Attached is image of an incomplete two measures from one part in a score. I’m hoping to answer several questions with this one example.
This is a flute part. Notice the diamond-headed half note on the 3rd quarter of the first (4/4) measure. It’s on a second voice. That’s to be sung by the player while playing the other notes.
I want to tie that downstem G# half note to a G# half note in the following 7/8 bar.
In this case, I would like both voices to be downstem.
I would like to hide the rests in the second voice before and after the G#. I know I can do that and that it’s simple. I’ve seen it, but I can’t find it again.
I’ve noticed that Dorico is a bit like the vi (aka vim) editor in Unix/Linux in that it’s a multi-state machine. Back in 1985 it took me a while to get used to vi’s two states where in one I could enter text and in another the same keys entered commands. Once I learned, it was as easy as riding a bicycle. Nothing to it.
I’d like to learn the standard terminology in Dorico. In the Write Mode tab, Note Input is entered with Shift+N, and there is the “other” mode when I press Escape or Return. What are the official names of those two states?
Finally, when I’m in that “other” (Select?) mode and I want to do something like add an articulation or dynamic, how do I know which voice is current (for lack of a better term), e.g. to know which voice will get what I assign?
I think this isn’t a problem, right? Just enter the note in the downstem voice (or select the existing one and press R), then tie the notes with T. Edit: Better yet, see @Janus’s answer
Select the rests you’d like to hide, and do Edit > Remove Rests.
If you’re not inputting, then you’re editing.
When you’re editing, it’s just a question of which notes you select – articulations will be applied to those specific notes, whether they are in one voice or several. Dynamics are a little different, because in general they get applied to all voices in a staff at a given rhythmic position – unless you have independent voice playback enabled in Play mode, in which case you can attach different dynamics to different voices.
Even simpler than @asherber’s solution, just select the G# and hit 8 (the duration will change to a semibreve, which Dorico will decide must be tied across the barline).
I’m making progress am still having problems – no doubt due to my own botchery, but be patient with me. I know this can’t be all that hard.
The good news is that I now understand how to delete rests. Will memorize that one immediatley. Thanks for that.
Yes, I was able to enter the downstem G#, diamond notehead and all, in the 7/8 bar, but couldn’t tie it. This suggests to me they must have been entered in different voices, which jumps ahead to the last part of my OP, namely: How do I know (when I’m in Edit mode) that whatever I enter is going to go with the first voice or second or any other? I’d like to know that without entering Note Input mode first and looking at the information by the carat. Logically upstem is the original, downstem is the new one. But since I’m new to this software, I still tend to bounce all over the place, in and out of Note Entry and Edit modes and between lines. And the truth is I sometimes don’t know what I’m doing with multiple voices, even in a simple example such as this one. It looks like I got some stuff entered in the wrong order in these two measures.
When I tried the method of selecting the original G# and pressing R, this did indeed duplicate the note where I needed (must remember to learn to do that!) but at the same time it wiped out the high A in the 7/8 bar. This suggests to me that maybe the high A and following stuff was inadvertently entered in the second voice. I don’t know how.
I’ve seen that there is a key sequence with pressing V to add a voice, and that I can add as many as I want, but I haven’t mastered the technique yet of switching between voices so that in my head I’m thinking ‘now I’m in voice one and this note will be added to it’ and ‘now I’m in voice 2 and this articulation will go on the lower note’ and so forth.
Important: Shift-V adds new voices. V cycles through existing voices
If you are confused about existing voices just show the voice colors (View>Note and Rest Colors>Voice Colors)
The caret will show you which voice you are going to enter (by the little note icon at the bottom of the caret). If you want a different voice, just hit V, or if you want to create a new voice shift-V.
If you select a single note, the status bar at the bottom of the window will tell you what voice it’s in.
But if you’re in Edit mode, then you can’t also be entering notes. When you’re inputting notes, the caret will indicate the direction of the stems and the voice number. This is what it looks like for the default upstem voice 1:
And this is what it looks like for downstem voice 1:
Further upstem and downstem voices will add a number next to the little note.
Ninja’d by @Janus! And voice colors is always a good suggestion if you’re not sure.
