I have just imported an XML of a movement of a concerto into my working file already containing two of the four total movements.
This new movement contains five vocal lines which Dorico efficiently labeled 1,2,3,4,5. The third line is the only one in bass clef and should be moved to the bottom. If I do Setup mode, drag third player down below the fifth, the numbering becomes 1,2,4,5,3. Hence my first question: is it possible for Dorico to automatically update the numbering?
Another approach was to select first note of line 3, run Select to end of Flow (SEOF), then select first note of line 5, run SEOF again, and, hopefully, swap the lines. The issue is that upon doing these last two steps, line 4 gets selected as well. In Sibelius, once I had selected a range of bars, holding down Cmd/Ctrl and clicking on a different stave would add the other stave to the selection. I understand Dorico’s selection works differently and that there are good reasons for that (e.g., non-contiguous selections), but is there a possible approach here?
Of course, I could swap lines 3-4, then 4-5, then 3-4 again but I was wondering if a better path existed, especially concerning the first question.
Another approach would be to open each players instrument and do a “Change Instrument” action. That way you get your correct instruments (instead of just numbered staves) for your concerto and also the correct order.
This is a step you will anyway have to do at one point, so why not do it right away after xml
import?
I’m not 100% sure I’m following you. Why should I change the instruments if they are correct and, in the end, they should look as “Vocal line 1-2-3-4-5” anyway? Perhaps I forgot a detail: they are already five different players but I have the Engraving Option set up to group together adjacent instruments with the same name.
They are numbered as vocal line 1…5. Still under the hood they are not identified as vocal instruments after the xml import. They will also probably playback as pianoforte instrument, I guess.
If you tell Dorico that these instruments are actually singers, then it will sort itself out. You can rename them later to 1…5 again.
Let’s assume the instruments applied were the correct ones. Would there be a way to drag them around and having them automatically renumbered? I recall this being an issue with cello ensembles many years ago and I have a vague memory of this being fixed but now I am not so sure.
No, I would look at line “1” - decide which singer it is - change instrument.
Then the same with line “2” - …
Then the same with line “3” change instrument to “Bass” singer.
and so on.
Afterwards you yourself can rename the singers to how you like (for example: Canto 1 to “Vocal 1” and: Basso to “Vocal 5”). You get the idea.
Of course you could drag them afterwards around, but I would let Dorico do the automatic sorting first.
Yes: after dragging the players around, in menu Setup choose Reset Instrument Names: the numbering will be recreated in the correct order.
Yes: in Galley view you can filter the two desired instruments, before using Select To End Of Flow, then you can Swap the content of the selected staves.
Bravo Christian! I always forget to look in the app menus! I try contextual menus thinking everything is in there. Perhaps also the Jump bar but I didn’t try it this time.
