Hi there,
I’d like to edit a chord symbol appearance for all ma7, ma9, ma13 chords to contain 2-letter lowercase. That doesn’t appear in Dorico’s available options (Maj7, maj7, M7, MA7, etc.); is there a way for me to create that in Dorico?
Thanks! I am loving working in Dorico.
Huh, I guess I never noticed that the settings for Chord Quality / Major and Minor and “appearance of major seventh” aren’t the same. I would think the same options should be available in both locations. Anyway, there’s a pretty easy workaround provided you don’t actually need MA7 in your project and only want ma7.
Start by selecting the uppercase MA for the appearance of Major 7ths, even though that’s not what you want. In Engraving Options/Chord Symbols/Project Default Appearances hit Edit. Enter CMA7 and hit +. Click the MA in the CMA7 that appears on screen. You’ll notice the smaller MA will be selected underneath too. Click the Edit Component pencil which will now let you make a global change to the MA definition. In the Edit Chord Symbol Component window that just opened, delete the MA by hitting the trash can, go to the Text tab, select font.chordsymbols, enter “ma” then click Add Text. You’ve now redefined the MA symbol to be ma globally in your file. Hit OK, then Apply and you’re done.
(Bonus points for anyone that recognizes what tune the above progression is from. They are all maj7(#11) chords in the original.)
Worked perfectly! Thank you so much, Fred.
Just in case anyone cares, that progression (all maj7+11) is in the “A” sections of “A Shade of Jade.”
Followup -
FredGUnn’s advice has worked perfectly - in fact, it’s worked perfectly many times, since I use that chord symbol in virtually every project I create.
Is there a way to globally change that chord symbol for all future projects? I can’t load Engraving Options without a project open, and I can’t figure out how else I might do it.
Thanks for any advice!
I suppose the best way to do it now is to use a made-blank project (from a project that fills all your needs, and deleting flows and instruments) as a template to start any new document.
I use the designation “j” for maj7 because it only requires one letter. I learned this spelling at the conservatory. Musicians should read as few symbols as possible so that they can concentrate more on their interpretation. I’ve been able to change it according to this recipe, but only for one project. As I always use this notation, I would naturally like the “project default appearances” to be moved completely to the “preferences”.
The Save as Default button in Library > Chord Symbols allows you to do this.
It just doesn’t work!
The only thing I have managed to achieve after many attempts is that maj7 chords are displayed as j7 on all root notes in one a single project. However, this only works if you go to Engraving Options / Chord Symbols / Project Default Appearances / Edit and also click on the “Save as Default” and “Reset to Saved Deaults” buttons after editing. This can cause mood swings!
Unzip the file below and add the doricolib file contained inside to your DefaultLibraryAdditions folder then restart Dorico. (There are other threads on the forum about that folder location depending on what OS you’re using, just search for them.) The doricolib file simply redefines MA to be j. Now when you start a new file with MA7 selected as below, you’ll get a j instead.
You can also use the Library Manager to bring that into an existing file as well.
Here’s the file …
MAtoj.zip (583 Bytes)
… and here’s the code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<kScoreLibrary>
<textDefinitions>
<entities array="true">
<TextPrimitiveEntityDefinition>
<name>j.font.chordsymbols</name>
<entityID>text.user.j.font.chordsymbols</entityID>
<parentEntityID/>
<inheritanceMask>0</inheritanceMask>
<fontStyle>font.chordsymbols</fontStyle>
<text>j</text>
</TextPrimitiveEntityDefinition>
</entities>
</textDefinitions>
<compositeDefinitions>
<entities array="true">
<CompositeDefinition>
<name>MA</name>
<entityID>comp.csac.interval.kMaj7.kUpperCaseMA7</entityID>
<parentEntityID/>
<inheritanceMask>0</inheritanceMask>
<category>kChordSymbols</category>
<components array="true">
<component>
<componentId>text.user.j.font.chordsymbols</componentId>
<componentType>kText</componentType>
<xOffset>0</xOffset>
<yOffset>0</yOffset>
<xScale>100.000000</xScale>
<yScale>100.000000</yScale>
<zOrder>0</zOrder>
<maxOpticalScale>100</maxOpticalScale>
<componentInstance>0</componentInstance>
<colour>kDefault</colour>
</component>
</components>
<relativeAttachments array="true"/>
<scalingRules array="true"/>
</CompositeDefinition>
</entities>
</compositeDefinitions>
</kScoreLibrary>
I’ll be away from my computer all day, but let me know if you can’t get it working.
Thank you FredGUnn!
I have downloaded this file. Then I followed your instructions and put it in the DefaultLibraryAdditions folder. But since there is no such folder in the Library/ApplicatonSupport/Dorico 5 folder, I had to create one. (Such a folder only exists in the previous versions 4, 3.5, 3 and 2.) Now it works!
Great, glad you got it working!
Hello FredGUnn
B3 Medley 25.dorico (1003.3 KB)
Now I’m in trouble again. I started a new project, wrote a maj7 chord there and it appeared again as maj7 and not as j7.
Of course I checked everything. It still worked with the old projects. I also checked the Engraving options for Chord Symbols - to no avail. Do you have an idea? Attached file.
Addition:
The problem does not occur when I start a new project. But it does occur when I use a template. My templates were all created with older versions (e.g. 4.3). They are updated to 5.1 when they are opened and then the problem occurs.
Glyph and composite definitions are loaded into the project when created, so the doricolib solution will only work for projects created from File/New. For any existing projects, you’ll need to bring the doricolib settings into the file using the Library Manager. I can’t remember which setting it is, but it will be one of them listed under Collections, possibly Glyph Primitives, Music Symbols, or one of the Chord Symbol options.
Thank you FredGUnn,
you are great! I would never have thought of such an idea! But that’s how it works! By the way: It works regardless of which appearance you choose for maj7, you just can’t change it after the import.