Sorry if already discussed. Couldn’t find a thread. In the chord popover A+7 works to give augmented. Is it possible to get the minus symbol to give us minor?
A-7 = Am7
IIRC, you can set the Engraving options >Chords to display the minus sign. But there’s no way to change what you input in the popover — those data have no options, they are what the devs tell us.
I guess I’m hoping it gets added, as + is already implemented, it would seem logical that minus also follows, as its a very common jazz chord symbol.
On the other hand, major/minor and diminished/augmented are different concepts and maybe should be kept semantically separated?
True. But if copying from a lead sheet you can type C+7 but you can’t type C-7…consistency?
I admit I would not be against it, I remember I have tried it and was disappointed to see it did not work. There might be good reasons for the devs to choose not to allow minus to be a substitute for m in the popover, but only somebody from the team could tell us, and why.
Is it used for diminished? (I don’t know as I don’t use chord symbols.)
It is used for minor. I don’t like very much and I use “m”, but I admit that in many jazz pieces (specially Real Book and similars) they use “-“.
It is consistent. Plus and minus are used for alterations in the popover, not chord qualities. C+7 refers to an augmented 5th, not a quality such as minor. If you want C-7 to appear, just type Cm7 in the popover with Minus selected in Chord Symbols/Chord Quality.
(I personally hate the use of “-” for minor, and always use “m” myself, but it is easy to accomplish in Dorico.)
+1 for making the output options loop back to input options.
Same thing for German H instead of B.
I think that A+7 is ambiguous. Is that a dominant 7th with an augmented 5th or an A major 7th. There is not unanimous agreement about this amongst jazz musicians even. I prefers using accidentals than + and - .
All this seems like confusion between Nashville chord numbers (which use M for major and - for minor to avoid confusion between handwritten M and m) and other chord letter name systems.
Since major/minor is implied by the scale degree in the Nashville system, explicit major/minor notation isn’t often required anyway.
This is an interesting thread. It is a question of purity versus pragmatics. It is certainly true the C-7 or C- is used a lot, although I believe that convention is slowly disappearing, as it should.
It is also true that it is not a great intellectual chore to remember to type in “cm7”.
I have to agree with Fred on this one. I think this is a case where it makes good sense to remain consistent in reserving ± for alterations, although I actually prefer the more explicit b and # for alterations. There is no confusion at all in that case.
I view the C-7 as very literally shorthand, from an era when everything was written by hand. In an era when most music is engraved, I think it makes sense to go with more explicit spellings.
I view the C-7 as very literally shorthand, from an era when everything was written by hand. In an era when most music is engraved, I think it makes sense to go with more explicit spellings.
Agreed.
The mistake that too many amateur arrangers make is to think that their preferred style means anything except to their own egos. Performers want to be able to sight-read charts easily.
Don’t get me started on the inappropriate use of dotted slurs…
I was disappointed that A° entered in the pop-over didn’t give me A dim or A° as I selected it in the prefs
I agree, although, in my experience, + is usually placed after 7 in augmented seventh chords, which takes away any ambiguity. Unfortunately, Dorico doesn’t make this an option, however.