@Christian_R…I just couldn’t resist the (goofy) musical response to your incredible work.
Thanks for your effort on this! I’m glad @simon.seeberger asked the question, and thanks to your efforts I have learned much to “tuck away” should I ever have a similar need. (Truth be told, when the thread first appeared I tried making my own version, but don’t have anywhere near your Dorico chops, so gave up.)
Ahaha, it was hilarious, loved it. I added a screenshot and a corrected padding file to my previous post.
And thank you for your kind words. I love experimenting with Dorico!
Sorry @simon.seeberger @klafkid @judddanby , I could not resist.
I have another possibility. Is very easy,
but needs a preliminary adjustment of the Horizontal line text font size, to obtain the needed “covering” of the lines throughout “erase background” (this adjustment is global so maybe not desirable if you need other lines with text in your piece). [EDIT: the increasing of the Horizontal Line text font is not necessary: use instead Block letters for the XXXX, and use the vertical padding adjustments, beyond the horizontal ones]
No need of staff attached text with avoid collision deactivated, but also here the padding should be adjusted when the layout is ended, and also for the part is needed separate padding adjusting, being the positions and spacing different.
Dorico example file with line text:
2 lines external for free voice notation-with line text method.dorico (477.9 KB)
Result:
WORKFLOW:
Pictures:
Increase the horizontal line text font size:
Put an horizontal line to the whole bar, attached to the barlines:
The rest of the workflow…:
@Christian_R Very interesting, what is possible to achieve in Dorico. Thanks again for sharing your workflow!
The reason for this is the topic of the piece. It`s a choir piece about sirens, and the particular passage should create a musical version of waves in the water. The S bend is supposed to represent such a wave, so I find this version of representation more appropriate than a normal glissando line. There are also other vocal techniques in the piece, so I think it fits nicely.
Somehow I find your initial non-linear (“scoop”) curves more evocative of a siren than S-curves.
So then I got curious and did a quick web search, which turned up this potentially interesting article on typical siren curves.
Hope you don’t mind the exploration, @simon.seeberger ! I’m always fascinated by the ways in which musical notation — traditional, graphical, etc. — map metaphorically onto our experience and conception of sound.
(Fun anecdote: A once told a student playing an exercise in the wrong octave on keyboard that he needed to move his hands “up.” So naturally he moved them…towards the music desk, like a baseball player “choking up” on the bat! Kind of a brain-opening moment for me.)
Oh I’m sorry, I think you misunderstood what I tried to say. It’s about the Sirens in Greek mythology, not about signal horns. The S bend represents waves in the water onomatopoeically .
Well hasn’t this been quite the Odyssey…! (“Move your hands up on the keyboard while I lash myself to this ship mast.”) 
Hello everyone.
Sorry if I exhume this again: I have a question. Is it possible to change the number of lines in a given staff but with division changes also? Thank you.
Andre, I’m sorry that I don’t quite understand what you are asking: what do you mean “with division changes also”? Do you mean divisi for e.g. string sections, or something else?
Hello Daniel,
Sorry I wasn’t clear. I’m writing a choir composition. Sometimes I need to change the number of lines in the staff in a divisi section (e.g. Altos). I would like to know if it’s possible.
Thanks for clarification. You can’t do this in a divisi section, I’m afraid, because at the moment the methods of achieving it require the use of a different instrument. In future we plan to introduce a feature to change the number of staff lines “on the fly”, but it’s not something we’ve yet been able to work on.
Instead of the “number of lines in a staff,” could you possibly mean the “number of staves in a system”?
(Since I do not know whether English is your native language–and please pardon me if my guess is wrong–I wonder if translation software has misinterpreted some of the musical jargon used here.)
Ok! Thank you.
I’m afraid English is not my main language. I’m Italian. So, even if I use english language extensively sometimes I fail in expressing myself. But no. I was precisely asking how to change the number of lines in a staff while dividing a given section.
Don’t worry though! No harm here !
Thank you @Christian_R for your huge work.
Of course, all these examples are a workaround for the ones who need this kind of notation. If one uses a musical staff of two lines to indicate register boundaries or melodic contours, one obviously needs to write notes at different pitches in between the lines.
And even with single-line percussion instruments, one may need to use notes with ledger lines above or below to indicate particular effects (yes, I know that one can create Playing Techniques in Percussion instruments but the noteheads can only be placed just above or just below the line).
But @dspreadbury has already indicated that the Doric team will work on this type of notation.
