There are so many threads on this topic, I apologize if I’ve not discovered one that answers my questions.
I have one percussionist playing multiple instruments and have selected Layout Options>Staves and Systems>Show player names instead of instrument names.
This gets me in the general direction I want, because I want the staff label to be “Percussion,” however it introduces two problems.
The first problem is that the initial instrument played by the percussionist disappears. Is there a way to force Dorico to show it in a box above the first entrance?
The second problem is that the staff label doesn’t remind the conductor or player which instrument is currently in hand on subsequent systems or pages.
It occurred to me to select “show player names on first system only” within Layout Options and then change the abbreviated name of the instrument to “Perc (name of currently held inst.)” but then that appears to break the labeling of each instrument change above the staff.
In other words, I do not want to simply see “Vibr” in the left margin after page one. I would like to see “Perc (Vibr)” in the margin, but a boxed instrument change of “Vibr.”
I greatly appreciate that Dorico provides a method to show the transpositions of instruments in parentheses by the staff labels on each page, so I hope there’s an analogous method for this percussion context.
You can right click on the first note a new percussion instrument (or the first) plays, scroll to percussion in the pull down list and then choose to show the instrument playing.
hi Janus - It is a pitched percussion staff (Marimba in this case). I can find the percussion submenu if I switch to galley view and click on an unpitched percussion instrument in the same score. But even if I do that, I don’t see an option to “show instrument playing” as mavros suggested. I only see Legend and Change Voice options.
I was able to fix the first of the two problems with Layout Options>Players>Show instrument change label at start of flow. Apparently I had checked that box in the part layout but not in the score layout.
Still unable to find a solution to the second question, which is how to put a reminder of the instrument currently in hand in the left margin while still keeping the Percussion player name.
I created a player holding a Vibraphone and a Xylophone, changed the player name to “Percussion”, changed the full and short names for the Vibraphone to “Vibr.” and “Perc(Vibr)”, and changed the full and short names for the Xylophone to “Xyl.” and “Perc(Xyl)”. In Layout Options > Staves and Systems > Staff Labels, I show the Percussion player name instead of the instrument names on the first system only. In Layout Options > Players > Instrument Changes, I show the instrument change label at start of flow and show full instrument names in change labels.
Thank you, John, for solving the Rubik’s Cube for me!
This is perfect for the score but complicates the part, because now the abbreviated names are inappropriate and using full names for instrument changes is cumbersome on the page.
To clarify: it’s clever to change the full names to abbreviations to achieve what I want in the score, however I believe it’s not ideal to introduce a new instrument in the part with an abbreviation.
