Change from grand staff to single staff in the middle of a song

I am transcribing a song in Dorico after importing a rough .mxl file created from Smartscore64 to be able to provide shares in other keys.
Dragonfly.C.pdf (640.5 KB) Dragonfly.Peter.Bernstein.dorico (611.5 KB)

Three issues encountered trying to make the Dorico file similar to the original pdf are

  1. Keeping the 3 measures in the first system. (When I add a time signature it pushes the 4th ending down to the next system.)
  2. For some reason when I bring some .mxl files created from Smartscore64 into Dorico it creates measures with odd rests that I can’t just highlight and delete. The only way I’ve found to remove the rests is by clearing the measure completely.
  3. As in the original pdf I would like to replace the grand staff piano staff with a treble clef starting at letter A.
    How do I go about solving these three issues?

Thank you
Curt

  1. There is too much music to fit on that system. You can reduce the size a bit in Layout Options/Page Setup/Space Size. You can also use Make Into System in Engrave mode to force it into that system, but Dorico’s spacing will be compromised if the system is over 100% full.

  2. You ended up with multiple voices when you imported. Click the last note before an unnecessary rest and use Properties/Notes and Rests/Ends Voice. You can also select them and use Remove Rests. In the 2nd ending you are missing rests. Click that last chord in the right hand and uncheck Ends Voice.

  3. You have music in both the piano and the guitar. You can force Dorico to remove the piano from letter A onward by using Engrave, then Manual Staff Visibility. Typically you’d want to automate this by leaving the piano empty, then using Layout Options/Vertical Spacing/Staff Visibility.

Some options to what @FredGUnn said.

  1. Since the original doesn’t have any staff labels, removing them will make room for the 2nd ending. Layout Options > Staves and Systems.

  2. I don’t see any overlapping voices so, select all the music then Edit > Voices > Change Voice > Up-stem Voice 1.