Is there a way to get the notes and lyrics to spread out more - top to bottom? And, how can I get rid of the extra space in the center of a page?
Thanks!
bwisewagner
ledger line notes/lyrics overlap; center p. empty space
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Guest
I write lyrics for Boradway-type shows, so I do a lot with lyrics. I find that my biggest problem is that the lyrics crowd too close together horizontally. So I have had to set up my own note spacings. Be aware that you have to first set the note spacings in one dialog box (increasing the default numbers by about 50% for the sortest notes (32nd) down to about 25% for the longest notes (whole)), and then click on Reset note spacing (or whatever it's called, I'm not at that computer now).
But you seem to be asking about vertical spacing. That is also something I need to fuss with, and always manually. I first make sure that I have enough space below the vocal staves by triple-click each staff and dragging up or down. (You need to first of all turn off vertical justification--set it at 100% in the dialog. You also need to make sure your page breaks are not locked. Mine always are at first, because I scan in the sheet music from my composer who uses an old Encore program that doesn't have a conversion filter.)
Once I have enough space, I run the plug-in to align the lyrics, staff by staff. This puts all the syllables the same distance below the staff. But they are often too high and conflict with low notes, like G's below the treble staff. So for each staff I click on one syllable and do a "Select Similar" from the menu or by keystroke. That selects all the lyrics for that line. Finally, I hit the down arrow key enough times to move the whole line downwards. Count how many keystrokes, and repeat the same number for every staff. It's laborious, but the perfection of the result is worth it (in my opinion).
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by extra space in the middle of the page.
I hope this is at least of some help to a fellow lyrics writer.
But you seem to be asking about vertical spacing. That is also something I need to fuss with, and always manually. I first make sure that I have enough space below the vocal staves by triple-click each staff and dragging up or down. (You need to first of all turn off vertical justification--set it at 100% in the dialog. You also need to make sure your page breaks are not locked. Mine always are at first, because I scan in the sheet music from my composer who uses an old Encore program that doesn't have a conversion filter.)
Once I have enough space, I run the plug-in to align the lyrics, staff by staff. This puts all the syllables the same distance below the staff. But they are often too high and conflict with low notes, like G's below the treble staff. So for each staff I click on one syllable and do a "Select Similar" from the menu or by keystroke. That selects all the lyrics for that line. Finally, I hit the down arrow key enough times to move the whole line downwards. Count how many keystrokes, and repeat the same number for every staff. It's laborious, but the perfection of the result is worth it (in my opinion).
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by extra space in the middle of the page.
I hope this is at least of some help to a fellow lyrics writer.
