Advice, please: how best to layout experimental score for live theater

Dorico
1

Hi!

I’d like your advice, please, on how best to prepare a score where each page is divided into three sections, with the actual music notation in the bottom third.

I’m { sound designing, composing } for an experimental piece of live theater. Much of the music will be atmospheric and there will be a fair amount of vocal effects implemented through Ableton Live (AL)

I (think I) want to divide each page into thirds with top third dedicated to the script’s text, the middle third dedicated to directions for managing the AL effects, and the bottom third dedicated to the notation. I’ll record all of the music beforehand, so the notation would be reference only.

I’ve thought about 2 approaches (but happy to hear of others!). I’m including a sample page, which I did with Approach 2.

Approach 1: All In Dorico

Create custom page templates with two text frames followed by the music frame shrunk to the bottom third of the page. (Alternatively, depending on how I decide to notate the AL effects controls, the middle page might also be a music frame dedicated to an effects instrument staff…?)

Approach 2: Dorico & Scribus

Print to PDF, with custom page templates to force the notation to the bottom 3rd of the page. OR full page music frame and carve off slices to images. (I struggled a bit using slices, because I had to be more careful with the size of the image loading into the image frame in Scribus; I found importing a PDF into Scribus more reliable)

Either way, import the resulting notation (as PDF or images) into Scribus, with its own two text frames on top of the music.

I’d love to hear any ideas on how better or different to accomplish this, and where you see pitfalls coming my way.

Thank you very much for any time you spend considering this :slight_smile:

sample.pdf (47.6 KB)

2

I would use Approach 2.

Export to PDF, split by page (if the software cannot address a specific page in a PDF), and mount in an external layout program.

Make the page for the music exactly to the dimensions of the area for the mounted music, say (297-top margin-bottom margin)/3 for A4, say 82 mm.

If the text and music are ‘simple’ and there are few requirements on the text sections, Approach 1 could work well. But Dorico is not a book program, so you might face some limitations. It depends on your skill with the external program, whether you can use its full potential, and whether your project requires it. There is a difference between a ‘practical edition’ and a ‘published edition’. You might not need a high-quality end product.

3

Thank you for your thoughtful comments!

You’re reinforcing my thinking. The music is going to be simple, but there’s a lot going on in the text and in the S/FX section. I think it’s going to be much easier to wrangle those bits in Scribus.

And you’re absolutely right about the difference between a ‘practical edition’ and a published one :slight_smile: and I’m definitely going for the former.

Thank you again for taking the time…