Meter change problem

Dorico
1

I have a piece in 4/4. I want to change the meter to 5/4 in one measure. I figured out the ‘stop measure’ and change the one measure to 5/4.

HOWEVER, when I go back into ‘write’, the 5/4 measure only shows 4/4 above the measure. What do I have to do for ‘write’ to have the 5/4 divisions.

2

What does this mean?

Did you, perhaps, want to add an extra beat for just one bar?

3

Yes. measures 1-80 are in 4/4. I want to change measure 41 to 5/4, leaving 42-80 in 4/4. Then changing m41 to 5/4. The eighth note divisions above the 5/4 measure are ‘iiiiIiii’ rather than the expected ‘IiIiIiIiIi’ and the 5/4 measure shows 2 quarter rests and a half rest.

4

Place the entry caret where you wish to add the extra beat in the 5/4 measure. Then type SHIFT + B + 1q. That will add one quarter rest to the measure, which you can then replace with whatever you wanted to add in that beat.

5

That works. I’m still showing the strange beat pattern above the 5/4 measure though. Curiosity, not a problem

6

Adding more musical time (an extra beat) is different from changing how that time is divided into bars (a time signature).

Dorico provides a number of different ways to do both (which can appear confusing if you don’t understand what is happening).

The simplest way is…

  • In bar 42 add a 4/4 time signature - this will preserve everything downstream.
  • Engage insert mode (I) - this will add extra time.
  • In bar 41 add a 5/4 time signature - this creates your 5/4 and adds the extra beat.
  • Disengage insert mode (I)
7

Please explain/describe the strange beat pattern.

8

Are you referring to the subdivisions of the measure when the caret is on beat one? With the 5/4 measure, you could also enter it as something like 3+2/4 if that is how you want the measure to subdivide.

9

You could use Insert Mode’s 4th submode (Global adjustment of current bar), and either insert notes or change the value of the existing ones: it will automatically create a new time signature according to what you add, and restore the 4/4 in the next bar, without moving anything before or after your 5/4: