Can anyone explain to me the rationale for why all accidentals disappear when a group of notes is dragged up or down the staff? Say I write a few measures with plenty of accidentals and then decide I want to drag them down an octave. Why is it necessary for all the accidentals to disappear and everything becomes a natural. There must be a reason but I can’t imagine what it is for the life of me.
Thanks for explaining things to this Dorico Rookie.
I think dragging (and Alt/Opt+arrow) just repitches the note to the next/previous staff position, essentially giving you a “new” note, with no accidental.
If you want to move notes by an octave, you can use Ctrl/Cmd+Alt/Opt+arrow, which explicitly moves by the interval of an octave, not by step, and therefore preserves accidentals. You could also use one of the permutations of the Notes and Intervals popover (Shift+I) to transpose notes by an explicit interval.
2 Likes
Well, this will at least save me some time moving octaves. I guess this makes sense in a way.
Thanks, as usual, for your expertise.
Gary
Alt/Opt+arrow (up or down) moves the selected notes by one scale degree.
Shift+Alt/Opt+arrow moves them by semitones (half-steps).
Also, holding down the Shift key when you drag the selected notes up or down moves them by semitones.
2 Likes
Thank you, Steven. This is very helpful. Very kind of you to respond.
Gary