I’m the copyist for a musical theater score, written and orchestrated as one project with many flows utilizing Dorico 5.
For optimal page turns, I’ll need some layouts to start on page 1, while others start with a “blank” page 1 and the cue starting on page 2.
Page 1: For my “blank” pages, I’d ideally like to use the First Page Template with the flow header and no music with a V.S. to turn the page.
Page 2: For the second page, I’d like to use the First Page Template again, re-state the flow heading, and then the first system.
These are the questions that I have after trying this a few a number of different ways:
Is it possible to repeat flow headings as described above?
Is it possible to insert a flow heading with no music immediately following on the same page?
I’ve tried moving Flow Title, etc. to the Masterpage as a workaround, but if it appears if there is no music frame all Flow-Specifc Text Tokens are unlinked. Is it possible to associate a page with a flow even if there is no music frame?
No, by default, flow headings are either on or off - not a mixture (EDIT: You can apply a Flow Heading Change to turn them off on any particular page)
Flow Headings are attached to music frames. You might be able to have a music frame so short that the first system cannot fit on it? (EDIT: nope)
I’m a little confused with this but I think the answer is “no”. I think it makes sense that if there is no music frame (no flow) then there will be no flow-related information that will be available using tokens.
This is all just my thoughts - I might be incorrect.
What you could maybe do is try the “extremely short music frame idea” and then create a page template change where you want the first page template to be used straight after. Make sense?
Create a new part page template. Call it blank_first and base it on the first page template. Edit it: Remove the blue music frame. Add a text frame to hold the VS (and any other instructions). Copy L>R. Apply and close.
Apply this template to the first page only.
Apply the original First page template to page 2 only.
Check page 3 (onwards) is still using the default.
When I try using this method, once I’ve added a Page Template Change to apply the First page template for Flow 2, the token reverts to display the token, rather than the Flow Title…
I don’t think you can have a flow token on a page without a music frame, but I made the assumption that the OP was confusing Project header with Flow header. (I can conceive of no reason to have Flow 1 header on a blank page followed by the Project header on page 2)
I’d suggest leaving the flow header off the blank page altogether. Use the running header with project title and page number if desired and the add a conspicuous text field in the middle of the page saying something along the lines of “This page intentionally left blank.”
(I am not sure whether @cdbriggs intends each flow/musical number to be bound separately or into a fixed instrument part book. I am guessing the latter even if it is in a three-ring binder to allow for updates as so often occur in Musical Theater.)
Thank you all for your quick responses, advice, and for giving this a try yourselves. Here’s a published example similar to what I’m hoping to achieve for a little more context.
As of now, I think my best guess for recreating this is to create a blank page template and manually add {@flow[n]title@}, etc. As far as I can tell, though, any changes I’d make to this page template would have to be manually re-applied to all blank pages in all parts.
@DanielMuzMurray , I’d also tried the “extremely short music frame” idea, but I’m always getting the frame header and first system.
I’m not quite sure what you mean. If you’re wanting to change something on a single page then you don’t need to create a new Page Template; just double click any text frame and make your changes. Am I missing something?
Thanks for the follow up @DanielMuzMurray ! Say create a blank Page Template and add a customized text token like flow[n]title for every blank page in the score, I’d still like the option to have future updates to the Page Template (except for the updated tag) to be reflected on this page. This way I can systematically update all blank pages in a score, rather than having to replace each blank page manually.
I don’t think is currently possible. I think a flow[n]title token will only reflect a music frame on that page. If your page is otherwise blank, then the token has nothing to reference.
The only other way I can think of to (sort of) get what you’re after is to have a separate Layout for each Flow. This way you can just use the [@flowtitle@] token on a blank page. The blank page could also have your arrow and the correct flow title etc. ready to be applied to page 1 of that Layout if necessary.
