Customising cue labels in musical theatre scores

In musical theatre scores, keyboard parts often play a wide variety of patches, including those that double or substitute for other instruments in the pit band. As helpfully suggested in this thread (Instrument changes in a musical theatre context (keys part)), cues can be a great way to show these additional instruments in the keys parts. However, I’m running into an issue with how cue labels appear.

For example, let’s say the pit includes a live Trombone, but the Keys part covers Trombone 2 for certain passages. If I create a cue from the Trombone 2 part in the Keys staff, the label appears as Tbn. 2 in the Keys part. What I would ideally like is:

  • Full label: Trombone (Keys) - to avoid any confusion with Trombone 1, which I would like to be named without the numerical designation
  • Abbreviated label: Tbn.

This way, the labelling is concise and appropriate. However, when I add a second trombone part, the labels show Trombone 1 and Trombone 2 and the abbreviated form in the Keys part, a cue from the second part, shows as Tbn. 2.

Is there a way to customise cue labels like this in Dorico 6?

Any guidance or workarounds would be greatly appreciated!

You can customize the label for any individual cue by changing the “Start text” property in the Properties panel.

Thank you, @asherber, for taking the time to point me in the right direction. I’ve noticed how active and helpful you, and many of the more experienced users, are on this forum. Your generosity with your time and expertise doesn’t go unnoticed and is truly appreciated.

Happy to help, @rraby !