This question’s going to require some setup, but let me first post a blank page for a piece I’m beginning. It’s for a trio of sax, piano and a single very busy percussionist. Here’s the page and then I’ll fill in the problem I’d like to solve:
Example.pdf (40.4 KB)
It’s been a long time since I’ve asked for this much choreography from a percussionist (heck, I go back to the vellum days). I know the composing is going to eventually cause some changes in score order. Those of you who are percussionists know that one of the obligations of the composer is not to require the player to have 4 arms that are 2 meters long! There must be zones of a sort so that what’s written is within reach at the time (there are often 2 or 3 music stands scattered around). Some of the smaller instruments can be mounted. The player would prefer not to have staves popping in and out of existence, depending on whether the instrument is getting whacked or not. It’s much easier to show a consistent set of staves that changes less frequently. There will be enough going on that I don’t want to throw in even more confusion.
The first problem is that there is nothing in layout options that addresses vertical spacing for percussion staves (usually under 5 lines). There should be (and that’s the feature-request part). I should be able to make that vertical spacing tighter, since there aren’t typically leger lines to worry about. Collision avoidance would still work, of course. I could keeps those staves visible as long as the player is in that particular zone (this is for score and part) without chewing up so much virtual space. This is a sort of nether world that lives between “show empty staves” and “hide empty staves”.
It would be tidier to make some of these instruments into percussion kits and I would if I could. But a kit requires a single endpoint and the instruments I’m using are spread over quite a few instrument libraries. I’m sure this topic has come up before.
I know that when I’m done that this score may require me to spend a lot of time in engrave mode, tweaking spacing. But it would be helpful if I could get a head start in the layout options. Suggestions or commiseration much appreciated.
