Harp pedal diagrams question

I know this has been talked about before, but I wasn’t able to find a clear solution how to create them in Dorico.

Following many harpists’ advice, I didn’t add all the pedal markings and only use them at the start of the piece and with glissandi, leaving it up to the harpist to write in their own pedal markings which they prefer, although I made sure everything is playable. They told me it’s very personal when they switch pedals, even taking resonation of the harp into consideration, and when they get a part, the first thing they do is cross out the composer’s pedal markings…

I decided to go for screenshot them in Sibelius and insert them as graphic objects in Dorico, which I did after having finished the layout so they would be at the correct spot. After all, they don’t connect to the staff. Problem still is that I cannot get them look very crispy and clear in the exported PDF even though the fill aspect of the frame is set to Aspect Fit.
Screen Shot 2018-04-03 at 06.03.48.png
I also considered to use letter notation instead, using Shift-X, but I wasn’t able to create the accidentals. Any advice how to create the diagrams or the letter notation that includes the accidentals?

Andre, the moment you take the screenshot in Sibelius is when you reduce the graphic quality of your harp diagram. Instead of taking a screenshot try to (in Sibelius) select the harp diagram (via Alt+G) and then (through the File menu) export as Graphic. Choose .png with a high resolution (1200 dpi) and see whether this makes a difference when importing into your Dorico Graphic Frame.

Much better now, thanks!

An even easier way would be to use a text object in Dorico! Just set the font to Bravura instead of Academico and copy and paste in the first four symbols here.

Thanks. I tried it and it’s a good solution because this text stays on its place, but it gives layout problems. For some reason the text appears far below the staff, pushing the lower systems way down. I cannot find a way to get this to a specified distance automatically, so this would mean that I will have to correct the layout for every diagram I add this way. I will stay with the graphic option. After all, diagrams do not need to show in the main score anyway.

Can someone explain to someone who’s never used unicode before how to do it? Do we use Bravura or Bravura text, and are you supposed to actually type “E681” or whatever at some point to get the symbol? (does U+ just mean it’s unicode or are you supposed to also type the U?)

Probably best not to necro a barely-related thread for this, but rather to make your own new one :slight_smile:

Take a look at this.

Can someone explain to someone who’s never used unicode before how to do it? Do we use Bravura or Bravura text, and are you supposed to actually type “E681” or whatever at some point to get the symbol? (does U+ just mean it’s unicode or are you supposed to also type the U?)

You should be able to copy the glyph itself (without typing the code) and paste it, using the style “Music Text”. You may need to increase the font size, depending on the glyph and your score. If it’s messing up the staff spacing, go to Engrave mode; in the bottom Properties panel, turn off “Avoid collisions.”

smufl-harp.png

For the sake of clarity, the glyph is the music symbol itself, not the code or the descriptive text.

Daniel, is this (aeolian) really the link you meant for this thread? I’m confused.

Far be it for me to accuse Daniel of a mistake, but I doubt it. He posted the same link a minute earlier, here: woodwind playing techniques - #2 by dspreadbury - Dorico - Steinberg Forums

No, indeed. Clipboard failure! I’ve fixed the link in my earlier reply, and I reproduce it also here.

Thank you. This info is very helpful!