Hi, I am very new to Dorico but I am struggling with the following:
I am writing for theatre with a pit orchestra with 1 percussion player.
Normally I wrote everything on a 5 line staff and label everything when the instrument changes. Now in Dorico if I use the instruments as a kit, the labels disappear. When I use the instruments separately, the labels return but I can’t change the note placement (everything stays on the middle line). Example: I would like the suspended cymbal to be placed at the first ledger line above, bass drum down, etc. but that would mean I need to change the note placements of a single percussion instrument.
You can edit the percussion kit (in setup mode) and decide on which position of a 5-line staff the instruments appear.
You can use percussion legends to give information about the instrument playing at any moment.
You have to put a percussion legend at this point yourself. But the point of a 5-line staff is that instruments have their respective positions, so no need to put it at every occasion.
Okay so far it’s clear.
What if I want to use the ‘normal’ use of a 5-line staff per instrument? so that Dorico automaticly displays the instrument changes, in those 5 line instruments, how can I change the position of the notes? they all appear on the line in the middle…
What do you mean, „normal“ use of 5-line staff?
Are your percussion instruments not in a kit?
I think at this point we need pictures, or even better a dorico file.
I prefer to have them have a label each time the player needs to switch instruments. To make the part nicely readable I prefer a constant 5-line staff to not end up with a part that constantly switches in the amount of lines. I guess this should be possible, I come from Sibelius where I always worked this way which was highly appreciated.
on the image you see for instance the bar chimes on the middle line, (this is not part of a percussion kit!) I want to move the placement of that note, but for some reason, this is not possible.
What Percussion instruments are you using? Are some of them melodic percussion instruments? It would help to see a Dorico file illustrating what you have.
What instruments are you using to get a 5-line staff without a percussion kit?
Anyway, my suggestion is to create a kit for every instrument, with just that instrument in it. Then you can move it in each percussion kit editor to the spot you want to have it in.
Make sure the layout is set to show percussion kits as 5-line staff and that instrument changes are allowed.
Then proceed as normal.
That’s definitely not the approach I would take but I assume that’s what you want?
