Position of lyric syllables in short melismas

[David Ward]

When I opened this file originally created in Finale 2003 (from my manuscript of 1993) I noticed that in some of the short melismas on tanzt the syllable was well to the right of where I have now put it (see screenshot as now adjusted: crotchet = 52). To get that in F 25 (I haven't yet tried it in F 26) I had to choose ‘align default’ with ‘justify left’ rather than both default. However the PDF from the original F 2003 file had everything placed as I feel it should be. In F 25 I also had to use the note mover tool to stop some of the semiquavers (16ths) from being too close for comfort to the following quavers (8ths). These note position adjustments are unstable if I subsequently apply note spacing (4), whatever I have selected in Document Options - Music Spacing.

Why has there been this shift of the syllable positions? And is there any way to stop things from shifting about in ways I don't want when I apply music spacing? (I rather fear there isn't.)

FYI I'm currently trying to get together some bits and pieces that a husband and wife team can perform in the current circumstances (on-line, then maybe social distancing to a reduced audience &c &c &c). These songs are rather demanding* and were last publicly performed in 2013 (I think), but I thought I should offer them alongside some I'm now writing with lockdown and post-lockdown performances in mind.

*If you'll indulge me, may I please quote soprano Jane Manning, who wrote an essay about these songs in which she said: This is a work capable of making a very strong impression in concert, but a great deal of responsibility rests with the skill and unflappable musical command of the two performers…

[zuill]

There was a major paradigm change regarding lyrics some time back, and that solved some issues, but created new ones. It does take some experimentation to figure out how to get what you want, especially in dealing with old documents.

As far as note position changes, are you using the beat chart, or Special Tools/Note Position. If the latter, make sure, in Music Spacing options, to select the option to Incorporate Manual Positioning.

Zuill

P.S.: After re-reading your post, I see that the notes move for you regardless of your setting in Music Spacing. Since I don't get that behavior in a test file, I assume there must be other elements in your score that we are not privy to. So, it would be hard to suggest a fix since the behavior seems to be unique to that file, maybe. If you could copy/past a short selection from that file to another small file, I suppose we could examine the settings. However, in doing that, the behavior might change due to settings in a new file that might be different from the original. So, this might be one of those times when you'd have to experiment until the results are at least reasonably good.

[David Ward]

This is the first page from the file. The settings should be the same as for the full file. All that's changed is the ‘final’ barline at the end of the page from the removal of all following pages.

(The placing of that first pp has now been put right - it's never ending!)

[zuill]

In your file, I deleted al manual positioning of notes and lyrics in bars 89-93 only. I decided to start with that first. I only had to apply one manual note position in bar 91. Otherwise, Finale used default positioning. I think the look is much better than the way the file was before I did that. Does this seem better to you? I just wanted to focus on the original area you had shown in your first post.

Zuill

[David Ward]

It looks a lot better, for which very many thanks.

It seems possible that I'd applied a plethora of manual adjustments back in F 2003 and that these are now coming home to roost.

Hazards of computers! I thought I'd only uploaded just one page (the first), but the thing was I hadn't saved first, so accidentally I up-loaded the whole thing. It doesn't matter, nobody in their right mind is going to pretend this is theirs (plus it's well copyrighted) and anyone who can actually perform it is welcome to give it a go (as Jane Manning hinted: it's a challenge, but she thinks worth it) & then perhaps (well one can have a flight of fancy) some barely noticeable fee might eventually filter through the system!

[zuill]

Do you want me to remove my file from my post?

Zuill

[David Ward]

No, it's fine to leave it there. Thanks.