Lyrics placement
I created the attached score using MuseScore in ubuntu (Linux). I was not able to get it to print the full page. The printing feature insisted on reverting from letter back to size A4. It left off the top inch and a half. I reluctantly moved the score to my Windows partition and now find that the latest version, 3.0.2.5315, will not retain relocation of lyrics. It permits dragging the lyrics to a new location but then immediately snaps them back to the original location. I can't win!
Allen
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Ode_To_Spring.mscz | 31.15 KB |
Comments
A general tip, OT, uses as few voices as possible (1, 2 even in the lower stave).
If you export as PDF does the print improve?
When I look a the score it says that the page size is set to A4 (Layout >Page Settings) so you'd expect the printing to revert to A4.
You don't say where you want to drag the lyrics to, but in general, to move things between above/below the staff, use "X". MuseScore tries to keep lyrics aligned by default which is why dragging alone won't work. If you need one particular lyric moved out of alignment with its neighbors for some reaosn, you can disable automatic placement for it in the Inspector.
In reply to You don't say where you want… by Marc Sabatella
MuseScore is a great app, but I've got a problem. When different voices are singing different variations in the lyrics, it is convenient to relocate some lyrics to make the associations clear. MuseScore 2 made that very simple and straight-forward. In MuseScore 3, one can "sort of" accomplish the task, once the hidden Inspector is pointed out, but it is a royal pain in the neck. Each word requires going back and unchecking the automatic alignment feature, and even then, the word does not stay exactly where placed. To make matters worse, the carefully adjusted measure lengths suddenly revert to unwanted length distributions (phrase lines and page lengths). I finally gave up. For my purposes, MuseScore 2 was far superior. I wish there were some way for me to go back to it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
In reply to MuseScore is a great app,… by alrobnett
I'd like to respond to several things here:
First, the Inspector is not new nor is it hidden - it has always been front and center (OK, front and right) when you first start MuseScore, both in 2.3.2 and 3.0. And ever since the original 2.0 release, it has always been the most efficient / most precise way of making the sort of adjustments you are talking about. I guess maybe you have been accustomed to dragging and then trying to eyeball things as far as the alignment goes, but the Inspector would have made the job far easier even in 2.3.2.
In 3.0, though, you don't even need the Inspector to make these sort of adjustments completely precisely. As I mentioned in the post you are responding to, simply select the lyric you want to move above the staff and press "X". Far faster and more accurate than dragging or using the Inspector!
Do not disable autoplace unless absolutely necessary, and it isn't here - in fact as you see it is usually counterproductive. Not sure exactly what you mean about unwanted length distributions, but probably that is the result of making the mistake of disabling autoplace in places where it wasn't in your best interest. If you attach your score, we will be happy to help you see how to use MsueScore 3 more efficiently than you ever imagined possible with MuseScore 2.
That said, you are ecnouraged to keep both MuseScore 3 and MuseScore on your 2 - it's easy to go back and reinstall 2.3.2. Then you can continue using 2.3.2 for the scores where you had already done a lot of manual adjustments as these won't necessarily look the same in 3, but you can also take advantage of the incredible improvements in 3.0 (the ability to press "X" to flip text and other elements above / below the staff is but the tip of the iceberg!) for new scores, or existing scores where you didn't need to rely on lots of manual adjustments to work around limitations in 2.3.2
In reply to I'd like to respond to… by Marc Sabatella
Thanks for taking the time and trouble to give a very complete response to my problem. MuseScore 2 and 3 are both terrific creations for composers. I don't compose a lot, and when I do it is for four voices, frequently singing asynchronously. The broader grand staff of MS3 is nice for lyrics space, but I like to get the entire song on two facing pages when possible. The "X" feature to flip the lyrics position does not do what I want done. I did not realize that it would be so easy to re-install MS2, which I have now done. It is a piece of cake to move specific lyric lines precisely where I want them for individual voices. I believe MS3 is an improvement for most practitioners, but my goals are probably unique. Thanks again.
In reply to Thanks for taking the time… by alrobnett
Oh yes, the way distance between staves is calculated has changed indeed, and this is something you generally need to customize immediately upon importing a score from 2.x. The problem is that because 2.x lacked automatic placement - the ability to detect and avoid collisions - we had a "Lyrics bottom margin" setting in Style / General / Page to control the distance between the bottom of the lyrics and the top of the next staff, and then this could be set to a value large enough to hopefully avoid collisions with things above the next staff. In MuseScore 3, we automatically add space to avoid collisions, so this same setting is now used to control the distance not to the top of the next staff itself, but to the highest thing above the staff. Meaning that instead of a big value like 4 sp, you really want a much smaller one like 1 or 2 sp. This is done by default for new scores but not for ones imported from 2.x (although I have a pending fix for this).
There is nothing unique about wanting to get music to fit on a given number of pages or to want to control spacing for other reasons, and that is why we provide even more ways to do this than before, but it's true some of the specifics have changed a bit in order to accommodate all the new capabilities..
Anyhow, long story short, got to Format / Style / Lyrics and reduce the value for "Min. bottom margin" (new location and name for the setting), and you should be able to do what you want without needing to resort to manual adjustments of any kind.
If you still have trouble, I continue to encourage you to attach a specific score so we can understand and assist better.