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Adjust Lyric Baselines dialog box

How to get there

  1. Click the Lyrics tool . The Lyrics tool menu appears.
  2. Choose Lyrics > Adjust Baselines.

What it does

Note: View the Using the positioning triangles QuickStart Video for a demonstration of how to use the positioning triangles.

In this dialog box, you can specify the exact position of the baseline of each lyric type and number (the invisible line against which the bottoms of the words align) in relation to the staff. Furthermore, you can specify a different baseline position (marked by the four positioning triangles in Click Assignment mode) for each staff. The numbers in these boxes are measured from the middle line of the staff using the currently selected measurement units (Edit menu). Lower values (that is, larger negative values) move the baseline down.

You’ll usually want the baseline of Verse 1, for example, to be just below the melody, and Verse 2 to be just under Verse 1. As a matter of fact, Finale’s default values position verses in precisely that way: one beneath another. If you change the font for your Verses (by choosing Select Default Fonts from the Document menu) and find you have overlapping lyric due to the font size, you can neatly adjust the baselines for all lyric lines at once by clicking the Set Piece Offsets to Default Font button.

Note, by the way, you can perform these same settings visually by dragging any of the four positioning triangles up or down when you’re in Click Assignment or Type Into Score mode. This dialog box, however, provides a way to preset the lyric baselines to very precise numerical locations, or to adjust several at once (even after the lyrics have been entered).

When the Staff: indicator identifies the staff whose lyric line position you need to change, enter a number in the text box. This number indicates how much higher or lower the lyric line should be in this staff compared to other staves in the piece—in other words, how much higher or lower it should be than the Piece Offset baseline position. A larger negative number moves the lyric line farther down.

The Staff System: indicator identifies the system by number. Click the Prev and Next buttons to its right to specify the system number. Set the staff number with the Staff: Prev and Next buttons (see above).

When the Staff and Staff System indicators identify the line whose lyric position you want to change, enter a number in the text box. This number, indicates how much higher or lower the lyric line should be in this system compared to other systems (for this staff)—in other words, how much higher or lower it should be than the Staff Offset baseline position. A larger negative number moves the lyric line farther down.

You might click this button, for example, if you’ve just chosen a font for your verses that’s smaller than usual; Finale will respond by moving all the Verse lyric lines closer together (than they were when a larger font was selected).

Note: To neatly stack all lyrics using the Set Piece to Default Font feature, first align the positioning arrows for each verse, section, or chorus (this button only resets the leftmost positioning arrow).

See also:

Lyrics

Lyrics menu

Lyrics Tool

 

 

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