player name instead of instrument in score

When creating parts with instrument changes, how can I put the part name in the full score? The part name will show up on the individual part, but in the score it will show the name of the instrument the player is currently using. It would be nice to be able to change this to the player name.

So you want to see a single name that doesn’t change throughout the score, like “Reeds II” or something, rather than the specific instrument the player is holding at the start of that system? I’m afraid we don’t currently have any support for that.

Would you typically mix this within the same project, e.g. for some players show the name of the individual instrument they’re holding, and for others show the player name, or would you typically handle all cases the same way within the same project?

I think it would be most useful to combine this with (anticipated) multi-line instrument names, example:
Reed II
(Alto Sax)
so that the part title stays constant and the current instrument also shows on a second line (in parens).

Different writers have different preferences in this area. Several Broadway arrangers I’ve worked with prefer the instrument name followed by the reed-book number. (e.g., the five Reed staves in order might have “Fl 4” “Ob 3” “Cl 1” “Cl 2” “Bsn 5” – and yes, they like the order to match traditional score order for the instruments at hand, so Reed order will change on different pages of the score.)

Others, like an editor for whom I’m currently working, want unchanging staff order, with the number in front. Others will prefer the multi-line instrument name just described.

Hi folks!

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but its the most specific one that has come up when searching…
Anything new on this since 2016?

I need this especially forr percussion staves where I would like the score to read “Percussion III” and don’t change every 2 pages because the player is switching between some instruments…

Thanks, E.

Yeah, I have a similar question/problem. I want the score to say “Percussion” which be one player playing several instruments. But it always defaults to the first percussion instrument I input. That makes it look in the score like it’s just a “vibraphone” player, for example. If I go in and rename “vibraphone” to “percussion,” it looks correct at the beginning of the score, but then everytime I need the player to switch back to vibraphone, it just says “percussion,” which isn’t helpful.

Would you typically mix this within the same project, e.g. for some players show the name of the individual instrument they’re holding, and for others show the player name, or would you typically handle all cases the same way within the same project?

Yes, mix. I would sometimes want percussion designated this way but reeds as the held instrument, with score order showing player.

Depending on how you decide to present your percussion instruments, if you use the grid presentation type, you can put all of the instruments into a group and call that group e.g. ‘Percussion’, and then you’ll get a single label ‘Percussion’. Likewise if you use the five-line staff presentation type, you’ll get whatever name you specify at the top of the Edit Percussion Kit dialog.

But this doesn’t help at all for doublings involving pitched instruments, for which you would currently have to edit the name of each instrument to match the player name.

The way I found around this is if you make the singular full name of the first percussion instrument used as “Percussion” then the Singular short name as the instruments short name (e.g. W. Bl. for Wood Block). This means that the first percussion instrument has the stave name ‘Percussion’ but then the cues are still correct.

The only down side is that after the first system, it will still use the shorter name ‘W. Bl.’, but at least it’s clear from the start of the flow that the instrument is ‘Percussion’ rather than the name of the first percussive instrument!

That’s not working for me. I have an instrument change right in the first page, so renaming the instrument “Percussion 1” makes the prompt change to “Percussion 1” as well.

Any updates on this as of Oct.31 2022?

I might be misunderstanding what your goal is.

If it’s to have (for example) the first percussion player with “Percussion 1” showing on the first staff label and then “Perc. 1” after that, then you just need to rename the player to those names and then ensure that “Show player name instead of instrument names” is selected in Layout Options.

That’s not my goal. My goal is to have the player name “Percussion 1” in the score regardless of what instrument they are playing.

That’s the option that Daniel is referring to:

Is there a change to this another year later? I’d like to use Player name “Percussion 1” as a staff label on the first page and then have shortened (currently used) Instrument names on the subsequent pages. Is that possible? None of the workarounds mentioned earlier work for my project.

Yes in Dorico 5 that should now be possible, the Layout Option to use player names has a new option “on first system only” or “on all systems”.