Staff size

Staff size refers to the distance between the top and bottom lines of staves, and can be expressed as a point size or in another supported unit of measurement, such as millimeters. For individual staves, you can use a scale size of the default staff size in the layout. The most appropriate staff size depends on the intended purpose of the layout.

For example, full orchestral scores that are quite dense need a much smaller staff size than individual parts, which require large enough notes so that performers can read them easily. Staves can overlap and the music can become illegible if the staff size is too large in dense scores.

In Dorico Pro, you can set the staff size using the rastral size and the space size, depending on which measurement is more appropriate for the selected layouts.

  • Rastral size is the size of the full staff, measured from the bottom line to the top line.

  • Space size is the distance between two staff lines.

When changing the staff size of each layout in Layout Options, we recommend that you use one of the preset rastral sizes, as these are based on traditional and generally accepted staff sizes that are all widely used in music engraving.

Note

The size of staves can affect the size of system objects.