I’m giving a Zoom Q&A presentation to liturgical composers tomorrow (28 Jan '25) on Dorico, and had a question come up that I ponder often as well. In my professional life, I am constantly in need of section markers for refrains, verses, etc., which don’t quite fit the mold of traditional segnos and codas. Usually, I’ll just re-label a segno to mark one of these sections, so that the playback functionality is there for me, but this an extra step, and it’s easily undone (if you accidentally double-click a marker, the labeling reverts to a default segno on click-off).
For a future release, would you consider expanding the Repeat Sections vocabulary to include these more contemporary labeling conventions, so that they’re ready to roll when needed?
Here’s a train-of-thought list of possible conventions, with popover/jump-bar shortcuts parenthesized. I also rifled through the vocal books from my kids’ current shows; surely, there are terms in jazz and many other genres that could be included…
Bridge (br)
Chorus (ch)
Improv
Introduction (int) [option to shorten to “intro”)
Interlude (inl)
Refrain (ref)
Safety
Vamp
Verse (ve) [with the option to add a numerical identifier, e.g., “Verse 3”]
I certainly agree that there is a need for section markers in Dorico, but I’m not sure that they would naturally fit into either repeat markers or rehearsal marks.
Could you point me in the right direction to find some books where I can find examples of repeat structures that use markers like “Bridge” and “Chorus” in their repeat instructions?
Thanks for the reply, Daniel. I agree that section markers within the context of repeat endings is a bit of a stretch, but I figured that it would be the easiest way to implement the feature, as the necessary functionality (i.e., functional markers, ordering, etc) was already well in place.
As for examples, I don’t have a ton specifically referring to bridge and chorus, although I did find one example in this sample PDF of OCP’s Spirit and Song hymnal (https://dh8zy5a1i9xe5.cloudfront.net/shared/pdf/preview/30113952.pdf). See the Rick Modlin arrangement of “All Creatures of Our God and King.”
I honestly don’t see a way Dorico could automatically create something like “to bridge after verse 2” from your example. It’s in fact a combination of a section marker and a lyrics parameter? And the second text there states “to verse 3” which would also not be a section marker but a lyrics component.
Agreed, and that’s not what I’m after… I’m just looking for a quicker way to establish markers like “bridge,” “refrain,” etc… the weeds of instruction would still be on the user to create.