I have looked through quite a few threads over the past hour trying to obtain an answer and solution to this often asked question.
I would very much like all of my rehearsal-letter markings to be in exact alignment with the beginning of a new system, should it happen to fall at that point.
In the screenshot it shows, to my understanding, a value of '-0.99999' which represents the vertical positioning of the icon. At the moment it is circa 1cm away from the start of the stave below (and therefore sits above the treble or bass clef).
I have spent another hour, almost, experimenting with a whole bunch of different values, but to no avail. They do move the rehearsal-letter, but either not far enough or in the wrong direction!
I would really like to get this nut cracked because it will save me hours, quite literally, of laborious dragging & dropping!
Many thanks in advance for any kind assistance offered here.
Best,
Paul David Seaman (UK)
Sibelius 8.6 (v. 2018.1 / build 1449 / born 2018-01-22)
> > You know exactly what I'm going to say, of course!
>
> LP. - "A total waste of time"?
Yes, that. Also don't forget that having rehearsal letters at line breaks is a preference with very weak priority. Nice if it happens, but not worth distorting the density of your notation to achieve.
Used to see (namely, John Dankworth charts) with rehearsal marks in the LH margin. Seemed a pretty cool solution and easy to see. Parts needed to be formatted fake book style for this to work. Example attached.
> Used to see (namely, John Dankworth charts) with rehearsal marks in the LH margin. Seemed a pretty cool solution and easy to see. Parts needed to be formatted fake book style for this to work. Example attached.
Oh gee, I was not even aware of such an awesome option! Where and how do I 'apply' this setting to the individual parts, please? This will solve a ton of my 'real-estate' issues. ;-)
> There is currently no automated way to make that happen. My plugin Position Rehearsal Marks makes an attempt at it, but there are lots of weird cases.
Hi Bob Z.,
Thanks for the link. I read the article.
I would have thought that it was possible to define the desired Rehearsal Mark position via you related plug-in (please see attach.). However, I must have spent nearly 2 hours experimenting with the values in the first-box, but to no avail. ;-(
Posted by monsterjazzlicks - 31 Jul 16:24
Oh gee, I was not even aware of such an awesome option! Where and how do I 'apply' this setting to the individual parts, please? This will solve a ton of my 'real-estate' issues. =================================================
It won't save you any time whatsoever, Paul. In my example, I had to drag every RM from its default position. Unless Bob Z has a magic solution, its a teejus operation.
It's a practical option when hand-copying on pre-printed manuscript paper I suppose. Not so much on computer, particularly if practicalities force us to use A4/Letter size paper.
Personally, I find it much easier to keep my musical bearings when the page isn't a uniform 4-bars-per-line. Tidy, but featureless.
> It's a practical option when hand-copying on pre-printed manuscript paper I suppose. Not so much on computer, particularly if practicalities force us to use A4/Letter size paper.
LP. - with handcopy parts you can do whatever you want, where you want! Though I am gradually getting more skilled with Sibelius through shear persistence!
> It won't save you any time whatsoever, Paul. In my example, I had to drag every RM from its default position. Unless Bob Z has a magic solution, its a teejus operation.
Oh I see, Adrian. I thought that it sounded almost to good to be true!
In your arrangements, there must be locations where rehearsal letters do not fall at the start of a system, in which case you will have to make an exception and break your trend?
You CAN of course, put most things precisely where you want. Just not always automatically.
Have a look in the Facebook group 'Music Engraving Tips'. They're currently assessing a 'challenge' where members submitted their best shots at engraving a piece for violin and piano. The professionalism starts where the choice of settings leaves off. Everyone's done a LOT of manual tweaking.
I think I've already referred you to Justin Tokke's video streams of him working on a score? Again, it's not about choosing settings so much as skilled manual adjustment.
The engraver's eyes will always be a better judge of formatting than a programmed machine. That is why I always have auto system and page breaks switched off in part appearance. They are a dammed nuisance, especially when Sib switches them back on by default when adding an instrument to the score.
The source material distributed was a MusicXML. I threw it into Sibelius. I was impressed by how LITTLE work was required to turn it into a perfectly readable score. Not a pretty one. Nowhere near professional publication quality. But we'd have got through the session without queries about musical content.
That wasn't what the challenge was all about, of course. It's been fascinating to see the submissions, and the comments.
> I think I've already referred you to Justin Tokke's video streams of him working on a score? Again, it's not about choosing settings so much as skilled manual adjustment.
LP. - I watched his video earlier in the year, thanks. I agree with what you say here.
> The engraver's eyes will always be a better judge of formatting than a programmed machine. That is why I always have auto system and page breaks switched off in part appearance. They are a dammed nuisance, especially when Sib switches them back on by default when adding an instrument to the score.
I am sure you mentioned your preferences of these settings in a earlier thread, Adrian. Mark may have done also.
'Visually' I know exactly what I want, but achieving it is another thing altogether! I am learning the short-cuts though and I seem to run into less problems that I did a couple of years ago. I feel it's a case of accepting that not everything can be achieved through 'automation'. If one is THAT pedantic (which I think I am!) then you have to be prepared to endure the laborious task of drag & dropping everything precisely where you want it, which make the whole process of preparing parts circa 4 time longer! However, I am always extremely pleased and proud of the end result, if I may say so - and once it's done it's done ;-)
The "extra spaces" should only be needed of you are trying to get to the barline. If you want them over the clef you should not need to mess with them.
The extras are an approxomation, because letters are not the same width (M and I, for example) but a plugin has no access to the actual width.
If you are trying the extra spacing, just mess with the single letter setting and try it out with single letter RMs.
Also: note that a plugin cannot adjust the vertical positioning of system objects like RMs. If you have something like bar numbers at the same height it will block the RM unless you have the plugin turn off Magnetic Layout, which has its own issues.
My recommendation in the plugin is to change the vertical position on RMs in Default Positions first to avoid some collisions.
> The "extra spaces" should only be needed of you are trying to get to the barline. If you want them over the clef you should not need to mess with them.
>
> The extras are an approxomation, because letters are not the same width (M and I, for example) but a plugin has no access to the actual width.
>
> If you are trying the extra spacing, just mess with the single letter setting and try it out with single letter RMs.
>
> Also: note that a plugin cannot adjust the vertical positioning of system objects like RMs. If you have something like bar numbers at the same height it will block the RM unless you have the plugin turn off Magnetic Layout, which has its own issues.
>
> My recommendation in the plugin is to change the vertical position on RMs in Default Positions first to avoid some collisions.
Thanks Bob Z.,
Yes, I would like the start of the RM to be vertically in-line with the start the 1st barline of a new system, if possible.
I have just spent 3 hours drag & dropping the RMs for 3 Percussion and a Drum part! ;-(