+
+@node Vertical spacing
+@subsection Vertical spacing
+
+@cindex vertical spacing
+@cindex distance between staffs
+@cindex staff distance
+@cindex between staves, distance
+
+The height of each system is determined automatically by lilypond, to
+keep systems from bumping into each other, some minimum distances are
+set. By changing these, you can put staffs closer together, and thus
+put more systems onto one page.
+
+Normally staves are stacked vertically. To make
+staves maintain a distance, their vertical size is padded. This is
+done with the property @code{minimumVerticalExtent}. It takes a pair
+of numbers, so if you want to make it smaller from its, then you could
+set
+@example
+ \property Staff.minimumVerticalExtent = #'(-4 . 4)
+@end example
+This sets the vertical size of the current staff to 4 staff-space on
+either side of the center staff line. The argument of
+@code{minimumVerticalExtent} is interpreted as an interval, where the
+center line is the 0, so the first number is generally negative. you
+could also make the staff larger at the bottom by setting it to
+@code{(-6 . 4)}. The default value is @code{(-6 . 6)}.
+
+Vertical aligment of staves is handled by the
+@internalsref{VerticalAlignment} grob, which lives at
+@internalsref{Score} level.
+
+The piano staffs are handled a little differently: to make cross-staff
+beaming work correctly, it necessary that the distance between staves
+is fixed. This is also done with a @internalsref{VerticalAlignment}
+grob, created in @internalsref{PianoStaff}, but a forced distance is
+set. This is done with the grob property #'forced-distance. If you
+want to override this, use a @code{\translator} block as follows:
+@example
+ \translator @{
+ \PianoStaffContext
+ VerticalAlignment \override #'forced-distance = #9
+ @}
+@end example
+This would bring the staffs together at a distance of 9 staff spaces,
+and again this is measured from the center line of each staff.
+
+
+
+@node Horizontal spacing
+@subsection Horizontal Spacing