IWBNI it were possible to indent the music in the first bar of a system. Additional space between the clef and music on the first bar of a system allows for more room for ties and slurs that are carried over from the end of the previous system.

As it is now, the spacing settings (for clef, key, canceled key, time and music) in Options>Document Settings>Music Options are global to all measures of a score. There could be two groups of these spacing settings; the first group of settings would apply to the first measure of every system and the second group of settings would apply to all other measures.

Note: Space may be inserted at the beginning of a given bar by: attaching an articulation that is a space character to the first note of the bar, positioning the articulation to the left of the first note and then selecting the option Avoid Collision of Articulations on the Music Spacing Options dialog box. The width of the space may be adjusted by varying the font size for the articulation. Other items listed in the Avoid Collision of section of the Music Spacing Options dialog box (e.g. Chords) may also be used for this purpose.

Created: October 27, 1999
Last Updated: February 10, 2000 (included technique for inserting space before music in a bar based on comments by Matthew Hindson)
Version: Finale 2000b