I can’t find an answer to this and apologies if it’s been covered.
I’m preparing a new publication of several pieces, some of which need less than half a page, others using a full page. These all existed in Finale as separate files which I’ve exported as musicXML. Some pages will therefore have two imported files. The imports seem to work well and are accurate.
As I need to start some imported flows mid-page, I’ve turned on the option in Layout Options / New Flows / Allow on Existing Page.
Following a page containing two imports/flows, I subsequently imported two full-page files, correctly occupying a page each. I’m now trying to import a third full page file. Howefer, Dorico creates a new page, moves the existing lower system of the previous page onto the new page, and places the newly imported file over the top of it. I’ve tried this with several differently imported files but the result is the same. I assume there’s something amiss with the way the last file is formatted in Dorico. It looks fine and fills the page.
I’ve also clicked on the last existing barline in Engrave Mode and selected ‘Insert Frame Break’. This makes no difference.
Any advice would be welcome.
The place to insert the Frame Break would be at the start of the new flow, not the final barline of the previous flow - Breaks push rather than pull in Dorico.
If you want to force the fourth(?) flow onto its own page you want a Frame Break at the very start of that flow, then set it to Wait For Next Frame Break in the properties panel. You’ll then need another Frame Break at the start of the fifth flow; in fact it’ll be less scary if you input this Frame Break first.
As to one staff ending up superimposed on another, that’s something that typically only happens when the Staff Spacing tool has been used, then the casting off has changed. The solution is to either go back into the Staff Spacing tool and select and delete the red handles, or to select something on the page in regular Engrave mode and go Engrave > Staff Spacing > Reset Selected Frame.
Many thanks for your helpful reply.
There were no positional overrides or staff spacing changes in the pre-existing frame. However, importing the new xml and selecting the first bar of that addition within the resulting ‘mess’, did separate the file. I then had to reinstate the fragment from the pre-existing file to its original frame. Curious that this should come adrift in this way.
I wonder whether you might have a quick thought about an ensuing issue – the spacing is odd in places. On the attached, I would expect that it could be improved with less space in the second bar and a little more in the third/sixth. I’ve tried various options for resettings spacing in the system etc but it doesn’t change. I really don’t want this section to go onto another page and it would be a shame to reduce the size etc when it appears it should fit.
Thanks for your help!
It appears that you’re forcing more music into the system than can actually fit. Do you have fixed casting off set on the Staves and Systems page of Layout Options? You could also experiment with changing the ideal space for a quarter note (crotchet) on the Note Spacing page of Layout Options.
The lyrics (or rather the gaps between lyrics) are possibly having more of an effect on note spacing than the actual Note Spacing settings. You may get better results if you knock down the gaps between words (syllables?) and the gaps to leave for hyphens (sorry, I’m paraphrasing) within Engraving Options > Lyrics.
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Thank you both for your advice. I still have a good deal to learn and admit that my knowledge of the formatting aspects are rather behind many of the others.
For reference, all the casting off boxes in Layout Options are unchecked. As I have a variable number of systems/frame and bars/system, I thought this best.
I’ve managed to tidy most of the layout by tweaking the position of the lyrics and reducing the document-wide lyric spacing a little.
Adjusting the position of syllables using opt/arrow works fine. From what I can see, the degree of movement follows the spacing of the rhythmic grid – the smallest being a demisemiquaver. No finer adjustment being possible?
That depends on what mode you’re in. In Engrave mode you should have finer control - I never remember which combination of Cmd/Opt/Ctrl/Shift it is, with the arrow keys, but you can get very precise indeed.
In Write mode you’re changing the position of the lyric semantically, so yes, it’ll move by the rhythmic grid.
