How do I see the parts from Finale in the Dorico layouts?
I exported a Finale file having 18 instruments and 33 parts using File>Export>Music XML… When the file is opened in Dorico, I see 18 players each having one of the 18 instruments. I see 19 layouts consisting of the “Full score” and the 18 players. The “Full score” has a tick mark for each of the players, and each of the other layouts has a single tick mark for each matching player.
Where are the remaining 15 parts? Can they be imported to become layouts? Are they ignored?
The Finale preferences include the check mark for “Include linked parts in compressed files.”
When I open the .mxl file in BBEdit, it shows that the parts are in the file.
Mike
Finale 27.4.1.146
Dorico 5.1.51.2153
MacOS 14.6.1 (23G93)
MacBook Pro
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No, Dorico doesn’t import all the layouts from XML.
I presume these are just different transpositions of the same material? In which case you should be able to set them up in Setup mode in a matter of seconds.
Perhaps wait until the Part layouts that you have are as you want them, then you can duplicate the layouts, assign clefs and transpositions, and you’re done.
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Some of the instruments in a full score could be:
bass guitar
guitar
ukulele
steel guitar
voice
Each having their own musical notes.
The voice staff has the melody notes and the lyrics.
I want each musician to have the lyrics superimposed on their instrument staff, without taking up space for a melody staff.
Then some of the parts I want are:
bass+lyrics
steel guitar+ lyrics
ukulele+ lyrics
The melody staff has notes and lyrics, but I can hide the notes and position the lyrics staff on top of the other instrument in each of the parts. Each of the parts then has the instrument staff plus the lyrics.
I have a hundred files in Finale that are structured this way. How to I port this approach to Dorico?
This will be tricky to do, because ideally you would add the lyrics to each of those instruments “for real”, but then choose not to show the lyrics in the full score layout. However, Dorico doesn’t currently provide a way of doing that.
I’m not sure I follow. If the guitar is playing notes other than the melody, how do we add lyrics to the guitar? And how would we keep the lyrics consistent between instruments?
I appreciate how Dorico handles chords as a sort of global musical structure that can appear in any layout. I view the lyrics similarly: they are something that I’d like to see on any layout.
If only it were possible for a staff to have zero lines, or for a staff to be invisible, then I could create an instrument having no key signature, no clef and no time signature that has melody notes and lyrics. Then I’d make the melody notes disappear and all that would remain is the lyrics. I could add that instrument to each of the layouts that want lyrics.
Would it be an option to consider showing e.g. the vocal staff in the guitar part, perhaps cue sized (e.g. at 60% scale) so that the guitarist can see not only the lyrics but also the melody?
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No, the guitarist says that’s not a good use of space. It’s better to have one page of music with no melody line than it is to have two pages that include a melody line.