A Sibelius Workflow
With a score from someone else, clean before you lay out; parts grow with the score, not at the end.
Related
A MusicXML file from someone else rarely opens ready to print. The first hour decides not the layout but how many more passes the score will need.
A score someone else wrote
Check three things first: whether time signatures and tempo marks land on the right bar, whether transposing instruments follow their staves, and whether lyrics and dynamics still sit where they belong. The importer keeps what it recognises; the rest becomes text or disappears. Leave the layout alone until the structure lines up. One bar off and every page after it shifts.
Clean-up checklist
| Check | Pass condition |
|---|---|
| Time signature, key, tempo | Start on the barline; tempo text attaches to the mark |
| Slurs and triplets | Cross the correct bars with complete brackets |
| Transposing instruments | Staff setting matches the displayed pitch |
| Dynamics, articulations, text | Attach to notes, not floating over barlines |
| Hidden staves and empty bars | No stray blank pages or systems |
| Part pages | Size and margins follow the score, not defaults |
Finish the list before touching layout. Focus on Staves, a few lines at a time, finds errors faster than a full page. When text is unrecognised, decide whether it was a marking or a comment before deleting or rebuilding it.
How parts relate to the score
Sibelius generates Dynamic Parts from the score, and a score edit reaches the part. Objects moved by hand keep local positions, so the more edits you make, the more often the part needs another look. Give parts their own page and staff size instead of applying the condensed score layout to the player. Check rehearsal marks, cues and page turns in the part; the score will not show the problem.
Three layout switches
Magnetic Layout handles collision avoidance. Turn it off and you gain freedom and collisions in equal measure. House Style sets fonts, line widths and spacing; importing a style from a score that already reads well beats adjusting each value. Document Setup controls paper, margins and staff size, and changing it recalculates every manual break. After touching all three, export a PDF and read every page.
Failure modes before delivery
Check the score but not the parts and the player receives a different layout. Lose a triplet bracket on import and playback still sounds right while the page no longer reads as a triplet. A missing font on the recipient's machine substitutes another and pushes the spacing open. Sibelius remembers many local edits, and those edits do not clean themselves up. Read each part as a separate document before delivery; it is more useful than another pass on the score.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Along the same line
Sources
- Avid Sibelius Reference Guide，Dynamic Parts、Magnetic Layout 与 Review 章节（官方文档）。
- Elaine Gould, Behind Bars, Faber，分谱与总谱的版面规则。
- MusicXML 4.0 规范，导入导出的字段定义。