Hi there!
This type of chord is not uncommon on the cello (see photo) or for string instruments in general; it means that the lower notes need to be held for a shorter time. However, from a musical notation perspective, this would be illogical.
Is it possible to reproduce it in Dorico, or is a workaround (two voices, etc.) necessary?
Thanks.
I do it by changing the noteheads to black noteheads. though I forget if I had defined a notehead style with only black noteheads, or if it was already in Dorico.
However, it doesn’t work with dotted notes as the top note. it adds a dot to the bottom ones as well.
I’m in the middle of putting the final touches on a violin concerto, and this type of notation is through-out the piece, in both the solo part and the string accompaniment.
In that case do you have to create a custom notehead (black notehead)?
in the notehead editor you should be able to make a new set of noteheads that are all black. it’s not really that complicated. I just don’t remember how I went about it, off-hand.
Very good. Thanks!
Put the quarter-notes in a different voice, adjust the stem directions, then select all the notes and set the Voice Column Index property to 0.
I tried your suggestion and it works, however, I don’t know why, but the black noteheads created are not the same size as normal ones. They are smaller. 
Yeap, that’s the workaround I was talking about.
If you’re using Bravura, the normal size of the noteheads is the “larger” size, not the “default” size. So if you’re doing something with other noteheads sets, make sure you use the larger noteheads.
(But I think the solution with 2 voices is probably easier.)
It’s the most semantically sensible and straightforward way to achieve this, even playing back correctly. Curious why you are calling it a workaround.
Thanks.
I’ve tried in many ways but still I can’t get them larger.
Yeah, probably the two voices workaround is better.
I’ve tried that but the stems didn’t match up properly… it required a lot of fine-tuning.
Would the lower two notes be performed as grace notes?
NotePerformer plays the half note a bit after the quarter notes (using the voice way). Nevertheless it’s pretty easy to move the notes – either the lower slightly to the left or the upper to the right – in the MIDI Editor in Play Mode.
Yeap. I finally got it. Thanks.
