On 6 Jan 2006 at 20:12, Owain Sutton wrote: > David W. Fenton wrote: > > > I did my first figured bass as articulations. The problem there is > > vertical alignment. > > > > Then I switched to use lyrics, which is much easier. I believe you > > use lyrics, too, though from there on we depart in how we do it. You > > use the special figured bass font and a single verse, I use a normal > > font with figured bass figures (the one that comes with Sibelius) > > and use multiple verses to maintain vertical alignment. > > Would using expressions be a viable method? This seems to me a way to > control vertical alignment, and to enter common figures more quickly.
Well, not for me, as I am using WinFin2K3, which predates the implementation of spacing control in expressions. But, in the abstract, it seems to me that lyrics have some real advantages, in that you can adjust a set of figures individually, one harmony at a time, or as a group, either for a whole lyric, or for a whole system. I don't know what possibilities there are for adjusting vertical alignment of a group of expressions. I assume you've got the same handles you do before vertical spacing, so it means you could select an ad hoc group of expressions to adjust their spacing together, which is something that's not possible with lyrics. But I haven't really needed that in the work I've done. However, most of my figured bass work has been with small numbers of figures, 2 at most, 3 very rarely, 4 almost never. So, in general, I haven't had too much in the way of problems with vertical adjustment. I'd be interested in what Johannes has to say on this subject, as I believe he does lots of figured bass, and uses the single-verse method with lyrics, if I'm remembering correctly. And he's also using a more recent version of Finale so has the opportunity to try out the expression method. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
