Justification of systems on last page of parts

I have several parts which have 4 or 5 systems on the last page which with my current justification means that they are spaced closely together at the top of the page - still readable but not particularly elegant. If I change the justification so that the page justifies then they spread out over the whole page. I thought that adjusting the frame on the last page would be a solution, but I’m finding that the dynamics under the lyrics on the last line fall outside the frame when the justification happens. I could adjust the positions of the systems manually but this doesn’t seem to be a good idea. The only thing I can think of doing is to have the last dynamics above the system, but that’s not ideal because it doesn’t conform to the rest of the part. Is there another solution?

For that situation, probably either –

  1. Increase the minimum gap between systems for the layout (in Layout Options > Vertical Spacing > Ideal Gaps) - although this may cause Dorico to recalculate which systems fit on earlier pages too.

  2. Shorten the music frame on the last page, i.e. raise the bottom edge of the music frame to about 2/3rds of the way down the page. You can do this either locally just on the last page in a particular layout, or by creating a custom page template with a shorter music frame, which you can then assign to the last page in multiple layouts.

It’s OK if stuff ends up outside of frames, as long as it’s still comfortably on the page - although why are your dynamics below the lyrics anyway? Generally in vocal music, dynamics go above the staff because lyrics go below.

Thanks Lillie, it seems that shortening the frame is the simplest solution.