how to enclose a fermata in a pair parentheses?

[prko]

Dear advanced users and developers.

How could a fermata be enclosed in a pair parentheses as follows (extracted from “An der schonen blauen Donau”)?

I could not find any option for it and any related post here.
Thanks in advance.

[benwiggy]

Either make a Playing Technique, or modify one of the fermata shapes that you’re not using in the Music Symbols editor. You’ll need to find a set of parentheses marks: there are several, such as in Standard Accidentals. Note that the order in which you add the glyphs is significant to how they line up to each other.

[Frigolito]

I would suggest editing an existing fermata symbol that you don’t use. This is done as follows:

1. Make sure you are in Engrave mode.
2. Enter the Edit Music Symbol dialog by in the top menu clicking Engrave → Music Symbols…
3. In the Category curtain (top left), choose “Holds and Pauses”.
4. Pick a fermata that you won’t be using e.g. “Short Fermata” and replace its glyph(s) with the normal fermata symbol and of course surrounding parenthesis and adjust their sizes and positions to your liking. These can be found in the “Holds and Pauses” range and e.g. the “Dynamics” range. Do this for both the above version and the below version respectively.

[prko]

Thank you very much!

It would be great if users can add symbols using Music Symbol dialog window. Why is it restricted?

[dspreadbury]

You can’t add symbols in the Music Symbols editor because every symbol in there is used by Dorico for a specific purpose. There’s no sense in allowing you to create a symbol that the software cannot use. If you want to add your own custom symbol, it needs to be added in association with the feature that will be involved in getting it to appear in your project, for example as a notehead, a playing technique, or an accidental.

[prko]

Thanks! I understand why adding symbols in the Music Symbols editor cannot be allowed.

Currently, I see this option only for dynamic markings and accidentals.
Could you add the option “parenthesized” for the following symbol?

• tr
• Baroque and Classical ornaments
• Jazz
• All symbols in “Holds and Pauses”
• Playing technique (even though each symbol in the Playing technique could be altered and added)

If necessary, I can post a new thread dedicated to the subject in this post.

[dspreadbury]

You don’t need to add a new thread. We in the Dorico team read every post, even if we don’t respond personally to every single one.

[prko]

Thanks!

[Gareth_Glyn]

I’ve tried to follow the instructions to create a fermata in parentheses, but on screen it always gets positioned too far to the left. The one in the first bar (the one I’m trying to get right) is meant to be attached to the first note of the bassoon staff; the ones in the second bar are there for diagnosis only, and are attached to the full bar rest in another staff. I’ve tried moving the symbol around in the editor, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Both the “above” and “below” versions have been saved as default.
(Oh, and I needed also to change the placement of the first fermata from ‘below’ to ‘above’, but that was after I took the screenshot. I’m not sure why Dorico placed it below in the first place, as the notes in this bar are ‘upstem’ ones. The last screenshot shows the bar in Engrave mode, with the manually moved fermata; the first note is made up of two superimposed ones to facilitate the reversed l.v. tie from the previous flow.)
I’ve uploaded the flow:
Symffoni - 2nd movement.dorico (1.1 MB)

[benwiggy]

It looks like the Short Henze pause is an anomaly – probably because of its lop-sided shape. If you use the Long Henze pause, then all is centered correctly.

[Gareth_Glyn]

Wow, brilliant detective work! Thanks very much indeed.

[David_Ostenso_Moore]

I am following all these steps, but I’m not seeing how to replace a symbol with another one.

[findingdorico]

To help others running Dorico Pro 4 (because the steps are a bit different now):

1. In Engrave OR Write mode, in the menu bar above (on a Mac), click Library/Music Symbols… and you’ll get to the Edit Music Symbol window.
2. In the Category menu at top left, select Holds and Pauses.
3. Click "Long fermata above (Henze).
4. Make sure you’re in the Glyph tab on the top right of the window and click SmuFL if it’s not selected.
5. In Range menu, select Holds and Pauses (U+E4C0-U+E4DF) and click the regular fermata at the top left of the block of hold/pause symbols, then click Add Glyph; the regular fermata will appear to the right of the Henze fermata.
6. Click the Henze fermata and click the Trash icon underneath to get rid of it and shift the regular fermata into its place.
7. Back in the Range menu, select Standard Accidentals (12-EDO) (U+E260-U+E26F)
8. Click the left parentheses symbol and click Add Glyph. Repeat for the right parentheses symbol. Position those parentheses to the left and right of the fermata. Click OK.
9. Switch to Write mode if you’re not in it.
10. Click the item you’d like to place the new fermata over and in the right panel, click the fermata symbol to see all available fermatas. Then, click the Henze fermata (the one with the 2 dots) to place your new fermata with parentheses.
11. Optional: you can always go back to Library/Music Symbols… to edit your new fermata further if you don’t like the way it looks.