After a D.S, I need a second rehearsal letter at the same bar that was already played once. I have two rehearsal letters the first time through. Letters B and C. The second time through, those same measures will be F and G.
Then the CODA will be letter H, but if I were to use the DORICO rehearsal letters option, due to the fact that the previous auto generated rehearsal letter was E, it would auto generate letter F, but… the real rehearsal letter would be letter H.
Does anyone know a way to make system text with a circle enclosure? (Actually, it could be any of the typical enclosures used for rehearsal letters. Circle, eclipse, square, rectangle.) I’m using circles in this arrangement.
Create the Rehearsal Mark where you want it. It will show “H.” Then, Properties panel->Rehearsal Marks. Change the Index to whatever letter you want it to be by increasing/decreasing the number.
You can also use the properties panel to change the type of rehearsal mark. In Engraving options, each type of mark can have it’s own shape (circle, square, etc).
You can create a paragraph style with a border and use that for your “rehearsal letter” system text. You can define a rectangular border but not a circle – although if the text is a single letter, the Capsule style is sort of like a circle.
I created a system text and used the capsule style. The big problem is, once I got the things the way I wanted them (10 pt font size and bold), and then spent time getting them lined up correctly in the score, when I went into the parts! Oh man. The rehearsal letters where in the correct spot, but my “&” and the system text letter in the “capsule” were up really high and not anywhere close to being lined up, even with each other. So now I’m in the process of lining them up in every part.
I did the same system text for the letters in the coda, but after reading James_Gilberts’s suggestion, I tried creating rehearsal marks in the coda. Of course, they came out with the incorrect letter, but I changed the index to 8 for “H”, and the “I” came out right without having to change it’s index at all.
I was hoping someone might have a different way of doing it so I don’t have to fix the rest of the parts. I only did two so far.
I haven’t tried a paragraph style yet. I might try that too just to see if it’s a better option than the system text, or is that kind of the same thing?
I’m not quite sure what you were trying to say in the beginning, but in the coda, I did try the index trick. That works!!! Big thank you there. That saved me having to edit / realign a couple rehearsal letters in all of the individual parts. There’s just no way I’ve found other than adding system text and using the capsule shape to make a second rehearsal letter/number enclosed in a “circle” in the same bar for the D.S. rehearsal letter measures. Then they’re all out of line in the parts so I’m having to edit the position of an “&” and the system text created rehearsal letter. Big pain, but it works!
There’s no need to do anything in the properties panel. Actually, I didn’t see any enclosure types there at all in the Engrave mode. That’s all sorted already in the “Rehearsal Marks” section of “Engraving Options” anyway.
When you create a text object in Dorico, it’s either staff text (attached to a single staff) or system text (displaying over all staves in the parts, but usually only a few staves in the score).
All text objects use a paragraph style. If you just use the default commands to create system/staff text, then it uses the Default Text style, but you can pick a different style from the formatting toolbar.
By default, text objects have their Avoid Collisions property turned on, so that they automatically move away from any objects protruding from the staff (notes, slurs, etc.). This is probably what’s causing them to appear too high in the parts; they’re avoiding the rehearsal marks at the same location. If you define a new paragraph style (in Library > Paragraph Styles) for these fake rehearsal marks, then you can turn off Avoid Collisions in the style definition by unticking the Avoid Collisions checkbox. (You can also turn off Avoid Collisions on a per-item basis in the Properties panel, but a paragraph style is more efficient.)
Even with Avoid Collisions off, there’s likely to be some manual repositioning of the items in the parts, because when you adjust system text in the score with “Set Local Properties” set to Globally, you’re still only adjusting the position for the layouts corresponding to the staves over which the text object appears in the score. For example, if you have a brass quintet, and you have system-attached items (or just system text) set to display only over the first trumpet in the score, then when you adjust the position of the text object in the score, you are only affecting it’s position in the score and in the Trumpet 1 layout; you’ll still need to go into the other 4 layouts to adjust the position there.
That’s pretty much the case. I didn’t know that the adjustments were ONLY for the staff over which the text was explained, even with using system text. That most likely does explain my way off base placement in the parts. I actually tried BOTH local and global, but now know why the global didn’t work either.
Thank you again for your detailed explanation. I’ll definitely be giving the paragraph styles a try.
One thing I’ve noticed is that my new paragraph styles I created for “Subtitle”, and several others, didn’t come into any new project. I had to make them again.
So here’s how this has tuned out for me using system text. This was before trying any avoid collision options that you had mentioned. A before and after editing pic…
Are you attaching those system text items to the first beat of the bar? It may help if you use the caret to move to a slightly later position (maybe beat 1+ for the & and beat 2 for the other letter) and then attach the text items.
Also, FWIW, I would say that two rehearsal letters at one position like this is unusual. In rehearsal, the conductor would just say “Letter B, after the DS”, or “Letter B, second time”.
They are on beat 2. I may take some time and try the “collisions off” option to see how that responds.
While I wouldn’t do the two rehearsal letters on the same measure as a practice myself, this is an old piece that uses that convention. I’m just inputting it to see what new types of input and writing complication things like this might pop up, and then figure out how to handle the issues in DORICO. Like you said… “letter A for the second time and take the coda” is how I would normally give, and have given, that direction in a rehearsal.
I’m really just trying to figure it out. It’s more of an exercise and learning piece. It’s already published AND copyrighted! I haven’t written anything new myself in a couple of months, and I’m trying to gain new knowledge and not lose the note input and engraving tricks and knowledge that I have picked up since I changed to DORICO from FINALE.
You know… “use it or lose it”
Thanks again for your help. Things I learn here will most likely come in handy in the future!!! I just need to keep inputting stuff or I’ll forget it! I already lost a few things that I “knew” back in December. Mostly which library and where in the library you go to do certain things, like set the RASTER size. I can’t believe I forgot where that was!
so that it appears as 
, the paragraph style is available in all future projects on your computer