A formatting question:

I have a set of piano variations, theme + 12 variations.
I will be obliged to have them all be individual flows, I can deal with that (I definitely do NOT want the time signature changes between variations.)

My question, however, has to do with a particular formatting that this piece requires.
Where the instrument name would go (ie: staff name) is the title of each variation (they are each a very brief dedication).

Is there an easy way to change the piano’s staff name in each flow?
So flow 1 would have “Theme” as the instrument name on the very first staff (no name on subsequent staves).
Then flow 2 would be “for [fill-in-the-blank]”, and again, no staff name on subsequent staves, and so on, until the final variation which would be “Epilogue”.

Or will I have to resort to using shift+X text and move that in Engrave Mode?

Could you perhaps create a player with 13 piano instruments and edit their names, then change instrument for each flow?

Michel,

Do you need to use flow titles as well, since one can create Flow Titles that are flush left just above the first system that might serve your purpose otherwise.

LOL, I’d rather avoid having to create 13 pianos… that will be a nightmare!

I only need a title at the very beginning for the complete work, a first page title, but not a flow title as such.
DO you think I could place flow titles so that they appear to the left of the system?
Or only above the system, flush with the first barline?

I’d rather stick to the original formatting with titles to the left of the system, centered between the two staves of the piano grand staff.

(this is a work that has already been published and distributed, and is actually part of the repertoire for a yearly piano competition)

Actually it’s very simple
vars.dorico (592.8 KB)

FYI: If you ever need to do this with a non-Grand Staff instrument, Divisi Change Labels work well.

@Michel_Edward

Here’s a sample. What you do will probably be on a smaller scale, not being designed for students.

leftFlowTitles.dorico (618.2 KB)

ok, I see what you did, but it’s not quite what I need.t
I need the variation titles to be where the staff instrument name would normally be, centered between the two staves of the grand staff.

Ok, I extracted an image from the original score.
This is what I need, with the name changing at every variation (I included the top of the subsequent system to show that I don’t need an instrument name there):

One hack is to use a Section Player, and then create a “Divisi of 1”, which you can rename as you wish.

Instead of creating one player with many pianos, you can create 13 pianoplayers, each flow is played by a different player and allow the flows to start on an existing page. The score will become the Piano Part.

Enter/Edit the Informations in “edit names…” (the center alignment has to be done in “Paragraph Styles” → “Staff Labels” → “Alignment”. the option in “edit names…” is somehow overwritten?)

The advantage is, that in Write Mode you only see one staff, also in Galley View.

vars different players.dorico (583.1 KB)

I included the top of the subsequent system to show that I don’t need an instrument name there

Layout Options → Staves and Systems → Staff labels on subsequent systems → None

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All this could be solved so simply if tokens were allowed in staff labels… If it makes it easier, just allowing the “Flow Title” token would probably suffice in 90% of cases…

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Indeed that would work graphically, but not semantically. It’s not a staff label; it’s a movement title, and I’m sure the Team would like to treat it as such.

Certainly if they could add add an option to position flow titles in the current staff label position (and indent the system accordingly of course), that would work just as well.