How can I create the playing instructions myself in Dorico and put them in italics. I created playing instructions (like simile) and they also appear in the music image, but I don’t see any way to put them in italics.
What method are you using to create these instructions?
The other solution (quite convenient) is to create a paragraph style that you save as default and that you can recall with a keyboard shortcut (I created a cmd-e for expression text and use it on almost every file I type)
Yes, but when you create it, you can select between text or glyph for what is shown on the score.
Yes, and in the Edit Playing Techniques dialog there is a popup menu to select a font:
As Marc said create a paragraph style, in this case actually a font style, it will appear in the font popup menu
Ok, but how I can change Font Size?
- Select Menu Library > Font Styles.
- On the left select Playing Technique Font.
- Press the duplicate button on the bottom (the plus button in a white rectangle).
- Rename the font style in the Name field.
- In the Style popup menu select Italic.
- There is also a Size setting.
- If you want to make the new style persistent click the star button on bottom left.
- Click OK.
Now your custom font style appears in the Edit Playing Techniques dialog.
That worked, but no one can figure it out on their own.
Paul, it does take weeks, months - even years to dive into the fine-tuning of Dorico, because it is a very complex application.
You are really brave to jump right into the depths of paragraph styles - after only a few days
so very true, of many many things…
I don’t understand, why I have to create all the stuff myself. Many, many things for Guitar and so on. It is not complicated, but it is not user friendly if I every day should guess where I can find this or that. Dorico should do it for the customer. There are many simple things aren’t there, which every musician need every day.
For many things, once you set it up, it is done, for example all the Notation and Engraving settings. Set them up according to your preferences, then Dorico adheres to them so there is less to do each time you are working on a new piece.
Dorico tries to cater for all kinds of needs, which in turn means they all need to be included, and customized to what you wish.
We have all needed to consult the user guide, but this forum is excellent, so come back here (as you are doing) and feel free to ask.
Why did you change my advice? As far as I know, font styles are limited compared to paragraph styles, and cannot be called directly with a keyboard shortcut.
No, I really meant paragraph style.
The process to create one is very similar. Once it is done, and you’ve pressed ok, open it back, select the new paragraph style and press the star, so that it appears filled.
Then go to the Preferences>Keycommands and look for your new paragraph style name, give it a proper shortcut, and you’re good to go!
I think @MarcLarcher and @Vadian are talking about two different things.
- Create a paragraph style that looks the way you want, and then enter text as Staff Text or System Text with the appropriate style. This text will have no playback effect.
- Create a font style that looks the way you want, and then create a Playing Technique with that font style. This text can have a playback effect.
Thanks Aaron for clearing things out
My first music writing tool was a Pelikan Model 120 dedicated hardware music transcription system (also referred to as a “pen”). Speaking as a new (a few months) Dorico user:
To be fair, the issue here isn’t Dorico’s design so much as the complexity & range of valid stylistic variations in musical notation. The developers (I think wisely) decided to provide users with maximum flexibility in presenting their work in its printed form. While the basics of musical notation are standard, in practice there are often multiple acceptable styles of indicating various types of expression & playing techniques, & the developers have made a staggering effort to be as inclusive as possible to accommodate a large base of users who write in a vast array of styles.
For us users, the tradeoff for this flexibility is in setup we have to go through an encyclopedia of detailed preferences, in some cases having to specify items we’ve always just done intuitively. The good news is in most cases we only have to do it once. It’s worth the time to go through all the preference & library screens, one at a time, & select the styles you want for each item that applies to your body of work; & perhaps set up templates for layouts you’ll use frequently. Once you’ve done that, most things will come out the way you want with minimal detail editing. In the long run, it’s far more efficient to set defaults to your needs rather than edit each detail afterward.
Probably because your personal requirements differ from those of (say) a choral director, a wind band arranger or a school music teacher. Not to mention editors of critical editions and film score composers…