aaa.dorico (1.4 MB)
When I try to adjust the height of the lyrics marked in green, the height of the lyrics on the staff below changes.
How should I resolve this?
Once you have adjusted the vertical position of the lyrics in the upper staff, try adjusting the vertical position of the lyrics in the lower staff.
The horizontal adjustment of the upper staff does not work.
Making the adjustments in the CB layout might give different results than when the adjustments are made in the Full Score layout (with Layout Options > Players > Cues set to shown for that layout). Some experimentation would be needed, including moving the original up/down and then de-selecting and moving the cue lyrics separately. I don’t know if this will work, but it might be worth a try. Having the two layouts open in separate windows will help in quickly seeing what effect each action has.
If it turns out that the two cues are somehow linked to each other (because they refer to the same source staff), one thing to try could be to have another staff in the score which would be the source for cues in Contrabass 2. This staff can be hidden later on and the cues will still work. The cues in Contrabass 1 would refer to the Soprano staff, as happens currently. My thinking is that if the source staff for the cues in Contrabass 2 is different from the source staff for Contrabass 1 then that would (hopefully) eliminate what appears to be the linking of the cues.
Is there a way to unlink the lyrics from the cue?
I don’t think so. The developers would be able to give a definitive answer to that question.
It is possible to not show the lyrics - with the cue label selected, go to Properties > Cues and enable Show lyrics but don’t click in the checkbox.
I have played in orchestras for plenty of choral concerts. Quite often the vocal cues show only the notes.
If having lyrics showing is important/required, then you would then need to do something like using staff-attached text but that is fiddly and time-consuming.
Is it a good idea to enter only the notes in the cue and type the lyrics as standard staff text?
Try it and see.
I have never needed to do that, so I can only guess.
The spacing between syllables would be the main concern - you might have to enter each syllable separately.
After a bit of experimenting and some thought, a solution with the least amount of work involved would be to have the cue in only one of the two Contrabass parts in the CB layout. Simply click on the cue label in the CB layout (or the signpost in the Full Score layout), and press Delete.
I have seen this in orchestral/choral music when two instruments are printed on one part (for example, Flutes 1 & 2). Because both players are reading from the same music, they can both see the cue, even if it is in only one of the staves.
If it is absolutely necessary to have the cues showing in both staves, then my earlier suggestion about having a different source staff for one of the players is probably the best way to go. The movement of the lyrics in the cue which is not selected only happens when the cue is in both staves and references the same source staff.
To do this, in Setup mode add another player. In the attached project I added Sketch > Treble Staff and renamed it to Cues 2.
Then in Write mode, in the Full Score layout, I deleted the cue in Contrabass II.
Next, I copied the Soprano part into the Cues 2 staff and created a cue for it in the Contrabass II staff.
In checking that things were working as they should, in Engrave mode I was able to move the lyrics in each cue in the CB layout independently of each other.
Lastly, to hide the Cues 2 staff in the Full Score layout, I went into Setup mode, clicked on “Layouts” (at the top of the Layouts list on the righthand side), selected Full Score and unchecked Cues 2 in the Players list (on the lefthand side).
The last thing you will need to do is to change the cue label in the CB layout by clicking on the cue label (Cues 2 8va) and enter what you want to call it (S. 8va ? - to be the same as the other cue) in Properties > Cues > Start text.
aaa - with extra cue staff.dorico (1.4 MB)
It looks that you can move the lyrics independently if you first remove one of the cues, then re-add it.
But I’m just wondering whether your cut‑down version actually matches your real project, because it looks as if you’re writing for divisi, but here there are two instruments.
Hi @charles_piano.
After re-adding the cue in the lower staff, did you also select the cue in the upper staff and try moving the lyrics in that cue?
Yes, and it does the same thing — only the lower ones move when I move the upper ones!
That was the original problem which @k.k was seeking a solution for.
Yes, but at least doing it one by one allows to edit the lyrics position of both — not ideal, I must admit…
Your solution is more complicated to set up, but it’s more stable in the end, indeed.
