I use bass clef for tenor singing staff using a piano sound, but it plays back down one octave. How can I keep the music looking the way it does but play back an octave higher? (The staff for the bass singer actually does play up an octave, but it’s an old score and I don’t remember how that happened. So my tenor sounds lower than my bass singer!)
I can’t recall if this works but you might be able to just adjust that instruments transposition or have it turn off where desired:
I’m just not sure if this works for singers.
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Should be possible using the 5.x transposition overrides, at least.
If worst comes to worst (and I don’t think it will) then you can always just adjust the pitch in the VST directly.
Choose a Baritone instead, and rename it to Tenor.
We need more information. Is this a case of transitioning from a four-stave SATB configuration to a two-stave choir configuration? That would be more complex.
Thank you, everyone. The baritone idea worked! That’s how I’ll set scores up from now on. It’s for 5 a cappella parts, each with a separate staff.
Thanks for pointing to this manual page! I’ve been engraving late Stravinsky (Requiem Canticles - if anyone is interested in the Dorico file let me know), where he notates the contrabass in concert pitch, not an octave lower. Now I can finally have the bass part as it appears in the score.
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Yeah, that worked, but there must be a better way. But thanks very much for the suggestion, because I can make use of it until I can figure out what I’m doing wrong in the first place!
Yes. The reason is because one of the Tenor “instruments” is special in Dorico, with an octave transposition. If you change the clef, you can get into a bit of trouble.
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Thank you, benwiggy, for explaining this bit of weirdness. After decades in the wilderness coping with Finale as an amateur, getting an actual reply from an actual knowledgeable human being was a rare treat. I will put your helpful suggestion into practice today.
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