Slash notation spacing

[sadoji]

Hi Finale forum,

I made a small score for Vocal soloist, SATB (on two staves) and piano accompaniment.

The vocal parts include lyrics.

The piano part (being just a guide) consists only of slashes and chord symbols.

Due to the music spacing which results from the lyrics, the slashes end up all uneven and spaced oddly
(Like this: | / // / |, etc.)

Is there a way around this (i.e. to have the slash notation ignore the music spacing or something like that)?

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Peter Thomsen]

Welcome to the forum!

What version of Finale are you using? Finale 2012?


1) What you want, is rather non-standard.
The general idea is that simultaneous entries should be positioned vertically above each other (= aligned).
In a linked part with only the piano accompaniment the slashes will of course get evenly spaced (since the vocal staves with lyrics are not included in the linked piano part).


2) Having said that I will add that you can get what you want, via a workaround:
- Use "Blank Notation" instead of "Slash Notation".
- Create the 4 slashes as a shape expression - with the option "Allow Horizontal Stretching" selected.
The large slash character is located in character slot #213 in your documant's Default Music Font (= Maestro?).
In the Shape Designer enter the 4 slash characters as 4 separate text blocks.
In that way the distance between the slashes will increase as the shape is stretched horizontally.
-Add the "slash expression" where you need Slash Notation.

[sadoji]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your quick reply.

I'm using Finale 2009 (I know I'm a bit behind the times, but for my needs so far it's more than adequate.)
(And yes, I'm using Maestro font for this project - most of my work consists of simple lead-sheets in Jazz font)

I appreciate the suggestion but it seems rather laborious (considering the entire piano part is slashes!). I guess I'll give it a try if that's the only option. It sounds daunting but maybeit won't be so bad once I get into it.

Here's a screenshot to further illustrate my issue (I'm not sure I know how to post the image so you may not actually see it!)

[img]All%20Join%20Hands[/img]

Is what I'm trying to acheive really that non-standard? I recall accompanying vocal jazz groups years ago and there were sections in which there were melodies and lyrics, and the piano/rhythm section parts were just slashes - and the slashes were even! I mean, this kind of looks silly, right?

Sorry to harp on this, but are you positive that the shape expression route is the only way around this?

Thank you again.

[Peter Thomsen]

…Sorry to harp on this, but are you positive that the shape expression route is the only way around this?…

No, it is not the only way around this.
There are other solutions, but they are laborious, too.
There is no quick solution.

Personally I would not bother.
I would just leave the layout as it is.
I could be wrong here, but I don't think that any professional engraver or conductor would say that the layout (with the unevenly spaced slashes) looks silly in this context with lyrics.

[sadoji]

Thank you again for taking the time to address my questions.

I'll still try the first suggestion, mostly out of curiosity!

You provide a great service here - thanks!

[jonburr]

Try applying time signature spacing to the piano part... I've run into a similar issue, and that seems to solve it

[sadoji]

Hey thanks for the tip, jonburr. That sounds like it would be the right solution for parts; But my issue was the appearance of the slashes on the score itself. I don't have a lot of experience with music spacing and the like, but it seems whatever spacing I choose affects all staves vertically. As far as I know you can't choose a different music spacing for each staff, right?

I would like to lobby for a version of slash notation that ignores all music spacing and just gets spaced and stretched evenly regardless of whatever else is going on in the score (long chord symbols, lyrics, large note groupings, etc). But it would have to be as easy to apply as regular slash notation. That's my two cents.

[SuzieQ]

Hey guys,
I know I am a year behind on this topic - but I have just come accross it myself. I totally agree with you sadoji that it is frustrating that the slash marks are uneven and Finale is "too smart" in placing them in alignment with the vocal staves above. For me it's not just about how it looks (though it doesn't look good the way Finale overrides the spacing)...but that being an instrumentalist following the chord changes - it can play tricks on the mind seeing the slashes placed unevenly. A good transcriptionist/copiest knows to keep things a simple and straightforward as possible. So evenly spaced slash marks are read as steady rhythm/groove. When they are spaced goofy or unevenly - it can potentially cause confusion. I have read lead sheets and charts with uneven slash marks and it's alright when you understand to ignore the implications...but still...would prefer to do the job correctly.

Plus - ya - I just don't like the look of it. It looks messy and disorganized.

I read the fix that was listed....but couldn't follow it? I couldn't find the option "Allow Horizontal Stretching" .
??
Where is that?
In the mean time - I will try to come up with something...
Agreed that it would be great if there were 2 Slash mark options. Great idea!

[miker]

Suzie Q,

Which program and version are you using? Only the full Finale will have that option.

Please add the program and version you are using to your signature, in the user control panel.

[SuzieQ]

Hey there!
I am still with Finale 2009b.r3

That would it explain it then!

I ended up sorting out a tedious fix for it. LOL
Thank goodness It was only an 8 bar phrase that just continues to repeat - so I only had to do it to 8 bars. (note by note).

All good now. Unfortunately my "fix" wouldn't let me do it to just one bar and copy + paste.

But its okay now.

[Trombone Man 47]

Measure Tool/right click on square handle at the bottom left of the bar/scroll down the menu which appears to "Edit Beat Chart"/drag lower handles in chart to equalise spacing. Worked for me anyway.

[miker]

Holy necropost, Batman!

You do realize that you are responding to a 10 year old post?

[N Grossingink]

He's a trombone player; so am I. You have to make allowances for that.

[SuzieQ]

LOL... better late than never?

[motet]

In my opinion, a slash should be spaced as if it were one beat, usually a quarter note, rather than using the invisible music underneath.

[miker]

He's a trombone player; so am I. You have to make allowances for that.

Good point!