I read the thread “Forcing Duration on tied notes,” but I would like a little more clarity, please. I got this for piccolo and two flutes:
In the previous thread there were solutions that involved typing strings of numbers and letters.
Thanks.
I’m not certain exactly what you’re asking. Is it why the bottom staff has the c tied while the e in the 2nd staff for the same duration is dotted? Is one or both of those durations forced? If so, that force overrides everything else.
Apologies if I’ve misunderstood the question.
Hi @konradh,
I am not sure why the flute 1 sets the last note of tie chain as dotted: the description of the following default Notation Option may suggest that it should be notated as eight note at the end:
Notes starting on a beat followed by a rest in the middle of the beat: Split at beat boundaries
But I think that in your example of flute 1, a tie chain with two quarter notes and one eight note, looks not so nice and a little heavy to the reader, so Dorico, for such longer tie chains over multiple beats chooses to notate the last eight as a dot.
Anyway here the relevant Notation Option that you can change to Notate as a single note, to have also the piccolo’s and flute 2’s end of the tie chain, notated as dotted:
(video without audio)
If you want instead, the last eight note in flute 1 as a tied note, as the piccolo and flute 2, here one possible easy procedure, using Force Duration:
(video with audio)
Add-on:
if you want the condensed flutes to share a stem, you can apply a manual Condensing Change as follow:
Thank you, @Christian_R. I appreciate your time to make training videos!
I typically write out separate parts, and when it is not possible or musical for one part to change pitches, I use ties so all the parts (harmonies) are clear. I agree that tying two quarters and an 1/8 does not look elegant, but it does make it all three parts clear. 
I will look at some scores to see what composers usually do in this situation.
