New Playing Techniques

I’m trying to add text inserts to the Choral Playing Techniques panel. The first four (Intro, Chorus, Verse, Tag) went in fine. But when I added two more (Interlude and Reprise) they went into the panel in black, rather than white. I A/B’d them with the visible labels, but they looked the same. What’s up?
Screenshot 2024-09-30 at 2.21.08 PM

If they are text, I think we’ll have to see the project to find out the difference.

This dinged my memory of a similar problem with importing graphics as PTs (link for reference).

Here’s the project. thanks for any help you can give me!

BHS M- F27.dorico (702.6 KB)

Hmm. In that file I don’t find any of your custom techniques (Times Bold). I checked all the categories in the panel.

It was there on my computer. Is there anything I have to do to save my custom items with the document?

I just downloaded it from the forum. My technique text is there. Is there something that I did to keep those entries valid on my computer, but not with the doc? Is this another Finale vs. Dorico situation?

I guess what’s happening is they show up for you because they are saved as your defaults, but they aren’t stored in the actual project until they are used. So just apply all of your custom ones somewhere, and then I expect the file will carry them.

If I apply them, and then delete them, will they go along with the project? I would like to send a blank template.

I would try it myself, but they open correctly for me. How else can I check? I don’t want to be a PIA and repeatedly send them to you!

I don’t know how I missed this last reply. Too many threads, I guess. I am still eager to check this out. Should I just look at the project you posted in the other thread? (Doing that now …)

Okay, finally I see at least some of what’s going on.

Among 3 custom “Choral” playing techniques, I see 2 different font sizes. This prompts me to check out their definitions, and I find they use “Rehearsal Mark Font” (RMF). But when choosing a font in the Edit Playing Techniques dialog (EPT) in your project, RMF appears twice. And I note that my Edit Font Styles dialog (EFS) does not show any RMF.

So I’m guessing that:

  • RMF is a built-in style, based on Default font, and available to that pick-list in EPT, but not shown in EFS. And
  • Not finding it in EFS, you defined another RMF yourself so you could change it.

Furthermore, I find that when I edit the font definition of one of the RMFs, the corresponding PT(s) do not change. That suggests that the font style is read or loaded at the time of defining the PT, but is not dynamically linked to the PT.

So in order to undo the mess:

  • Finalize the font style to use for PTs first. I would get rid of the custom RMF and choose a new name, because RMF is a built-in one that I guess can’t be changed. (I think RMs moved to a paragraph style in Dorico 4.)
  • You’ll have to un-default (click the star again) each PT, or delete and remake them entirely.

Honestly, I would just use system text for these with a boxed paragraph style! This Playing Technique method seems ill-suited. By default they center over a note. System text has a switch to align it to the left margin when it’s at the beginning of a system.

(Apologies for being provocative, but…) Why?

Semantically, what is a Reprise playing technique that is different from an Interlude playing technique?

Playing techniques are intended to link to Playback techniques to enable different sounds to be triggered by an Expression Map.

What is so hard about using System Text to make these annotations, beyond the fact you can’t be bothered to type a few more characters?

(No provocation taken!)

I’m putting them in the Playing Techniques because I can’t set up a new category for them, which would be my first choice. In Finale, we could add them to the rehearsal marks category of Expressions.

The section headings are dictated by the Barbershop Harmony Society. I work on dozens of scores per year (either updates to older octavo versions, or editing new submissions,) so typing them as System Text would get old in a hurry. And I’m a lousy typist, to boot.

I’m still learning my way around Dorico. If you or anyone else have a suggestion for a better way to do this, I’m all ears!