layout suggestions?

I have been typesetting a piece for chamber ensemble which I wrote some 29 years ago, for a Compostion Seminar, and I'm to the layout adjustment stage. One elegant possibility would be to have just the Bass Clarinet staff in the first system, with the total compliment of instruments visible only in the second, and henceforth. This would simple enough, using a Section Break, and unchecking "show staves in first system" in Style. But this would also mean that empty staves would be hidden in all subsequent systems, even empty staves in the piano and harp parts. One solution would be to put a single note--Invisible and with "Play not" unchecked--in every empty staff on every line, but that's a lot of work. Any simpler methods? Or should I bother?

Also, how do I get a bracket to be visible on single instrument groups? Worked on the Trombone, not on the Timpani, when extended down to include the unpitched percussion.