Bar numbers get pushed off page

I show my bar numbers below the score in every bar. Unfortunately, the bottom most staff is a tuba which occasionally has low notes in combination with a hairpin which pushes the bar numbers so far down that they end up outside the printable area.

Does Dorico not take those bar numbers take into account when vertically spacing the system? Is the vertical position of the bottom most staff fixed?

What options do I have to solve this, other than applying a master page override or a custom masterpage for each of these occasions?

There are two key margins involved:

  • The bottom page margin, which determines the gap between the edge of the page and the bottom of the music frame
  • The bottom music frame margin, which determines the gap between the bottom of the music frame and the bottom staff line. You’re right that this is fixed, Dorico does not change this margin even if some systems have very low or high notes.

Dorico keeps consistent positions of staves at the top/bottom of frames using music frame margins. Therefore, you need to pick a suitable top/bottom music frame margin for each layout according to the music in it - such as increasing the top margin for a flute part with lots of high notes using ledger lines.

I would recommend increasing the bottom music frame margin in your full score if you’re showing bar numbers below the staff and your lowest staff in the system has consistently low notes.

If necessary, you can override the music frame margin for individual pages.

3 Likes