I got it pretty close by creating a few players with assigned instruments and tweaking various layout options. But neither staff label option (under layout options > staff labels) creates a braced Perc. staff that I am looking for. It either shows individual player names (based on whatever I name them in setup), or the individual instruments. Currently it looks like this using a totally random assortment of instruments:
Obviously I don’t want any names for the individual staves (since instrument labels will do that job), I want one braced collection of staves which says Perc. exactly as seen in the examples above.
I also tried creating a “player group” but that’s not quite the style of brace I’m looking for, as the group name is on the side and it leaves staff labels too.
Attached is my current Dorico project as far as I am able to get it:
My 2¢ – The bracket you have is appropriate. A brace in modern practice is for one multi-staff instrument, so the original looks like a misuse of a brace.
Thanks. The above engraving examples are only a few years old, so they are relatively modern in terms of use. What I like about them is the clean consolidation, freeing me up to switch instruments with ease without taking up too much space on the side labels describing every instrument, or simply labelling them “Perc 1, Perc 2, Perc 3” which of course is an option, but at that point if you’re labelling each player that way I feel one might as well simplify it under a brace as in the example.
Also I think it isn’t possible by any means to apply two kinds of bracket to the same span of staves. This example has the straight line with no tips plus a brace.
Oh, you know what, to be totally fair my hang up is not on mimicking the bracket or brace itself per se. I can see how that was misleading.
I think my main goal, as related in the previous post, is mainly to simplify staff labels into one consolidated Perc. section, since the instrument labels above each staff will specify what instrument the player is using at any given time. Aesthetically speaking I am open to any alternative look which allows me to achieve that.
I suppose put another way: if I was just engraving/copying for a client, and they asked me to do this in this way (regardless of modern practice or not) – would it simply not be possible in Dorico?
If the staves were all the same number of lines, you might be able to fake it by adding staves to one instrument. But I can’t think of a way to include a 1-line staff too.
Effectively as a result the names disappear from those staves. Then I selected all these players and combined them into a new player group called PERC. With some adjustments in engraving options to place the group bracket closer to the staves.
Ultimately this gets me pretty close to my intended goal, in terms of functionality. I futzed with the settings for group names, it seems there is no way to orient them horizontally so I could effectively cheat it as a staff label. Ideally, I’d prefer to that, as opposed to the vertical/sideways group label. Curious if anyone has any other thoughts, but I’m glad this gets me a bit closer!
Updated project here if anyone is curious to mess around:
