I’ve composed a one-movement piece with free rhythms inside 10 second bars at the beginning and end of the piece (the middle section is traditionally notated). I created those timing indications with text frames in Engrave mode. But is there some way to automatically generate those timing indications? I read about and experimented with Markers (this is only my second Dorico piece), but I don’t think that will work for this.
Markers are locked to a position in time, so I think this would only work for you if you actually choose a tempo and notes such that each bar is exactly 10 seconds.
Text frames are locked to a position on the page, which means that if your music spacing changes, they won’t be at the right position relative to the music.
I would suggest using a text item in Write mode, either staff text or system text. Text items are locked to a musical position, so they would stay with those whole notes whatever else happens. Staff text appears above the single staff you attach it to; system text appears by default over the top staff in the score and each staff in part layouts.
Thanks, Aaron. I think that a system text is probably the best answer. I was hoping that there was a magic way to do this automatically so that I don’t have to enter 60+ system texts. I guess Steinberg can’t think of every possible need by contemporary composers!
By the way, double quotes are wrong for seconds. You should use double primes. Use a program like PopChar to enter them, or look up the Unicode and enter that. The same goes for minutes. Use the prime, not a single quote. This is not just pedantry, your score looks wrong, and others will notice also. It’s U+2033 in Unicode.
Yes, you see, some pedant like me corrected them!