I’m doing a transcription of a popular song, rendering it for male voice and piano. I use the treble clef with the little 8 on the tail to indicate it sounds an octave lower. However it plays back at the same pitch level as if it were an ordinary treble clef. Why?
This would not be a big deal except there is a female voice that enters and sings a verse later, and I do a clef change to ordinary treble, and then back to the clef with the 8. (What’s that called, anyhow? It can’t be “tenor” clef because obviously that means something else.
For this project, playback is not a huge issue. But what is played back in this one detail is wrong, and I’d like to know why or how I can fix it.
This should be simple. The answers given are informative (thanks for the article “Choir: Odd Tenor playback behavior,” but at the moment one small detail is messed up.
I’m just transcribing a pop song to voice and piano. Most of it is male voice (tenor). The third verse is sung sounding an octave higher by a female voice. I define a second “instrument” for that “player” (to use Dorico terminology), so there is a tenor and mezzo-soprano. But I don’t want a new staff for that. They never sing together. So I just want to indicate female voice where she comes in and back to male voice when she’s done.
I’ve almost got it. I’ve got a tenor staff with a regular treble clef (no 8), and it plays back 8va basso. Unfortunately, I’ve got a second staff for the female voice. I’d rather put her notes in the lone voice staff with a notation that this is the female singer, and I’d like them to play back at written pitch.
In practice it’s not terribly important because this transcription is not intended for serious playback. However, I’d like at least the voice part to sound right when I do play it.
I’ve jumped around and tried most of the options discussed in answers, so I apologize if it’s not clear how I got to where I am.
Does anyone who understands what I’m trying to explain know how I can accomplish what I want to do?
So add an extra instrument (eg. a soprano) to your voice player. Dorico should handle this automatically (make sure you have Layout options>Players>Instrument changes set to allow instrument changes)
Hmm. What Janus describes seems to be exactly what I did, and yes, Layout optiont > Players > Instrument changes is set.
It looks like the problem must be I don’t know how to signal an instrument change. Obviously something simple, but I’ll confess I haven’t had to deal with it yet. What am I missing?
OK, I’ve uploaded a sequence of a few bars where the first change takes place, as it exists now. Note there are two vocal lines.
Ideally, I would like only one vocal line and would like to switch from the tenor to the mezzo-soprano with a clef change. This would mean I’d need to use the treble clef with 8 on the tail and playing back an octave lower than written, put in a clef change to a normal treble clef without the 8, and have the mezzo-soprano part on the same staff, not a second staff, playing back as written. It seems this should probably be possible, but I seem to be juggling one more ball than I can handle at the moment. And then I’d need to reverse that about 16 bars later when the tenor comes back.
If you’re interested, the song is Jacob Collier’s “Little Blue,” the original recorded version he released with Brandi Carlile singing the third verse.
There are other transcriptions, of course. I’m doing it as an exercise for myself.
Oh, I almost forgot. I notice that whenever I insert a chord name it appears above both vocal parts and the piano. Ideally it should be above just the voice or above the piano. (In this case I think above the piano.) This constitutes a second question on this thread, but how do I fix that? I’ve been ignoring it.
You seem to be looking at the music in Galley View. If you choose Page view, the view that will print, the parts combine on one staff the way you say you want.
To limit the chord symbols to the piano, right click the Player card for the vocals and tell Dorico to Hide for All Instruments (which means all instruemnts for that player)/
Yes, I was in Galley View (my usual preference for working on something because I can get measures together without line or page wraps). I had no idea that the softward would know to combine things on one staff if I switch to Page View. It even plugs in an “instrument change” at the right spot for me.
I don’t really need a clef change here. The change of voice implies the octave. Good enough for my purposes. And I avoid having to use the treble clef with the 8 tail. (I’m sure that clef has a proper name.)
Furthermore, the solution Chord Symbols / Hide for All Instruments is exactly what I needed. I suppose if I were to generate a version for guitar, I’d just hide the piano part and re-enable those chords. (I’m not planning on doing that though.)
Problems solved. Thank you very much for the precise instructions and the fast turnaround.
Not quite. The Hide for All Instruments means hide for all instruments held by this player. (It’s a frequent source of confusion). You can change the setting for each player independently of the others.
