I was wondering if it was possible with Dorico to achieve something like this (these are Aebersold patterns).
I would like to graphically create something like this, making the notes go up and down exactly as if they were on the staff, without the staff, showing the degree of scale relative to the chord, this to make my students think about what they are playing and transpose it in all the keys.
It depends on what exactly you want to do. Dorico can’t easily do graph paper, but there are several ways to notate patterns. I often just use lyrics. Here’s an example for a high school kid I just did a couple of days ago.
I tend to write it in one random key and then they are expected to learn it through the keys. You certainly can remove the noteheads and just use numbers too if you want:
The 0-line staff is a bit of a hack. Here’s a link to a post that contains the instructions and the file you’ll need to do it:
I just used Shift-X text for the numbers in that quick example and then in Engrave used Properties / Hide Notehead. There might be a better way with playing techniques or a bunch of different Notehead Sets. Anyway, text works at least.
Hi everyone, I’m returning to this thread after a long time… Daniel, I need to be guided step by step to create note heads with numbers referring to the scale degree. Would it be possible when you have time?
Thank you very much!
The note name noteheads are part of the SMuFL spec, so they are designed into the glyphs of the Bravura font. To show scale degrees instead of note names, you would have to design your own font.
I think he means that, with a custom font, you could substitute numerical noteheads in place of the solfege noteheads, so that Dorico would know how to make use of them.
And, as both further clarification and complication, note that @FredGUnn’s examples are not using true scale degrees (i.e., notes as they occur in a key), but rather labeling how they relate to each chord (with “1” for root).
I’m finally looking back at the top of the thread to see what you meant. I was wrong: You don’t need a custom font with numerals inside noteheads; you just need to substitute the numerals in place of noteheads.
@FredGUnn, can you explain your method, rather than me trying to recreate it?
A simpler approach might be to put the chord-tone labels underneath (as “lyrics”; as in @FredGUnn’s top example) and simply hide the noteheads.
Not as elegant, of course, but with the 0-line staff “abstraction” and the contour of the patterns still showing, the pedagogical value might be sufficient while keeping the notation process straightforward.
this would be fine in fact.
I didn’t quite understand the procedure for removing the line although it is explained in a later answer.
apart from that I was wondering how you got the effect of the numbers (inserted as text) next to the barline. Were they each moved “by hand” in engave mode?
I don’t suppose Dorico has moved forward on this issue since you first posted it. I still need to return to Finale because I can’t figure out how to do this in Dorico. They could simply include the scale degree noteheads under Engraver Options > Notehead Design. Jazz educators use this notation style frequently!
Should you have found a very quick and simple fix, please let me know. In Finale I can set this up in under a minute. Thanks!
For scale degrees beyond 7, you should define Common notehead sets for e.g. 8, 9, 10, 11, etc., where each set contains just a single notehead type with that numeral. When you then need to show one of the upper scale degrees, you would override that specific note with the appropriate notehead set for the desired scale degree. But for degrees 1 through 7, using the Aebersold notehead set will choose the right notehead automatically.