Can someone tell me why when I insert an eighth note into my score that Dorico 3 divides it into two sixteenth notes. Attached are examples of what I am seeing. If this is considered best practices in notation then please point me to a resource I can study so I can better understand these practices, I am new to the scoring music and want to learn to do it right.
Thank you,
Rod
I’m assuming that’s in 4/4. If so, it is indeed correct to display the second 16th. The reason is that the big beats should be clearly displayed, even if it requires ties to do so. In fact, that’s a common reason why ties are used: they allow beats to be visually clear.
In the first example, where’s beat 2? It’s hidden. That’s a big no-no, notationally speaking.
That’s the beauty of Dorico: it generally helps you avoid these sorts of notational errors.
To be honest, your best resource here might be to simply begin writing, and see how Dorico notates it! That’s not to say the program is perfect—sometimes you may want to change things, including Notation Options. But it’s very instructive regarding beaming and note grouping.
Yes, it’s in 4/4 and yes beat 2 in the first example is hanging on the breath of the note in front of it. I see what you mean and figured Dorico had a good reason for doing this. I did take a look at the Notation Options and am glad to know they are there if needed. Thank you for the quick response. I will now return to the drawing board and keep practicing although I’m learning that I am better off building from scratch rather than migrating from other tools.
Thank you Dan!
Rod