reference.book Page 86 Monday, August 31, 2009 2:47 PM
2. Notations
2.4 Barlines Sibelius supports a wide variety of barlines, suitable for various kinds of music, which you can put at the end or in the middle of a bar.:
Normal
Double
Start repeat (winged)
End repeat (winged)
Dashed
Invisible
Between staves
Tick
Short
Final
Barlines at the end of bars You don’t need to put normal barlines at the end of bars into the score: just add bars, and barlines appear after every bar. You can move barlines by dragging them left and right, or using the / keys (with Ctrl or for larger steps). This changes the gap after the last note/rest. You can’t delete a barline in order to join two bars together; instead, you should normally double the length of the time signature (or create an irregular bar) to fit the music into one bar. Similarly, to split a bar into two, you should normally shorten the time signature instead of trying to draw a new barline. Double barlines Double barlines are used to denote new sections. A double barline usually appears at a key signature change, but not at a time signature change or to coincide with rehearsal marks (unless these occur at the beginning of a new section).
Other barlines These include double barlines, dotted barlines, repeat barlines, early music barlines, and so on. To create one, select the note after which you want the barline to appear, then choose the type of barline you want from Create Barline. Alternatively, you can place the barline with the mouse if you hit Esc to deselect everything before you create the barline you want.
When putting a barline in the middle of a bar, input the music in the bar first; then add the barline between two specific notes or rests. (If you inputted the barline first, it wouldn’t be clear exactly where in the bar it was meant to go.) The barline may attach to the bar too close to the following note; if this happens, select the barline and change the X parameter on the General panel of the Properties window to change its offset. If a barline occurs in the middle of a bar that has a bar rest in it, then in the interests of good notation you should split the bar rest into separate rests on either side of the barline. It’s common to split a bar between systems at a double barline or repeat barlines (e.g. at the end of a line of a hymn). To do this in Sibelius, create two shorter (irregular) bars and use a system break to split them between systems – 2.5 Bars and bar rests and 8.5 Breaks. You can copy, drag and delete barlines; deleting any of these other barlines at the end of a bar (even an invisible barline) turns it back into a normal barline.
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