Practical uses of multiple Music Frames

Dorico
1

Here’s something I still do not understand, despite years of trying:

What are the practical uses or reasons for using more than one music frame? In other words, what kinds of real-world layout problems are better solved with additional music frames than by simply creating additional flows?

2

Creating a piano duet Primo-Secondo layout springs to mind.

(but most of the time it is irrelevant)

3

Also some kinds of worksheets, where musical examples are interspersed with blocks of text. Or something like the handbell template which is available from the Dorico website.

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4

Thanks, Janus.

So how would one actually apply the two music frames in this situation? I’m guessing that we could have MA for the left-hand pages (Primo) and MB for the right-hand pages (Secondo), but I’m not clear on what would actually be assigned to each music frame. Would one create separate flows for Primo and Secondo and then assign the appropriate flow to each frame, or is there another mechanism involved? (I’m still very slow with these concepts!)

5

Try this tutorial…

6

I’ve used multiple frames for class handouts before. Certainly contents pages with multiple columns that show the themes would need them:

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7

Of course anything using Frame Notation would need it too.

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8

Another useful usage of multiple frames, is for footnotes musical examples, if you want them to be editable:

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9

Many thanks, Janus – the video covers it all!

Is the enabling factor that one can assign each music frame to its player?

Also: Any particular reason why the Primo frame was labelled “MI”, rather than “MB”?

10

Thank-you, Christian – a very good use for multiple music frames! Where would the music example in your footnote have been taken from – the beginning of a flow? From a new flow that was created for the purpose? Some other source?

11

Frames can be filtered by flow or by player in the page templates.

(The labelling of flows is internal to Dorico and somewhat opaque)

12

Thanks, FredGUnn!

Forgive me, but I have the same question here that I asked Christian_R: where would the content of each separate music frame be coming from?

13

Yes, if you see in my previous example in Setup mode, there is a flow 2 which is been used for the footnote musical example, and is not included in the MA Music Frame Chain, so it will only be visible in the LB Music Frame chain that has been created directly into the layout, in this case:

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14

Thanks, FredGUnn. This reminds me of a video Dorico made that covered a similar table of contents. In that video, each music frame ‘pulled’ the opening bars of what already existed as a complete flow, so each music frame was defined by the particular flow. Is this how your example works as well?

15

Thanks! Does this mean that that Flow 2 would also have to appear on a subsequent page, but in the usual “flow” format? (I would love to be able to enter music directly into a new music frame or layout frame, but I somehow doubt that that is possible!)

16

Not sure I understand what you mean, but the music of flow 2 will appear in whatever music frame that has flow 2 activated in it. Doesn’t “have to”: you decide where you want to see it: normally you uncheck the flow from a layout in Setup mode, if you don’t want to see that flow in that layout. But in the footnote music example it is better, instead, to filter the flow 2 as desired (hiding it for the main MA Music Frame Chain, and activating it for the footnote example’s LB Music Frame Chain). You can then have a layout only for the flow 2 to edit it comfortably.

17

Thank-you, asherber! I will have to spend more time thinking about your example. My main question is where would each musical example be drawn from? If from a related flow, would those flows also end up appearing on subsequent pages of the score?

18

Ah! I think I get it now. (Some of these manoeuvres are new to me.)
Is the idea that one would create the flow (as usual), but would deselect it from all layouts other than your desired LB?

I appreciate your help!

19

Don’t confuse these two different things:

  • unchecking a flow from a layout (in Setup mode) to make it invisible in that layout
  • filtering which flow should be visualised by a specific Music Frame Chain (in Engrave mode, better editing the page template itself if you don’t want overrides).

LB in my example is a Music Frame Chain, not a layout: so in the footnote example you use the flow filter of the music frame chain to tell Dorico which flow you want to see in a particular music frame chain.
Layouts are the “container” of music Frame Chains, and text and graphic frames.

20

Yes, I think – I hope— I get the distinction. :slightly_smiling_face:

According to what I’ve been reading (Dorico Help), a frame that begins with an “L” (LA, LB) is a “layout frame”, as opposed to a “music frame” (MA, MB). Have I got that wrong?

Thanks again!