I’ve searched a lot for this answer as well as changed things in Notation Options many times, so I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere and I’ve missed it.
so that either one of the two dotted eighth notes turns into an eighth tied to a sixteenth. I was told that having the dotted eighths back to back in this odd time signature will be confusing for the players. It happens quite a bit in this piece, so I’m hoping there is a solution I am missing that will be universal rather than having to force many individual instances. Thanks very much for your help. Sorry if this question reeks of noob
Wow, I did as you suggested and a weird thing happened. It fixed it on the very first measure, but no where else. It made the second dotted eighth into a sixteenth tied to an eighth. Bear in mind this syncopation happens a lot on several instruments, but it only fixed the one place. So, I went through the entire piece and highlighted every second dotted eighth when I saw two of them together. I then removed the dot, which caused them all to become two sixteenth notes tied together. Next, I simply added the dot back and voila, they all magically are written the way I want. I’m glad I got that fixed and thanks very much for the suggestion, andgle. Really weird though. This is an xml file I imported from Reaper, and their notation is new and sketchy, so maybe that somehow contributed to this. It’s like it didn’t want to fix it retroactively, but rather made me re-input the note for the changes to take effect. So, unfortunately, I don’t know if it was the change in time signature that played the biggest role, or if it was that I changed every notation option I could find to not let a note cross over a beat without tying.
If you import a MusicXML file, it’s usually a good idea to select the whole file and do Reset Appearance and Reset Position (both in the Edit menu) unless you really want to preserve the “exact” formatting that was in the XML file.
If the XML file contains an explicit definition of tied notes or beaming, Dorico may have been trying to keep that when you didn’t want it to. Possibly your sequence of edits somehow “unstuck” something about the imported formatting and made Dorico use its own defaults.
I think Daniel has said that the next update will give you more control over exactly what to import from XML and what to ignore.
Rob, do you think I should still reset appearance and position to avoid any other issues I may not be aware of yet, or would I risk losing some of the work I’ve done?
Also while I’ve got your ear, what is the best way to draw a 7/8 “whole note” if that makes sense. I had a hard time creating one note that lasts precisely 7 eighth notes long. Thanks so much.
Just try it. If you don’t like the result, you can undo it with Ctrl-Z.
I would probably be inclined to do it anyway, and re-do anything that needs fixing up - that way you don’t have any “unknown” formatting overrides lurking in the score to trip you up later.
I can’t think of a “clever” way. Create a half note, press T to create a tie, then enter a dotted quarter is one way.
If you have a lot of these, it might be quicker to copy and paste or use the R shortcut (repeat the notes that are currently selected), and then repitch the notes (shortcut L for “lock duration”).
You might consider doing something like filling all the bars with “whole bar notes” using R, and then overwriting the ones you don’t want - whether that is quicker depends on the music, of course.
