower
Yep cool. it works. Thanks so much.
In reply to will do by mpvick
You're doing a number of things that are working against you here. As explained before, you really should not be messing with the line distance setting, or needing to compensate by making notes small. You should simply be changing the overall scale in Format / Page Settings. Not only is it much simpler but it produces much more consistent results. And relevant to your issue here, you don't end up with oversized clefs or time signatures or rests, which helps save space as well.
BTW, I see you also have a non-standard page size set - are you planning on printing that small?
In reply to You're doing a number of… by Marc Sabatella
Another way you are making things harder for yourself is that by oversizing the staff then undersizing the line distance, all the widths of everything are now scaled too high also - that's also making it harder to get things as narrow as you want. It really does work much better to adjust the staff space only and not try to also trick things into looking different via line distance.
In reply to Another way you are making… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc. I'm just investigating the facilities of this program. I like seeing the presentation capabilities of this program. it won't break. No I'm not printing the A5, I snip and copy to landscape on word and take out the black lines and then print. A4 is too large for my booklet. Undersizing the line distance doesn't make a difference for the overall wishes. But I do notice the measure distance isn't working as well as I'd like, so it is 15-16 measures on an A4.
Page preview image shows it won't fill up the two pages and goes over to the 3rd page. I'm trying to fit on two pages A4 only. Then it can look tidy on the A5,
Do I make the page margins wider? I'm trying to make a permanent template.
The sizing of the notes wasn't meant to happen. it was just a tryout to see if the measures could be made less wide. I have removed the repeated clefs now. that's good. I want 3-4 measures on top line. Its spread out so much compared to the rest of the score. Shall I lessen the distance of the sharp and time signature to each other.
As you can see in the first file of Achy breaky the scaling leaves a high footer on second page. Whereas trying to fix it in the second goes over to the 3rd page and that's not necessary. I've tried manually scale staff spacing but it won't do manually. It's quite disobedient.
As you can see in the Word document it is a little unbalanced in parts. I adjusted the staff spacing, header, and shifted the lyrics up. Shifted chord names down. It's looking good but that first two measures ought to be less width.
I'm sorry if you don't like messing with software but I like extending it's capability for Big Note pages. It helps the keyboard players who are visually impaired and me. it's a fun program.
Take care.
In reply to Hi Marc. I'm just… by mpvick
Hello! I think you are misunderstanding me. I want you to be successful creating big note music. And I think you'll find there is no one who is a bigger advocate for working with blind and visually impaired musicians than me. I really would love to see you succeed here, and that's why I am trying so hard to advise you on how to do it in a way that works well.
The things I am describing that you are doing incorrectly are exactly the reason you are having trouble getting things to fit. You say it isn't causing a problem, but it definitely is. It is causing spaces between notes to be bigger than they should be for the staff size, it is causing the staff lines and barlines to have inappropriate thickness, it's causing the clef, key, and time signature to be too big, and much more. All these problems go away - allowing you to fit more music on the page, and making the music easier to read because things are correctly sized for the your staff - if you use the settings the way they were designed to be used. In fact we added quite a lot of settings specifically to support big note music for visually impaired musicians, under direct guidance from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, and I'd to help you use them more effectively.
So, I do hope you'll let me help you here!
In reply to Hello! I think you are… by Marc Sabatella
Ok. So what one will I start with. It is a fun program though. Sorry for bothering you.
In reply to Ok. So what one will I start… by mpvick
It's no bother! I like helping people here :-)
I would say the way I can help best is if you post what is you best version - there are three here - and describe the top few things you'd like to improve about that version. I can show you how to accomplish it, and also give pointers to things I know will also help.
But do be aware, one of the things RNIB stresses in their advice on how to create large print editions for visually impaired musicians is that different people have different specific limitations. So if there is a particular person you are producing your editions for, it is great to work with them to work out things like, for them specifically, how thick should stems be relative to staff lines in order to be easier to perceive, and so on.
One thing you might want to read to get an idea of what's possible is this tutorial, created for an older version of MuseScore but most still applicable: https://musescore.org/en/tutorials/modified-stave-notation
In reply to It's no bother! I like… by Marc Sabatella
okay. I will. I put the achy breaky back to normal to restart it. I will watch tutorial first. thanks.
In reply to It's no bother! I like… by Marc Sabatella
Guess what I put everything back to normal and then changed the lyrics to Gill Sans MT Condensed and the two top measures shrunk. Woohoo. I've got 3 in that first top measures now. I'm enjoying the tutorial. Thanx. I see I still need to reduce max system distance between staves. Still working on it. Woohoo. Now it's fantastic. This is what I've got. i changed font again to a readable one. Any improvements welcome.
In reply to Guess what I put everything… by mpvick
Excellent! I don't have that particular font so I don't see the same as you, but it does fit on two pages, which is good for sure.
To me, the minimum note distance is a bit too small. Most notes have plenty of space because of the lyrics, but the rests are practically touching the notes. But realistically, increasing that minimum setting enough to affect this is also going to have a ripple effect that makes it hard to keep to two pages. So maybe I'd just fiddle with the few measures out where this is problematic - 4, 8, 16, 24, 29, etc.
Or, you might consider reducing the layrics top/bottom margins in Format / Style / Lyrics, which will allow more systems to fit on the page and give you more wiggle room, although I'm still not really clear on how these pages relate to what the final print looks like, so maybe you don't really have more room on the page to work with.
One other related general suggestion: you might consider landscape orientation if that can work. The narrower the page, the bigger the difference between fitting N measures on a systems versus N+1, and you end up with systems either looking too loose or too tight. And then, you end up erring on the side of too tight more often than you otherwise might, to make up for the ones that are stuck being too loose. It's much easier to get more consistent results - tight but not too tight, and more consistent system to system - the longer your system can be relative to the staff height. But I know you have your own constraints to work with here in terms of page size. Just something to think about if possible.
Beyond that, really, most of the remaining opportunities to reducing space if it were still needed here has to do with the lyrics, as they are almost completely determining the spacing. One thing to consider also is making the lyrics smaller within the music, but having a separate page of large print lyrics on the side.