Looking for where/how to reset an accidental choice:
Dorico is very good about choosing the accidental determining in a line whether an altered note should be raised if ascending or lowered if descending.
Here’s one spot where we disagree. Is there a setting [and where] to change how it handles the vii°7/iii.
In any key, Dorico chooses an odd note not related to the key of iii. It requires two edits every time: one for the pitch in the chord, and one for the chord symbol. Dorico and I agree on the °7 chords leading to ii and to vi.
I would think that vii°7/V is more commonly found than vii°7/iii, so in the key of Bb, Dorico is defaulting to an Edim7 spelling with those notes rather than a C#dim7 spelling. I just did a quick test and it does seem like Dorico will always favor the vii°7/V spelling with those notes:
If you just use triads, Dorico spells the vii°/iii as you would expect. It’s the addition of the 7th that makes it enharmonically the same as the more common vii°7/V, so Dorico chooses that spelling instead.
It’s defaulting to vii°7 of v, not V, so in my example, F minor, but it’s defaulting the chord symbol to Db°7 ]which is the vii°7 of Ebb minor], which is completely illogical. Even using triad, Dorico defaults to a Db° in the notes and with the chord.
Your key sig is Bb. V is F so it’s using Edim7. The spelling algorithm doesn’t do an in depth harmonic analysis of wherever you’ve modulated. It’s using the most common spellings for that key sig. If you change your key sig to D minor it will give you the C#dim7 you want, but it’s not going to give you that in Bb.
V is F. E°7 is the vii°7 of F minor, yet Dorico still puts in Db°7, again, which makes no sense at all. There must be some kind of setting under the hood [or bonnet] which could have a choice that C#°7 would happen in the key of Bb, and not Db°7. This comes up over and over again in tonal music. I shouldn’t have to change keys from Bb to get to and from the key of iii.
[I hit some weird emoji that I did not intend to hit—can’t get rid of it, don’t know what it means…]
I’m sure you obviously already know this, but if you are using vii°7 of V in Bb that means E-G-Bb-Db. Yes, the Db is a foreign tone to the chord-scale, but there is no native vii°7/F that keeps within the key sig. (Otherwise we would have E-G-Bb-D for a Em7-5 or a rootless C9/E.) So Dorico is forced to pick an accidental.
The Dorico spelling algorithm that is used has decided that in the key of Bb, Edim7 is more common than its enharmonic equivalent C#dim7. I think generally in CWN that is probably true, but I am skeptical that it is true in jazz. Consider the following possibilities of #iidim7 leading to iii:
I think in jazz a reasonable argument could be made that vii°7/iii (so C#dim7 here in Bb) is more common than vii°7/V (so Edim7), but it’s probably a close call. As long as Dorico is consistent, and it seems to be, I’m ok with its enharmonic choices as long as they are predictable.
LOL! Totally cool, I’m not sure what all those emojis mean either!
Nobody does, unless there’s been a forum post I’ve missed that details how to use them. The forum intro post hasn’t been updated after the introduction of more of these than the heart, so I’m sticking to only using that one as it has an agreed meaning and shouldn’t be misinterpreted.
(One online community I’m in introduced a custom “kickflip of acknowledgement” emoji because many users read the standard thumbs up as sarcastic. Emojis without a specified definition will evolve different meanings in different communities.)
Didn’t realize the sarcastic usage! It’s always been an “okay”, “that’s good”, “got it” kind of acknowledgment to me (East Coast, USA).
[Note to self: Use emojis with caution – especially in an international setting!] (I was thinking of adding a wink as irony but decided against it!)
— Jim
Not sure what CWN is. I think I used that Parker line in one of my books…
I entered the Parker line in Bb and Dorico suggests Cb in the line, B°7 in the chord, C# in the line and then Db in the chord. I can fix this, but it’s a bit odd.
I, of course, encounter E°7 as pointing to Fm or F—but would never label it as a Db°7 [Db-Fb-Abb–Cbb]—This would need some special emoji.
As I understand it, for linear lines Dorico uses a customized version of David Meredith’s ps13 Pitch Spelling Algorithm. I read his paper on it years ago and have now mostly forgotten everything, but I do remember it typically uses the spelling of the note closest to the previous note along the circle of fourths. Additionally, it tries to avoid two consecutive notes with the same letter name but different accidentals. I’m sure there’s way more to it than that, but that’s what I remember. So on that Jimmy Heath phrase it would avoid the B natural as the previous note was Bb, so that’s why it opts for a Cb. If I change the line so the previous note is not Bb, it spells it with a B:
Or if I enter it in open key, it will change the Bb to A# as soon as I input the B, provided I have Note Input Options / MIDI Input / Note Spelling with Allow spelling of notes to be adjusted retrospectively checked. Gif below:
