My whole life I’ve been used to notating flutter-tongue on wind instruments by cross-hatching the stem.
Question 1: How do I do that in Dorico?
Question 2: Has there been a shift in philosophy on this style? (I’ve been out of touch for decades.) If I put (for instance) three slashes on the stem of a quarter note, it could also look like 32nd notes. This happens often in drum parts where you don’t really want to write out 8 rat-a-tats per beat when the rest of the orchestra is playing whole notes. In drum parts there is no possibility of ambiguity.
I’m aware that the playing techniques popover provides three text-based alternatives for this technique. This may work better, though some composers might think it doesn’t look as cool.
Honestly? This is the VERY last thing I’m thinking about when engraving my music.
Clarity and precision are foremost.
So far for flutter tongue I’ve always used the 3 hash marks (like an unmeasured tremolo in strings.) Considering most instruments that will flutter tongue aren’t likely to do unmeasured tremolos. I’ll usually add the text expression “flutter” or something like that, as an added performance mark, but it clutters the score and isn’t really necessary.
Ha! Well, I’m asking questions about how to set music I wrote nearly 60 years ago, so I’ll beg for mercy because of my youthful vanity. I say this claiming that I myself am all for precision and also suspecting that at least some advocates of the new complexity mode of thinking do much of what they do because it looks cool. (And I’ll admit that it does. I have some of it hanging on my studio walls for decoration.)
So the 3 hash marks are still standard, huh? I’ve got a flutter tongue that starts on a 32nd note (tied to an eighth, tied to a quarter). Do you still put three hash marks through the 32nd?
Having asked that, I’m still new enough to Dorico that I haven’t yet discovered how to add those hash marks to a stem. (Every measure of music I type in I must look up ten things in the manual or ask Gemini or come here begging for alms.)
I have a 32nd tied to an eighth tied to a quarter. When I used the popover and typed 3, it did raise the flags on the 32nd and put in three hash marks, but it put five each on the eighth and quarter. So I untied the three notes, selected the 32nd, added the hash marks to that alone, then to each of the other two notes, this time giving me three per note, and retied them.
Problem solved, and another technique to internalize because it will come up often. Thank you so much!
Yes, in a tie chain with different durations, Dorico will do exactly what you ask for on the first note and will try to keep the same number of metric divisions on the other notes.
I play several instruments. My major instrument in school (many years ago) was bass trombone. I haven’t ever seen anything but hash marks either for flutter tongue.
I spent many hours playing (and sometimes teaching how to make) new sounds on the trombone in those days. Lots of singing into the instrument, lots of coffee can mutes (I couldn’t afford a harmon), and of course lots of flutter tongues.
I gather by your list handle that you must be an oboe player. Are flutter tongues possible on oboe?
It’s possible on reeds, but it’s easier on brass. (I can do it, but I started on trumpet before I became a bassoonist and eventually ended up playing almost all winds.) Some reed players prefer to growl instead when they’re asked to flutter, as the result is similar.
(I would expect the word “flutter” written above the tremolo marking, but I think I’ve only encountered it in music written for kids.)