It was only yesterday that when I compared my scores to other wind band scores, I found out that they have a totally different way of bracketing systems in the score.
I admit that I had never really thought of this part of engraving as I was happy with Dorico’s default, but what I found was that Dorico seems to not provide an option to do it in the way that they do. Let me explain.
Dorico does have a “Wind band” option under “Brackets and Braces” (Layout options) which gives me this:
Here are some examples of scores from two well-known and established publishers for wind band which IMO do a better job (read: create a more readable result) of grouping instruments: They combine all the clarinets and saxophones:
Not exactly an answer to your question, but what I’ve been doing since using Dorico is turn off the bracketing options in Engraving options and add the brackets manually. Then save that as my own template. One has to keep an eye on the brackets when making changes in the number of players* and repeat your manual bracketing for every flow (or use Duplicate flow instead of New flow, which isn’t always practical), but it gives you full control over how the brackets appear.
*There is also some weird buggy behavior with extra brackets appearing on the top staff from time to time when you make manual bracket changes. I’ve never reported it because I can’t find the time to find out the steps that consistently reproduce this, but I always have to keep an eye out for that.
Yeah, manually adding the brackets is of course possible, but as you describe, it needs the user to keep an eye on it and do it for every flow.
I was a bit surprised that the existing “Wind band” option would not create a result that matches any of the many wind band scores I’ve been looking at since yesterday from big publishers from all over the world. Even when I start with Dorico’s own “Band” template and switch Layout options to “Wind band” bracketing, the result looks nothing like the scores I found.
I’ve done pretty much the same with my band scores. As for where they go… I tend to bracket entire families together, i.e. all flute and piccolo, oboe and bassoon, all clarinets, etc.
I also prefer the orchestral arrangement of Horn before trumpet. Many directors don’t like it at first, but the way I score for wind ensemble is more orchestral in nature, so it just makes more sense. Most band scores also drop Bassoon (and sometimes bass clarinet) below the saxes because “they are a bass voice.” But if that’s your standard, why not lump bass clarinet, bassoon, bari-sax, and tuba all together at the bottom?
I’ve often wondered if I should put Piccolo below Flutes, as some do. It does make for better spacing, and in many cases the part is played by a second flute.
