Creating blank score paper

Dorico
1

I was recently heading out on a weeklong trip with no computer, so I sat down w/Dorico to creat some blank sketch score paper to use on the road. With paper and pencil. :blush:

I laid out three G clef staves and one F clef staff, added 300 bars or so, and then set about getting rid of the bar lines so I could pencil in bars wherever I wanted them. However, though I tried everything I could think of, the best I could come up with was grey barlines between (thankfully not through) the staves.

That worked fine ā€” I just ignored them and pencilled in my own barlines ā€” but I have to believe thereā€™s a way to achieve what I wanted. And I suspect Iā€™m overlooking something obvious.

But having tried everything I could think of, I appeal to the forum. Help!?

PS Standard disclaimer: I did search the forum with no success.

2

Try this, made by user guitarlos: Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life

3

Thanks, Dan. Do you know how he did it?

His is just full-page equidistant staves, like youā€™d buy (in the old days) in a music store, but Iā€™m trying to create 4-staff sets, 2 or 3 per page. I tried adapting his, but I couldnā€™t make the changes I wanted. When I deleted any of his frame breaks, the whole thing fell apart.

Thanks,

Lew

4

Lew, do you mean four staves bracketed together as a system, two or three times on a page? If so, from memory you want to do:

  1. Add four players/instruments/staves and bracket accordingly.
  2. Add a time signature, then hide it.
  3. Add explicit rests at the start.
  4. Add system breaks at each bar line.
  5. Remove rests.
    You might find that you need to retain an explicit rest, at least in the first bar. If so, scale it to 1% and colour white.
5

Like this?

Jesper
Untitled Project 1.dorico.zip (430 KB)

6

I think he did the 11-stave paper something like this:
(edited)

1: Create a new score
2: Add a solo player
3: Write mood: Add 11 quarter notes
5; Engrave mood: add system breaks every quarter note

6: Write mood: Delete the notes
7: Hide the time signature in properties
8: Shift-C invisible to hide clefs

Layout options Bar Numbers = None
Layout options Note Spacing untick Only justify finalā€¦
Layout options Staff labels = None
Layout options Players untick Show bar rests in empty staves

Notation options No barline at end of flow

7

You donā€™t need to create a time signature at all. The default is ā€œopenā€ i.e. there are no bar lines by default. Just add the notes.

Also, why not add a system break to every note, instead of every fourth note?

8

Yes, just thought of and tried that, and 11 whole notes faster than quarter notes, but he used the 4/4,44 time signature for some reason.

Jesper

9

Well, sometimes the reason for doing something is ā€œbecause you didnā€™t think of a better wayā€ :wink:

I was thinking of 11 quarter notes not 11 whole notes, but that doesnā€™t save any more time.

10

Edited above post. I thought of open time signature first but figured he must have had some reason to do it with the 4/4 so didnā€™t even try. Still, the long pick-up trick can come in handy one day. :smiley:

Jesper

11

Canā€™t you set Casting Off to one measure per system and save some effort that way?

12

Yes, if you donā€™t mind having a printed bar line at the end of each system.

13

If you set the length of dashes for dashed barlines to 0, and the length of gaps to 0 (or whatever the other obvious number is there) then you can use dashed barlines that are actually invisible.

14

Thanks for all the suggestions; Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll have no trouble now.

15

TBH, this is probably much quicker in a Vector drawing app. Draw a thin line, copy 4 times and distribute evenly. Then Group them together and paste as many as needed, and distribute evenly.

16

But not as much fun and educational.

Jesper