I’m working on a multi-movement project that has very specific divisi changes in the strings — the first movement doesn’t have any divisi, the second movement has Violins 1 and 2 each split into two parts for the whole movement, and the third movement has Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, and Cello each divide into 2 parts and then later recombine and play tutti.
The rest of the movements do not have any (substantial) divisi. I would like for the score to show the divisi on separate staves, but only show one staff per part (the final project will have Violin 1 and 2 A and B parts).
The part of this that is throwing me is that both the A and B parts would have the same material for the first (and fourth and beyond) movements, but contain different material for the second and third movements.
Is there a way to do this elegantly? Because this is a large project, I’m trying to keep it within one file. I’ve thought about adding instruments or ossia staves, but having them appear for just one movement might be tricky.
Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!
At any System Break or Frame Break, you can double click the Signpost and set Manual Visibility. This way you can hide 1A in the 1B part and vice vera.
But then it depends on the layout, and the System Breaks, as they might occur randomly.
If it’s so much flow-dependent, I’d consider creating separate players for the different roles (tutti vs. divisi), and assign them to the flows as needed. Then, in the ‘individual’ part layouts, combine these players and the flows they’re attached to. You can have one player appear in one flow, and another (but actually the same musician[s]) in another. And then show both in the part. Your string players will never know they’ve (technically) changed to a different player/instrument altogether.
I use this trick when I notate baroque cantatas with recitatives and arias, where you want the singer’s staff in the basso part, but only for the recitatives. I make the singer in the recitative (technically) a different player from the singer in the aria. In the continuo part, I’ll only show the separate recit. singer, not the singer of the subsequent aria, although in practice they’re probably the same live musician.
Dorico’s inner structures are intricate and profound. It takes some practice, creativity, and sometimes a bit of puzzling, but you can do a lot.
That makes sense — since I only want one staff in each part, wouldn’t the system/frame breaks not matter? Once the B staff in the A part is hidden, the formatting can be whatever is needed…?
Could you elaborate on what you mean? I’m not exactly sure how that functions — wouldn’t both staves still show up in the parts this way?
(I’m not trying to be abrasive!! I’m just trying to understand the logistics a little better. Thanks for your help!)