Sibelius is capable of some very advanced layouts, like this:
To produce this kind of layout in Sibelius:
- Change the widths for empty bars, whole notes, and the Gap at start of bar values in House Style > Note Spacing Rule.
- Change the default distance between staves in House Style > Engraving Rules > Staves.
- Create a new instrument type using House Style > Edit Instruments that shows no barlines in House Style > Edit Instruments.
- Make bar rests hidden by default in House Style > Engraving Rules > Bar Rests
- Edit the Plain text text style to angle it at 3 degrees.
- Drag the ends of the barlines down to make them extend across all staves by default.
- Hide the barlines until they’re required on each staff using the new instrument change.
- Hide the staff where it’s no longer required at the end of the staff with an instrument change to No instrument (hidden).
The only actual fake is to get the barline extending correctly from the penultimate bar in the Treble staff into the last bar of the Soprano staff. Take a look at how the file is constructed and you’ll see it’s pretty simple.
Once you’re proficient with using the program, this kind of example will only take a few minutes to put together.