I have them grouped in Setup as “Perc. 1” and “Perc. 2” (as in the left, in the attached screenshot). However, the first page of the score (at right in the attached) groups them together as if they belong to one person. Is this standard or is there typically some way to make it more clear that these are 2, separate players, on the first page of the score? (hadn’t encountered this before admittedly). Certainly, the instrument list on the title page will make it clear what belongs to whom, but this somehow seems more ambiguous on the first page (unless it’s the standard convention and Dorico is therefore just “following orders”). Thanks for any help! (down-to-the-wire deadline ):
Wha? Kind of late as I’ve already notated an 80-page score for a client … I was just wondering what the normal convention was for displaying 2 percussionists? I’ve set them up as 2 players but in the score (page 1) they are bracketed together (but maybe that’s the convention?)
On further reflection, this may be in the category of “stupid question” on my part …I’m presuming they’re bracketed because it’s the percussion section, but it’s presumed that it’s two players (in part based upon what’s listed on the cover about who plays what, etc.?)
No, it doesn’t
It groups them because the instruments belong to the same family.
Just as your string instruments are bracketed together because they are string instruments, the percussionists get their bracket because they play (unpitched) percussion.
You wouldn’t say that one player has to play all the string instruments because of their bracket, would you?
Good point and embarrassed I don’t know this given how much orchestral stuff I’ve done. I’m presuming the default is that the percussionists and conductor sort out who is playing what based upon the (nicely-generated!) players list Dorico helps generate, but that there’s no explicit indication of who is player 1 and 2 in the score (?)
Just rename the first instruments to be played (Tambourine and Susp. Cymbal 2) to Percussion 1 and Percussion 2 for the long names and keep the short names as is (do that in setup mode by clicking on the arrow of the instrument (not the player) and select “change names”. Also, you can rename the layouts at will.
There has already been some discussion about this here on the forums. Some of us (me included) have expressed the need to show the player name in the score instead of the instrument the player is currently holding. Currently you can’t have the score always read “Percussion 2” at the beginning of each line while the player is changing instruments back and forth.
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