I’ve encountered a situation in which the piano accompaniment is divided into 2/4, 3/8, 2/4 but is treated as a single bar and needs to line up with a 4/4 bar in all the other parts. (see attached)
I tried to replicate this as an exercise. I found that I had to change the order a bit and also had to add one additional step in order to achieve the desired result and I’m curious if that’s the “correct” way, or if I did something wrong somewhere. Starting out with a piece in 4/4, my process was:
Add an ‘extra’ 4/4 in the bar following the bar where whole note has to come (shift+M, 4/4)
Add a hidden open time signature for the whole note bar in the vocal parts (select the bars in the vocal parts, shift+M: type “open”, hit Alt+Enter)
Select both Piano staves and using the shift+M popover each time:
Enter a 2/4, hit Alt+Enter. Creates the 2/4 plus a barline
Enter a 3/8, hit Alt+Enter. Creates the 3/8 plus a barline
Enter a 2/4, hit Alt+Enter. Creates the 2/4 plus a barline, BUT there is only 1 eighth rest in there since you’ve run out of beats in the original 4/4 bar
Now the extra step: activate the Player scope in Insert mode, select that single eighth rest and hit shift+B for the bars popover. Then type “+3e” to add 3 eighth notes and hit Enter. The extra eighths are only added to the selected player, which includes both piano staves. Now deactivate Insert mode.
Hide the 4/4 time signature in the following bar globally (Properties panel), then reapply it locally for the piano staves (select the bar in both piano staves, shift+M: type “4/4”, hit Alt+Enter)
Add the 8:11e tuplet in the vocal parts, hide the number and proceed by entering the notes. (I had to use Force duration to get a whole note in the vocal parts).
Apply bar number change
This did the trick, but since you didn’t mention using Insert mode @judddanby I’m wondering if I did something wrong there. But for me this was the only way to achieve this. In the work I do I’ll hardly ever need this, but it was a fun excercise.
EDIT: added a first step since I apparently forgot I did that
Okay, @dhcfield, I’ve done some more work on this passage.
As far as the “dis-aligned” meters, it’s actually fairly straightforward:
Enter hidden 11/8 in m. 131 shift + M(11/8)
Use a hidden 8:11e tuplet in the vocal parts so the written whole note fills the measure; force duration renders it as an unbroken note
Enter hidden local time sigs 2/4, 3/8, 2/4 in piano part (using opt/alt + enter)
Enter hidden 4/4 in the vocal staves in m. 132 shift + M(4/4)
Enter local time sig 4/4 in piano part in (global) m. 132
Create fermatas as playing techniques (since you can’t have the “real” fermata without also seeing it in th piano part (I think…)); add to vocal parts
Create time signatures for piano as staff-attached text, since (again, I think…) you can’t have Dorico show a single time sig between the piano grand staff without also doing so in the four vocal staves. (EDIT: I obviously forgot to make the 4/4. But that raises the interesting question that — unless I’m wrong about what I wrote in the previous sentence* — you’ll have to go through a bunch of work if you have many time sigs to show between staves as staff text.)
Can’t thank you enough for your efforts on this - there’s a lot to take in and I may need to ask a question or two but the results are exactly what I’m looking for - many thanks!
Yeah, I have to say that for me — an “apprentice-level” user — this took a bit of exploration (which I enjoyed and learned a lot from, so thanks for that!).
