FR - Part/score naming options

Dorico
1

Just a request to add some commonly used naming conventions and options to part and score setup.

  1. There was a discussion on the Dorico FB group about part naming conventions yesterday. I don’t know if the user that started that thread posts here, but I didn’t see it discussed so just wanted to mention it as a request. As far as I know, there is no way to automate a part naming format where the number comes after the instrument rather than the transposition, is there? The playernames token will reflect text tokens entered in Setup so it can manually be done there, or just manually changed on the part, but it would be great if there was some sort of automatic way to have the number appear after the instrument rather than the transposition for transposing instruments. This is a very common convention, both historically and currently.

From pg 62 of the Schirmer style guide:

From the UE style guide:

  1. Because the Edit Instrument Names window doesn’t accept tokens, it’s awfully tricky to get the transposition to show on a second line if an accidental is involved. There are lots of conventions here, but putting the transposition on a second line underneath is certainly common too, as in this Britten score by Boosey:

It would be great if there was a layout option in Staff Labels/Position of instrument pitch to accommodate it underneath in the score as in “in Bb” or “in F”, preferably with the ability to specify right, left, or center alignment, while still retaining it on a single line in the parts if desired.

  1. If I have to make an edit in the Edit Instrument Names window, I’m often making edits to multiple instruments at once. Perhaps this is tricky as a player may be holding multiple instruments, but it would be great if there was a way to navigate to the next or previous instrument in the score without leaving the window. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this requested before too.

  2. Unless I’ve missed a setting, instrument names are always centered between like instruments. This is typically the most desirable position for orchestral scores, however in jazz there is a common convention where the name appears at the top of the section rather than centered. There’s no way to automate this type of positioning is there?

I definitely prefer this convention for conducting a big band score. If you think of the way the text draws the eye, by positioning it at the top, the eye is instantly drawn to the top of the section, versus down to the centered label and then back up to the lead player.

  1. There’s no setting for this space, is there?

Again, it’s a minor thing, but if space is at a premium being able to shave off a little room here would be desirable.

Sorry if I missed something obvious with any of these, and thanks for considering!

2

If the Team were inclined to implement your first request, perhaps the instrument name pattern might follow that set in the file-naming formulas each user could construct the order of name, player number, and transposition: $n $p in $t (something like that) to follow any given publisher’s house style.

I’m not encouraging them to drop what they are already planning or suggesting such a feature should be “imminent” if at all, just thinking how it might be arranged. (Yeah, I know: my UI/programming skills are nowhere near those available to the Dorico Team.)

3

This is a very clever idea. It would be a great way to allow each user to configure it to their own preferences (assuming a smattering of engraving or setup options weren’t added).

4

I quite like that idea! I was thinking more of settings in Layout Options, but your idea would give the user a lot of control over it. It would be especially useful if the user could then come up with different combinations depending on use, like a staff name vs a header.