At the beginning of a 5/8 bar, I have a 5:4 quintuplet, i.e. 5/16s in 4/16s comprised of an eighth rest, an eighth note, and a sixteenth note. (Followed by 3 eighths rest to fill out the bar.) Dorico writes the tuplet as an eighth rest, two sixteenths tied, and a sixteenth note. I think that description is clear but I could provide an image if necessary.
How do I make that not two 16ths tied but an eighth?
This will probably come up many times.
While I’m asking, say for example I have a quintuplet (5:4 16ths) and the music is three 16ths and an eighth rest. What is current thinking about extending a single beam over to the eighth rest and putting a stub stem on it? I’ve seen this done, but I’ve gotten the impression this is frowned on. It’s true that the bracket should suffice to define what falls under the tuplet. I see that I followed this practice in my 1966 score, and I guess I liked it that way, but I can’t say I’ve done much of that since.
Having forced duration once, you can copy/paste it where needed and use Lock Duration (L) to re-pitch it (which might be quicker than having to force duration each time). This will also preserve your custom beaming if you go that route.
I understand the philosophy behind Dorico’s figuring out durations and rests for you, but that can be a problem if the music is complex or a composer wants something a certain way.
That said, I apologize for my density, but I’m not getting it from what it says in the manual about Force Duration. No doubt my fault.
What I want is to change something that’s already been set. I’ve included a fragment. That’s guitar, violin, and cello. The problem is in the 5/8 bar, where the two 1/16ths of Eb-C are tied. I want those to be an eighth, not tied 1/16ths, and after ten minutes of working with it I can’t make that happen, even if I delete everything in the measure and retype it trying to use Force Durations.
Surely this can’t be as difficult as I’m making it.
Click the stem of the first Eb/C, which should select all 4 noteheads
Type letter O to engage Force Duration; C-clamp icon in left toolbar should turn blue
Type 4 (16th note), then type 5 (8th note)
When you’re changing the duration of something you’ve already entered, you need to change it away from what it currently is. That tie chain already has the duration of an eighth note, so just pressing 5 for an eighth note won’t do anything. You have to shorten it to a sixteenth note, then lengthen it again to an eighth.
It works perfectly. All of two seconds of knowing what to do and the problem is solved. Now I need to internalize what I did there so I can apply it because I’m sure it’s going to come up a lot.
What exactly is the difference between clicking on noteheads and clicking on the stem? (I know there is one because I stumbled over it in a tutorial, but if you remember 10% of what you see in a tutorial you’re doing exceptionally well.)
