I want to place a G.P. annotation (General Pause) above or below a multi-bar rest. Does anybody have a suggestion or a workaround how to do this?
The workarounds for G.P. annotations presented in the forum (create custom articulation; create custom line; change design of fermata in the > Library > Music Symbols … dialog) all do not seem to work, because they all split the multi-bar rest:
Is the G.P. 3 bars long, or is it one of the bars inside the 3 bar rest? If it’s the latter, I would recommend splitting the multi-bar rest to show which bar is the G.P. As a long-time orchestral player, I would be confused by that notation.
Obviously, I don’t know the scenario in which this piece will be rehearsed, but from experience, these sorts of notations can be confusing to the players and end up eating rehearsal time while it gets sorted out. If it’s a professional rehearsal, those extra minutes also cost money. My approach has always been to make everything completely obvious so everyone knows what’s happening. If the G.P. is only two bars, you really should only have those two bars shown as the G.P. It may mean a little more effort and time on your part, but it generally makes for a much smoother rehearsal.
Thank you for your explanations of the concept of a General Pause, @Derrek and @bkshepard. Maybe, my initial question was not entirely clear: I did not ask what a General Pause is and when I should use it.
Instead, my question is: In Dorico, how do I achieve the notation for a multi-bar G.P. proposed by Elaine Gould? In other words: I want a “G.P.” below a two-bar multirest (because in the piece I am scoring in Dorico, there is a silence of two bars for the whole ensemble).
I never considered that case when I came up with the solution above, but: if you position the line attachment points at exactly at the relevant barlines, then the rests won’t be broken. While I didn’t try it out with the G.P. line from the suite (haven’t made it available on my current workstation), this works with Dorico’s own lines, so it should work with the line from the suite as well. The script may be less useful, since it probably inserts splits at unwanted positions.
I have found the solution myself in a post by @lucas_r_r:
The solution with a custom line works, but only when the line is input as a system line, ie. with Alt/Opt-click. System lines that are positioned at the beginning of a bar do not split a multi-bar rest beginning in that bar.
The procedure of creating a custom line for General Pauses (invisible, with centered text “G.P.”) is explained by @benwiggy here:
