I’m writing a piece for a string quartet. I have multiple flows with ideas and preliminary sketches that are all in one Conductor Layout. I have another Conductor Layout with my piece in itself which is written in a distinct flow.
I’m writing some musical examples that I want to include in the instructions at the beginning of the score. I thought I could use the music frame function instead of doing screenshots (graphical slices).
So I created another flow with a “sketch” instrument, because my musical examples are not for the whole string quartet. I wrote the examples I want to present. After, I open the Score and created a master pages template in which I started to write my instruction text. When it came to the music, I added a music frame in which I asked to present the flow with the “sketch” instrument. Nothing appears… I played a bit with the MA, LA, MK functions which I don’t really understand and nothing changed…
Then, I tried to do the same thing directly in the layout by creating a blank page and adding a music frame. When I do this, Dorico start loading and nothing happens even if I wait several minutes. I have to quit and restart the software.
I told myself it might be linked to the several flows I created where my musical preliminary ideas are located. I duplicated the file, deleted all theses flows and the layout, to get only two flows and (two layouts) : the first being the instructions, the second the piece itself.
Again, impossible to create the music frame in a custom master page. Nothing appears… I tried to create a music frame directly in the layout by adding a blank page. I waited several minutes and a finally music appears, but it is a copy of my piece (so not the right flow)… But I try to select the instruction flow and the sketch instrument nothing appears again. I tried agin to play with the MA, LA, etc functions and I had to quit the software because it was loading endlessly (note that I did’t say the software was not responding…).
Then I don’t remember what happened exactly, but now all the piece is gone! There is no frame left at all. If I create a custom music frame, there is no music at all. But the flow is still there in the configuration panel and I haven’t deleted the music… But impossible to “reach it”.
Fortunately, all of this happened in a duplicated file…
I can share privately these files, if you want…
But now it’s sure I’ll use screenshots to add in my instruction pages. The music frame function is too “dangerous” for me.
In principle what you need to do is simple, but I understand that it is both non-obvious and that the software provides you with very little help in setting this kind of thing up.
All flows that you create in your project will be shown in the main music frame chain that appears in both the First and Default page templates in the page template set – including your sketch flows. So the first job is to edit the default music frame chain (which you can do in either of those page templates) to remove the sketch flows from the frame chain, using the Flows menu in the top left corner of the frame. Now the main flow of music through your layout should be as it was before, with the sketch flows excluded.
In order to show the sketch flows themselves, if the aim is to show short musical examples in front matter, I would definitely recommend using layout-specific music frames, created on page overrides added in a particular layout – unless you need the same examples to appear in every part layout.
If you need these front matter pages to appear in part layouts, I would create a new front matter page template in the Default Parts page template set (or whichever set you’re using) and add new music frames as necessary. Each of them should be in their own frame chain (they will be called something like ML or MM by default, depending on how many frames exist already in the set). Make sure they are not linked to the main MA frame chain that the main set of flows appears in . Again, use the Flows menu in the top left corner to include just the single sketch flow you expect to appear in each one.
The procedure is essentially the same in a layout-specific page override, except that you don’t need to worry about not linking the music frames to the main frame chain, since this is impossible when adding layout-specific music frames.
Thanks for your answer! I’m able now to create a music frame with my musical examples, but only if it is a LA type. Nothing appears if is a ML MM unliked to the MA frame. I’m forced to do it directly in the layout because it seems impossible to have a LA music frame in the template. At least, I need it only for the score (for now).
Do you want me to send the previous file where everything is messed up? I’m not sure if it is a bug.
If you want me to investigate your project, I can do. If you send it to me, please be sure to include the specific details of how to reproduce the problem you encountered.
LA frames (any frame starting with L) are “Layout Frames” and thus cannot exist (AFAIK) in a Page Template, but one can create Page Templates with multiple frames designed to hold short excerpts.
