IWBNI it were possible to specify that the space that is placed before music within measures should be a function of the leading item of music (e.g. slur, tie, sharp, flat, natural, note, or rest).

As it is now, the amount of space placed before music is specified using Space Before Music on the Music Options dialog box. The space is not a function of the leading item. This results in the following type of spacing:

Note that the space between the barline and the leading item is the same in each case. Here the horizontal space has been specified to be equal to 1-1/3 staff spaces. (Note: A space of 1-1/3 staff spaces is often used for this purpose because this yields a stack of white golden rectangles to the left of the down stem of a note for which there is no accidental. A golden rectangle is one for which the sides are in the golden ratio which equals 1.6179....)

Some engravers would prefer to have tighter spacing in the case when the leading item is an accidental. An example of this type of spacing is shown in the following figure:

In this example, the leading edge of the second vertical stroke in a sharp or natural is placed the same distance from the barline as the leading edge of the stem on a note for which there is no accidental. The leading edge of a flat is placed the same distance from the barline as a sharp. To show these distance relationships more clearly, blue lines have been superimposed on this figure in the following figure to mark a distance that is 1-1/3 spaces from the barline.

This feature could be implemented by adding the following controls to the Music Options dialog box:

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Music Options Dialog Box

Offsets for Space Before Music
 

Leading Item of Music	Offset to Space Before Music (EVPUs)
	First Measure of System	Other Measures
Slur (ending at first note)	12	0
Tie (ending at first note)	12	0
Slur and Tie (both ending at first note)	18	0
Natural	-11	-11
Sharp	-12	-12
Flat	-12	-12
Double Sharp	-12	-12
Double Flat	-12	-12
(Natural)	-12	-12
(Sharp)	-12	-12
(Flat)	-12	-12
(Double Sharp)	-12	-12
(Double Flat)	-12	-12
Whole Notehead	0	0
Half Notehead	0	0
Quarter Notehead	0	0
Whole Rest	0	0
Half Rest	0	0
Quarter Rest	0	0
1/8th Rest	0	0
1/16th Rest	0	0
1/32nd Rest	0	0
1/64th Rest	0	0

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In addition to offsets for accidentals, table entries have been provided for the case where the measure is the first measure of a system and the music begins with a tie and/or slur. Additional space could be specified for these situations.

The specified offsets would be used in the following way:

Case 1: Single-Staff System

To calculate the amount of space that is to be placed before music in a given bar when the bar is in a system that contains one staff, the following steps would be used. The leading item of the bar would be identified and the offset for the item would be obtained from the table. If a cell in the table is blank the offset would be zero. If the leading item of the music in a given bar is not listed in the table, the offset would be zero. The offset would be added to the specified Space Before Music on the Music Options dialog and the resulting amount of space would be placed before the music.

Case 2: Multiple-Staff System

To calculate the amount of space that is to be placed before music in a given bar when the bar is in a system that contains several staves, the following steps would be used. First, the amount of space required for each staff would be calculated as in the single-staff system case. The space used for all staves would be equal to the maximum of the space calculated for each staff.

Created: March 30, 2000
Last Updated: March 30, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b