IWBNI there were an option that could be used to specify that a given articulation should be automatically centered horizontally on the stem of a note to which it is attached. This feature would be useful for specifying the position of articulations that are placed on the stem such as slashes to indicate a tremolo or an x through the stem to indicate sprechgesang or sprechton. (For an example of the latter, see page 297 of Music Notation in the Twentieth Century by Kurt Stone.)

As it is now, a given articulation may be automatically positioned to be horizontally centered about the stem by adjusting handle offsets on the Handle Positioning dialog box. The same result may be obtained manually by moving an articulation after it has been attached. However, since these positioning settings are not measured relative to the center of the stem, the result may be affected by various operations such as changing the resize percentage of the page. The following steps may be used to demonstrate this behavior:

1. Select File>New>Default Document.

2. Insert a quarter note at middle C in the first measure.

3. Edit the articulation that is a plus sign. Uncheck the option Always Place Outside Staff.

4. Attach the plus-sign articulation to the quarter note.

5. Select page view and the view percentage 1000%.

6. Manually move the articulation so that it is (as near as possible) horizontally centered on the stem.

7. Change the resize percentage for the page to 78%.

8. Observe how the plus-sign articulation is no longer horizontally centered on the stem. Note: To observe this behavior, it may be necessary to use a page resize percentage other than 78%, or it may be necessary to alter the resize percentage of the staff.

This feature could be implemented by adding a checkbox option called Center Horizontally on Stem to the Positioning section of the Articulation Designer dialog box. The existing checkbox option Center Horizontally could be renamed as Center Horizontally on Notehead.

Created: April 6, 2000 (based on a submission from Mark Stringer)
Last Updated: April 6, 2000
Version: Finale 2000b