Beginner

Professional

Page layout

Subjects covered:

• What is page layout?
• Page layout dialog box
• Modifying the layout of measures and systems
• Printing the score
• Show or hide the staves of a system

Watch also the following video:

• Measures, staves and pages - Organizing the score (10'10) - Flash - Quicktime

What is page layout? [Beginner] [Professional]

Page layout is the art to arrange measures and staves on pages so as to print them.

With Pizzicato Beginner and Professional, two working methods are available to encode the notes: the linear mode and the page layout mode.

Most examples seen until now were in page layout mode. The measures are represented as they will appear on the printed page. In some cases, working in linear mode is more convenient. If you prepare for example a large orchestral score which and you don't know yet the final aspect of page layout, we advise you to start with one of the linear models and build your score progressively. The whole score behaves as a large roller where measures scroll thanks to the horizontal scroll bar. Similarly, when you create an arrangement only to hear it and not to print it, it is useless to work in page layout view.

When you need to print the score, this linear mode is no more appropriate, because it is then necessary to take the paper format into account. The operation which consists in laying out measures and staves to adapt them to the paper format is called page layout. The constraint introduced in page layout is that Pizzicato must calculate the page layout each time you modify a measures width or you erase or add measures or staves. For a complex score, it is better to work in linear mode and to make the page layout when the score structure is finished.

Page layout dialog box [Beginner] [Professional]

We will see an example of score creation in linear mode and then how to do the page layout.

• In the Templates folder located in the Templates folderin the DataEN folder, open the document named One linear measure. The score appears as follows:

• Add 39 measures and one staff with the measures and staves tool. Place a bass clef on the second staff and decrease the distance between the two staves. Erase the names of the staves in the instruments view and add a piano brace to connect both staves. On the upper staff, add the measure numbers for each system. You should get:

• Use now the shortcut allowing to go from the linear mode to the page layout mode and vice versa: it is the upper case letter "P". It is the same action as modifying the popup menu located at the top of the score view ( ). As the page layout calculation was not yet done in this score, Pizzicato shows you the page layout dialog box:

Some options are accessible only in Pizzicato Professional.

• As it is the first page layout, Pizzicato adapted the parameters of this dialog box to your default printer. You can also reach these parameters using the Printer Setup button. A dialog box appears. It is different for each printer model. Usually, you can select the paper size (A4 format for example) as well as the paper orientation (portrait mode or landscape mode). When you click OK, you go back to the page layout dialog box and paper dimensions as well as the external margins are adapted to the modifications.

• The additional margins can be modified. By default, they are adjusted to have a total minimal margin of 10 mm on each side of the paper.

• Pizzicato Professional lets you fix the Enlargement/reduction percentage, enabling to place more measures and systems on a page. In Pizzicato Light, this value is fixed at 100 %. In Pizzicato Beginner, only two values may be used: 100 or 85%.

• Set the number of measures per staff to : when checked, the corresponding text box determines the number of measures in a system. If disabled, Pizzicato will estimate this number itself, according to the width of measures in each system.

• Set the number of systems per page to : when checked, the corresponding text box limits the number of systems by page.

• A box reserves some space (in mm) for the first page title. A value of 20 mm is usually appropriate.

• Pizzicato Professional lets you check the Optimize systems box. Pizzicato removes in page layout all staves which would not contain any note or major indication. It is used for orchestral scores, where it frequently happens that instruments do not play anything during several measures. The staves are not drawn and it saves place in the orchestral score.

• The next text box lets you specify the distance between two consecutive systems. A value of 8 is usually appropriate.

• If you check the Distribute systems on page box, Pizzicato will distribute systems in a balanced way on the page. This option has priority over the previous one.

• The next box, when checked, forces Pizzicato to adjust staves horizontally on the page, particularly when you adjust the size of measures or the systems positions.

• In Pizzicato Professional, two text boxes let you specify a shift for the printer. They are used to print large size scores, by printing on several A4 sheets to be assembled or photocopied. Specify (in mm) the shift distance when you print.

Two buttons may be used to validate this dialog. The first one is OK+Calculate and Pizzicato will save the parameters and apply them for a new page setup. The other choice is OK and only saves the parameters without applying the parameters to a new page setup. Click OK+Calculate. The score appears in page layout mode and displays the way in which Pizzicato laid out the measures and staves:

On the main palette, activate the tool. It is the reference marks tool. Its shortcut is the key with two superimposed dots ":". When it is active, margins are visible. To disable it, click it again. The complete page is presented as follows:

The white background represents the paper physical dimensions. A red rectangle shows the printer margins. It delimits the paper area where your printer is able to print. Outside this red rectangle, nothing will be printed, even if by error you place text areas or symbols. The maximum size of this red rectangle is specific for each printer.

A green rectangle is located inside the red rectangle. It shows the additional margins defined. It is inside this green rectangle that Pizzicato places measures and staves at the time of page layout.

The measures are laid out starting at the top of the page. When Pizzicato cannot add measures to the right, it continues below, going back to the left border of the page, as you do when writing English. Each set thus formed which comprises one or more attached measures and staves is called a system. The above illustration contains 5 visible systems. Each one is formed with 2 staves of 4 measures.

• By using the vertical scroll bar, observe the bottom of the page. If your screen is too small to see the full page, use the right horizontal scroll bar. Go now to page 2 by using the pages scroll bar (left horizontal scroll bar). Pizzicato displays P-2/2 in the bottom left corner.

Modifying the layout of measures and systems [Beginner] [Professional]

The calculation done by Pizzicato does not always correspond to the way you want to lay out measures on the pages. The number of measures per system, the number of systems per page and the spacing of systems on the page can be modified thanks to the measures layout tool. Similarly, when you work with templates with a prepared page layout, it can be useful to modify the layout of measures and staves.

• Use the 67 or 50% zoom value in order to see the full page (Pizzicato Beginner and Professional only).

• The measures layout tool is located in the main palette. Its shortcut is the upper case letter "D", which acts directly on a measure without selecting the tool on the palette. Place the mouse cursor on the first measure of the first system of page 1 and type "D" with the keyboard. The following dialog box appears:

You may also reach this dialog by clicking on a measure (without an active selection in the score) with the right mouse button (option click on Mac). A contextual menu appears and contains an item Measures and systems setup... which calls this dialog.

Three types of operations can be executed with this dialog box, simultaneously or not.

• The first consists of adapting the number of measures contained in a system. To activate it, check the box located in front of the Measure(s) per system text label and fill in the number of measures you want in a system. Just below it, a multiple choice determines if you want to modify this system only or also all following systems.

• The next possible operation, located in front of the System(s) per page text label, makes it possible to select the number of systems on a page. You can also specify if it is for the current page or for all following pages.

• The third choice, Adjust systems and measures, is an operation which will balance the layout of systems and measures on the current page and possibly the following ones.

We will see an example for each of the three operations.

• Check the first box, in front of Measure(s) per system. A text box lets you specify the number of measures per system. When calling the dialog, it displays the number of measures contained in the system from where you called this dialog box, in this case, "4". Change this number into "3". Just below, keep the default choice, For this system only. Click OK. Your score becomes:

The first system now displays 3 measures as required. The surplus measure was shifted to the end and as there was no more place on page 2, Pizzicato created a third page. Go on page 3 to observe it.

• Come back to page 1 and once again use the measure layout tool on the first staff first measure. Select the System(s) per page operation. The page contains 5 systems now. Change this number into 4. The multiple choice located below lets you specify where this operation must be executed. Keep the For this page only choice. Click OK.

Go to the bottom of page 1. You will notice that there are only 4 systems now. Page 2 was not modified regarding the number of systems per page. When going to page 3, you will see that a system was added. The shift was executed from page 1 through to page 3, shifting each system by one step.

If you observe page 1, you will see that the 4 systems are no more distributed equally on the page, because the fifth system disappeared. We will adjust that.

• Go back to page 1 and use the measures layout tool on the first staff first measure. Select the Adjust systems and measures operation. The first two boxes on the right side prevent Pizzicato from moving the first and/or the last system. If these boxes are not checked, Pizzicato readjusts these systems before balancing the others. It is useful when you place a title and you move the first system down to add space for it. You can then prevent Pizzicato from changing the position of the first system, while adjusting the others. Now check the For this page and the following option. Check the Distribute systems on page box. It equalizes the systems in the page. Click OK. Observe the systems of the first page. They are placed at equal distances on the page.

You can of course adjust measures and systems manually with the measures and staves tool, as previously considered. But the horizontal modifications of the systems are cancelled if the automatic horizontal adjustment of systems option is checked in the page layout dialog box.