With my simple song, which works on the “call-response” principle, there is an unattractive display that I can’t improve to my knowledge (see the attached image). The large and small fonts I use (both Helvetica) are not aligned to the baseline, but to the centerline of each letter, which is why the two lines are not aligned nicely and the baseline changes. I’ve tried quite a bit, but especially with the lyrics the y-value can’t be changed or am I doing something wrong? Anyway, my wish would be to be able to align lyrics to a baseline (which is actually standard for text editors). By the way, I was looking for a topic where this wish is already formulated, but I didn’t find one or I searched wrong.
For the time being I think the best you can do is use the Edit Single Lyric dialog and apply a small negative baseline shift to the lyrics with reduced size.
Yes, I thought about this, but I discarded it because there are too many instances with this problem. So for now I live with the result or go the laborious way … But anyway thanks Daniel, so I can stop looking any further.
Have you tried inputting the “response” in a second voice?
My theory is that it might separate the lyrics so that, in Engrave mode, you can move the whole line of lyrics (in the second voice) up or down without affecting the “call” lyrics (in the first voice).
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Grüezi, Jürg.
I tried out my theory - here is the result.
I entered the “response” notes in up-stem voice 2, but it would be just as easy to enter them in up-stem voice 1 and then use Edit (or right-click) > Notations > Voices > Change Voice.
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I didn’t realize lyrics could belong to one or another voice. This workaround could be useful whenever I want one or more lyrics at a different height on a line!
Is there any way to tell which voice existing lyrics are “in”?
Not that I can find.
While clicking on a note has its voice indicated in the status bar, clicking on a lyric does not.
Edit: If you Select All, then Edit > Filter > Voices, choosing one or other of the voices listed will highlight the lyrics along with the notes in that voice.
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That is because you don’t work with voices colours on. I cannot stress enough how useful it is to work with both signposts and voices colours visible… It should really be the default.
BTW, being able to change the lyrics’ voice is a very nice addition to 4.3.20, thanks Team!
Steven you’re pure genius! You even beat Daniel and that’s really challenging. And it is once again a high on this forum. The intelligence of the swarm is not to be outdone! Thanks a lot. And the greeting is even in my native language (with vowel mutation). Hats off …
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That’s probably the only Swiss-German word I can remember.
I have a Swiss friend here in Melbourne, plus I was in Switzerland with a brass band for about 10 days in 1984.
So Daniel this issue has disappeared from my wishlist, I’m happy with Steven’s way to do it …
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So I’ll have to ask my neighbor, who lives quite close and is from Melbourne as far as I know, how to address you correctly. 
- Thanks! and Duh, I should have thought of voice colors.
- I just tried this in Dorico 3.5 too and it works the same way! So I’m not sure what you mean by an “addition to 4.3.20”.
Well, it looks like actually you’re perfectly right! I wasn’t aware I could change the voice of a lyric by right-clicking>Voice etc until recently, I tested it in 3.5 and indeed it was possible! I learn every day…
I’ll have to respectfully disagree here (or at least, if it’s changed, I’d like a general setting in preferences to decide). I work with multiple voices per stave in almost every single project I do, and yet I have no difficulty keeping them straight, considering the fact that stem direction plays a critical role here.
No problem, of course. But you’re already a (very) experienced Dorician, and you seem to have a very clear workflow. New users often have problems dealing with voices, so I respectfully repeat it’s a very good idea to work with voice colours, especially if you’re learning the program. 
That’s certainly fair.
Revisiting this topic. I am using two voices on one staff to represent a lyrical call and response, with the up-stem voice for the call and the down-stem voice for the response. Sometimes the lyric lines overlap. If I want these lyrics to show in a staggered fashion, my understanding is that I should:
- Input all voices and lyrics
- Select the down-stem voice, and then move those lyrics manually.
Is this currently the best way to achieve what I want, or is there a better way to do this?
Thank you.
Could you not use lyric line 2 for the response, and lyric line 1 for the call? That way, they would not overlap automatically.
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And if you have verse numbers turned on for other parts of the score, but don’t want them here, you can manually hide verse numbers by clicking the lyric next to them and adjusting it in the properties panel.
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