Adding a "number" for each piano exercise

[Manny_Mendelson]

First let me thank all the extremely helpful forum member who have been guiding me through this amazing app. It is really hard, in the middle of a problem, to find the exat right answer or to remember the hours of videos and manual pages, especially if you don’t work in the program for a few days. Here is my next question:

In this project I would like to add a “number” to each piano exercise, probably above the staff in the general area between the clef and the first note of the exercise. I was hoping to do this with Page Templates but I have a problem. If I open the “first” template or the “default” template, I cannot see where the flow title goes or where the exercise starts so…my plan to put a blank text frame near the start of each exercise is not working.

Can someone explain to me the “right” way to add a text frame near the start of each exercise…as part of the page templates? Or…

In general, if I want to add a “number” to each exercise? I am happy to type in the numbers themselves, because the order or quantity may change. I am just wondering if a text frame in the page template is the way to go.

A simple, “1, 2, 3” answer would be extremely helpful to this newbie. Also, if possible, include a reference to the location in
Mendelson Exercises Project2.dorico (1.7 MB)
the online manual or a video.

[Christian_R]

Hi @Manny_Mendelson , there are several ways. One easy that come to my mind, being those exercises that probably don’t need a Tempo, is to use the Tempo popover (Shift+T) and write your number there. You can also write 1.1 for the first Stretch exercise, 1.2 for the second Stretch ex…and so on and then 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, etc for the Leaps exercises, and so on, if you want the flow number (group of exercise) to be integrated in the numbering:

[Manny_Mendelson]

Hi Christian! how you doin? That’s a great idea. Ingenious! I also started out just with text entry shift-X but I thought a text frame might “normalize” the placement.

[Christian_R]

Of course using Shift+X for inserting text is also a good choice.

Using the Tempo as I suggested above places all the number in the same position (if you intend this, with “normalise”)

But also, if you use the Tempo for the numbers, you can make Select More and change the size af all the numbers for each flow (your groups Stretches, Leaps, etc…) at once in the properties:

CleanShot 2024-08-10 at 21.52.29

(There are of course several other methods that are more advanced, using the text and creating a dedicated paragraph style, or using rehearsal marks set on Number as index, but I thought you need something simple and fast).

Here I made a video with the Rehearsal Marks method (with some preliminary options settings, and then Shift+A)…sorry for my terrible English pronunciation…:

Notice that I also added the Bar Number change/s at the beginning of each exercise, that should start with bar 1:

[Lillie_Harris]

If the exercises are separate flows, you can edit the flow heading to look however you like. Eg just keep the flow number in the heading, and remove the title token.

Flow headings get automatically inserted above the start of the corresponding flow, so you won’t see them on page templates: because they don’t have one fixed position on any given page.

You could also edit the flow heading paragraph style (called “Flow Title”) to be left-aligned rather than centre-aligned; and change the font size and text frame height, if needed.

Similarly, if you want smaller gaps between music and flow headings, adjust the flow heading margins for the layout in Layout Options.

[Alberto_Maria]

Or also some flow number token…

[Manny_Mendelson]

Lilly
I tried seperate flows but, because I continually wanted to change the order, I got lost in several directions

1. On the Setup page I could never figure out what flow I was working with. Remember I am trying to, hypotheically, switch the order from ex, 2, 3 to, say, ex 3,1,2. I drag the flow around but Dorico does not seem to show only the contents of the highlighted flow “tile”.
   If you have time, can you sho wme a simple method to re-arrange flows and still absolutelt know which flow I am looking at?

I will have to re-read the rest of Lill’ie’ss explanation.It contains terms and procedures that I do not understand. I am often suprised at the complicated machinations needed to simply put a number above an exercise.

Any very simple solutions would be helpful

[Manny_Mendelson]

Lilly -
What is a flow heading? What is normally inserted in the flow heading? If I change it to look like a square box above each exercise, what information disappears? I did indeed notice the flow heading template but there was no reference to where the music started beneatg it. Also, does this template (flow heading) apply only to the selected flows, or to all flows in the project?

[judddanby]

@Manny_Mendelson, at the risk of seeming rude in the “RTFM” way that @thgmusic hilariously shared in this post, I will say that if you have the time to spend with several of Dorico’s tutorials and live-stream videos on their YouTube page it will be well worth it. They have been invaluable to me in learning, since seeing things applied on screen really clarified the process for me.

Flow Headings in Dorico | New Features in Dorico 2.2

Musical Flashcards and Worksheets | Discover Dorico

[Lillie_Harris]

How to know which flow you’re looking at: you can name your flows however you want. Double-click flow tiles in Setup mode to rename them, or rename them in Project Info. You can choose whether or not to show flow titles anywhere in the music, but it might help you know which exercise is the “C major arpeggio”, for example.

What’s a flow heading: watch the video kindly shared above. It’s a way of automatically inserting a title above the start of flows. Very useful in parts for multi-flow projects, where the 2nd flow might start halfway down a page, directly after the end of the 1st flow.

Reference to where the music starts beneath a flow heading: this information is described in the manual, here. Dorico uses the bottom-most frame in the flow heading template as the “bottom” of the flow heading, adds the flow heading bottom margin you define in Layout Option, then puts the start of the flow directly beneath that. More information about margins is here.

[Manny_Mendelson]

Of course you are totally right Juddanby and I did go throgh the “main sequence” of engraving mode videos including the bottom video you posted. I am still totally inadequate at Dorico, although I have found that the replys to my question "isn’t it reasonable to locate the “exercise number” in a simple text frame (as part of a page template) as the video seemed to urge me to do. That, apparently is not the answer and (at least as far as I can understand), text frames won’t help. Also, the idea of taking 15 or 20 exercises and making each into an indivudual flow is extremely daunting for my humble Dorico skills. I would have no idea what parameters are reatined form flow to flow or which flow I was altering and what th eknock-on effects would be for 20 or 30exercises… So I thought that “one flow for exercise type” would be a good compromise, and within the limits of my (very limited) understanding. But I guess that poses problems for adding the aforesaid “humble text frame”

Whatever a “flow header is” it seems like a “workaround” solution which would then dictate seperate flows for each exercise. but I promise to follow all suggestions and, indeed I will RTFM

[Manny_Mendelson]

In this earlier version the flows were seperated.
I have attempted to move the Flow header and input the word “Exercise” and then the flow number token

Several newbie questions
I was able to re-shape the flow header but I do not see any alignment diagram for this “frame”. I want to bring it lower down, make the text smaller, move the frame to my liking. No handles, no alignment diagram. Where dit go? [I am talking about going into Engrave Mode, selecting what appears to be the flow header frame, etc)

2. I am unable to make a a font size change “stick” within the Flow HEader frame. If I click “enter”… or just click outside of the frame…, or hit ESC, the font reverts to 16.0. What am I doing wrong?

3. If I re-order the flows (by dragging the flow tiles), How do I make Dorico re-number the re-orderded flows
   Mendelson Excercises_FlowHeader.dorico (1.1 MB)
   ? This is why I stayed away from the individual flow format. I get lost because the flows have no titles

4. If I fix th Flow header for Flow 1 and I have, say, 20 exercises, how do I propagate that flow header change?

[Manny_Mendelson]

In this group of exercises, I am attempting Lilly’s solution by am using the Flow Header template to change flow numbers into exercise numbers .

Since the default text frame makes the text the “top” of the flow header, I am unable to move the text closer to the music in the frame. How do do I do this. No matter how I move the text frame in the Flow Header template, the actual text does not move any closer

Also, unlke the video, I am unable to add new frames within the Flow headings template. I click the “frames” tool but cannot instantiate any other frames. I thought I could use more frames to “convice” the text to move around.

Also, these exercises are divided into Categories. So that’s why I though the flow title should be the Categories. If the flow title is the exercise number, how do I create a category for the execises that only appears before the first exercise in the Category?
Mendelson ExcercisesFlowHeader081024.1.dorico (1.1 MB)

[Lillie_Harris]

Hi Manny, here are some pointers

Firstly: You last saved this project in Dorico 5.1.30, but the latest version is 5.1.51 – more information here.

@Manny_Mendelson

I am unable to move the text closer to the music in the frame. How do do I do this

You need to change the flow heading margins, as I described earlier. Here is the link. And here, again, is a page with information and a labelled diagram about margins in Dorico.

@Manny_Mendelson

I am unable to make a a font size change “stick” within the Flow HEader frame

If you want all flow headings to use a smaller font, edit the paragraph style in this dialog – the style you’re looking for is called “Flow Title”.

@Manny_Mendelson

If I fix th Flow header for Flow 1 and I have, say, 20 exercises, how do I propagate that flow header change?

By editing the flow heading template, rather than making changes directly on the page. It appears you have worked this out, judging by your updated project file in a later reply.

@Manny_Mendelson

I am unable to add new frames within the Flow headings template. I click the “frames” tool but cannot instantiate any other frames

You need to show the left zone to access the frame input tools – press Ctrl/Cmd-7 or click the Show Left Zone button at the top of the left toolbox.

@Manny_Mendelson

If the flow title is the exercise number, how do I create a category for the execises that only appears before the first exercise in the Category?

You could create a page template for the first page in each category, eg by editing the First page template that comes with the project. Instead of showing the project title at the top, you could swap the token to something else.

Another user was asking something similar recently – you might find the discussion and examples helpful in the following discussions: Thread 1, Thread 2. In Thread 2, I share an example project file with page templates etc set up as needed for a big heading for the whole pattern (which could be “category” for you), and flow headings for each exercise within that set.

---

Here’s your project back with a few tweaks to the flow heading frame left edge and height, the Flow Title font size, and the flow heading margins.

I also hid staff labels (as they’re probably clear enough from context) and changed the playback template to Silence, to make the file size smaller.

Mendelson ExcercisesFlowHeader081024.1_LH.dorico (1.2 MB)

[Manny_Mendelson]

Thank-you Lilly for your meticulous reply. (As always!!!)

I have uplaoded todyas version of my project as well as 2 jpegs of an auto-installe dplugin and 2 Jpegs of the Flow HEader Template.

Lilly suggested downloading the latest version of Dorico before proceeding, which I did, along with the suggested Halion version and Groove agent (+ a Groove agent component or addition which I don’t recall).

I installed everything the Downloader said to install and all went well. However it appears that a Reverb plugin was auto-installed,and it is looking for an impulse response file. I have included 2 JPEgs. comments appreciated.

Flow Header issues…

Per Lilly’s meticulous and excellent reply, I adusted the Flow Header Bottom margin. This allowed me to bring the “Excersie number” closer to the music. However, When I go into the Flow Headings template and attempt to adjust the positioning to move the Flow Header to the left, nothing happens. The header does not move. Attached are 2 Jpegs “Flow Header Left” and Flow Header Center. However the actual flow header “Exercise 1” does not move anywhere when I make these drastic changes in the Flow Headings template.

Also…
When I Adjust flow header margins in the Layout Options does that change only apply within the current layout, current flow, current project, or universally? I am terrified to change these defaults because I am unclear about this.

Also…
Same question with Paragraph Styles. If, as Lilly suggests, I go into the Flow Header and change the “Flow Title” paragraph style, does that change every flow header in every project, or just the current layout?

Also…just a comment: This approach to Flow headers (if I am understanding this) seems to require the top and bottom to be adjustd in the Layout Options and the Left-right boundaries to be adjusted in the Flow Headings template. That seems confusing.

Mendelson ExcercisesFlowHeader081124.1.dorico (1.1 MB)

[Derrek]

Changes to templates within the project (Flow Heading Template, Page Templates) are local unless one exports them as a Template Set and imports them into a new project–or one uses Library manager to forward one project’s settings to another.

[Janus]

@Manny_Mendelson

I installed everything the Downloader said to install and all went well. However it appears that a Reverb plugin was auto-installed, and it is looking for an impulse response file.

There have been a number of threads about this…
“Cannot locate impulse response file: LA Studio.wav” - once again - Dorico - Steinberg Forums

[MarcLarcher]

I might be mistaken, but it seems this thread is being a little sloppy about flow headers (what usually appears at the top center of a default page) and Flow headings, which have their own templates and can appear at the start of a flow. Just for the sake of Dorico beginners who would read this thread, wouldn’t it be nice to make sure headings are headings and headers headers, following Dorico’s jargon? Thanks in advance
[of course, this does not apply to Lillie’s interventions, always spot on]

[Lillie_Harris]

@Manny_Mendelson

However, When I go into the Flow Headings template and attempt to adjust the positioning to move the Flow Header to the left, nothing happens. The header does not move

It doesn’t move for the first flow, because you have a page override on page 1. Page overrides lock frames into place; any subsequent changes you make to page template or flow heading templates do not affect pages with overrides already.

You get overrides when you edit individual pages.

@Manny_Mendelson

When I Adjust flow header margins in the Layout Options does that change only apply within the current layout, current flow, current project, or universally?

Changes in Layout Options affects the selected layouts, in the current project only. However, you can then choose to save the current state of options in that dialog as your new defaults – but that’s a distinct action (you have to click the button); changing settings in there only automatically affects the current project. This is explained in the manual.

@Manny_Mendelson

If … I go into the Flow Header and change the “Flow Title” paragraph style, does that change every flow header in every project, or just the current layout?

Changes to paragraph styles affect the whole project, but again just the current project, unless you explicitly save your changes are your new defaults. Paragraph styles can have different sizes in part layouts vs score layouts, though, which gives you a bit more control.

(You might benefit from saving a copy of a project to play around in, and try changing options and settings: it would help you understand for yourself how things work, which is generally the most reliable method of learning.)

@Manny_Mendelson

This approach to Flow headers (if I am understanding this) seems to require the top and bottom to be adjustd in the Layout Options and the Left-right boundaries to be adjusted in the Flow Headings template. That seems confusing.

I can see what you mean, but it’s not just the left/right boundaries that you’re defining in the flow heading template: you could add extra text frames for the flow composer & lyricist, graphics frames for pictures, etc. The top/bottom margins need to be customizable on a per-layout basis because, for example, a flute part with typically higher notes is likely to need a larger bottom margin (to accommodate those high notes) than a double bass part.

(PS My name is spelled “Lillie” – if in doubt, check my profile here on the forum )

[Manny_Mendelson]

To start with, of course, the misspelling of your (Lillie’s) name is inexcusable. My apologies. Thanks to your guidance I removed the page overrides and was able to move the Flow Heading text frame as needed. And I was encouraged to change the font knowing I wouldn’t screw up Dorico’s defaults.

Questions that have come up…

1. In the area of “mixing and matichg” flows but keeping the numbering “in order” (starting at #1,2,3 etc). Dorico seems to have re-set the Flow Number (token) so that all flow headings sare numbered in order and stay that way so that the flows go 1,2,3, etc no matter which “real flow” (i.e. flow 4,1,7,5…not in order) is dragged to that place. This seems really great but…is there something I am not understanding? I am glad Dorico is doing this but…why? The “list” of “flow tiles” can be random but the flow headings of music get “named” in order? Is there a rule here?

2.In today’s version I have placed a problematic flow as flow 2 so it’s easy to see. In this exercise, the piano octaves are blotting out the flow number (exercise number). If I drag the music frame, the Flow heading follows so I can’t create any new space tha way. Is there a way to start the first line of music on this page a little to the right? Or, a bigger question: what is the “real” way I should add space between the exercise number and the music.? Would a new page template for that page help? Wouldn
Mendelson ExcercisesFlowHeader081124.1.dorico (1.1 MB)
't the flow heading still “follow” the top of the frame around?

Lillie I still need to read the 2 threads you linked to, and absorb the project edits you did in your recent reply. I will do so post haste, and thanks again.