I’m working on a jazz arrangement and would like to minimize the number of dynamics (immediate dynamics, hairpins etc.) in the printed score as the conductor and/or players will decide about them.
However, I do need these dynamics for my playback, and want them to be easily adjustable, as if I’m working on two “images” of the same score, one with and one without dynamics.
I’ve been reading some threads in this forum about hiding dynamics, but I find these solutions not practical to use (e.g. changing color or scale of hairpin to make it invisible).
My solution for this case is to add an extra staff for each instrument and add the dynamics on that staff (obviously assigning the staff to the same midi channel) I can hide these extra staffs in the print out.
To create dynamics that you only hear in playback, and never want to appear in the music anywhere, the Dynamics editor is your friend: this is exactly what it’s for!
@Lillie_Harris I’m aware of this feature and I do use it sometimes when I can’t achieve the playback result I want with written dynamics.
It’s certainly a powerful and versatile feature, but for the “rough work” I find it much easier to work with written dynamics. Also helps me keeping the total overview, making sure that different instruments have similar dynamics etc. (grouping of dynamics…)
@benwiggy Unfortunately this (or a similar) property is not available on hairpins, at least not that I know of. That is the main reason I’m turning to an extra staff.
I know this sort of thing isn’t always ideal, but I sometimes have a similar scenario where I’ll work on the file normally, (in this case) delete all of the dynamics in one action, export the PDF without dynamics, and then undo.
The only thing you have to be careful of is that you undo before you save and close, but I find that to be sometimes the simplest solution.
I figured out that my solution (second staff for dynamics) is creating more problems than it solves. Midi dynamics don’t behave as expected with this approach.
Will need to choose one of the other solutions provided here or elsewhere on the forum.
I want to throw in a completely different idea: Cues.
You write your score with everything you need, including dynamics. Then you add additional players and pull the notes and everything else (except dynamics) as a cue to these new players.
Form then on, all changes to the original players will be reflected in your “duplicate without dynamics” players.
Wouldn’t hiding the dynamics still possibly affect the layout in terms of spacing (for printing)? If so, this could be a drawback. As an outside observer, I like @dan_kreider 's idea. Simple…YMMV
There is an older hand copying house style that only shows dynamics for lead players when the section has the same dynamics, sometimes even above the section. When you are completely done writing, you could duplicate the flow, remove the score layout from Flow 1, and remove the part layouts from Flow 2. Unlink any dynamics in Flow 2, and delete the unwanted dynamics.
I can then have this in the score (oops, saved graphic as concert pitch) …
