Dear colleagues, I have edited a piece by Purcell in Dorico for my choir, SATB with piano reduction.
Incorrect Additional clefs: After importing a XML, I had to manually hide several additional treble clefs (8vb) in the tenor part, e.g. in bars 6 and 11. Can you explain why Dorico displays these? I was only able to remove them by hiding them individually via the properties. …
Playback Tempo: The second part (3/4 time, from bar 25) should be played slightly faster, but I can’t get Dorico to play it at the right tempo. The tempo markings are not being applied.
What could be the reason for this?
Lyrics collisions: In choral music, it is not uncommon to have the bar lines run completely from top to bottom through the individual staves. Unfortunately, the lyrics often collide with the left bar lines, e.g. alto in bar 17, or stick to the left of the bar line, e.g. all voices in bar 13. I have already manually moved most of the first syllables in the bar away from the bar line (in Engraving mode), which is of course tedious.
Missing Rests for the Bass voice: How can I ensure that rests for the bass voice (voice steam down) are displayed in the piano reduction from bar 25 onwards?
Exporting and importing XML is not an exact science. It is common, in all notation programs, for imported XML to need to be cleaned up a bit.
Your file plays back for me at the correct tempos – q=80 at the beginning and then q=112. When you view your file, is the tempo indicator in the transport toolbar blue, with an up and down arrow? If so, then Dorico should follow the tempo indications in the score. If it is black and has an equals sign, then you are in fixed tempo mode, and Dorico will use the tempo specified there throughout the piece.
In Notation Options > Rests > Rests in Additional Voices, set this option:
The additional clefs, you can just delete, rather than Hide.
Actually, it is much more common (and usually recommended) for vocal staves NOT to have barlines running through them – specifically to avoid this issue. By default, Dorico does not draw barlines through vocal staves; though you can change this in Engraving Options.
From your XML import, Dorico does not know that this is actually a vocal staff. You will need to Change the Instrument of all 4 players to Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass, in turn.
Also, you’ll need to add extension lines for the syllables on more than one note. Double-click the syllable and press space one or more times.
Is this designed for viewing on a tablet? Your margins are very close to the edge.
Serif fonts are usually more legible at small sizes. Palatino is essentially the serif version of Optima.
You may want to provide Staff Labels for your singers on the first system, so they know which line is theirs. (But after the first system, they should be ok without.)
Dear Asherber, Thank you very much for the helpful advice!! Solved: Playback Tempo and Missing rests (I found it in the German version of Dorico in Flow Options)
Dear Ben, thank you very much for the helpful general suggestions for improving the notation (extension lines, fonts, staff labels).
Changing the players from piano to singing voices did not solve the problem of lyric collisions.
Yes, it is designed for viewing on a tablet.
Kind regards Sven
Have you looked at the updated project file? There are no barlines between staves, so there can be no collisions.
Can you show a screenshot of the collisions on the vocal staves?
Collisions remain in the piano part – I don’t know if you want the lyrics there. IF not, you can Filter and delete them. Otherwise, you’ll have to remove the joining barlines from the piano.
Unfortunately, for better orientation, I would like to keep the continuous bar lines, both in the choir parts and in the piano. In many German classical editions the bar lines are often not interrupted.
If you keep the bar lines between vocal staves, then you will have to change colliding syllables manually (likely in Engrave mode), as Dorico supports a different tradition than you are trying to achieve.
Coincidentally, I was just singing something this evening, which I noticed was a German score from c. 100 years ago, and they do indeed ‘erase’ the barline behind the syllable.
