I’m having trouble with a file that’s showing random cautionary accidentals. I say “random” because they don’t follow the rules I have set for cautionary accidentals. They do seem to follow a pattern, however. The piece is in concert Eb, and on my transposed score, my Bb clarinet parts (in the transposed key of F) are showing naturals on all E’s and A’s. Clarinets are not the only instruments where this is happening, so my alto sax parts (transposed into C major) are showing them on B’s, E’s and A’s. Strangely, it doesn’t appear to be happening on EVERY transposed staff (tenor sax and bari sax, for example). Maybe it’s not happening for instruments that transpose from bass to treble clef for some reason? I tried disabling all options for cautionary accidentals, and I looked to see if there was a setting under key signatures that would cause this and couldn’t find anything. Thoughts?
JAW
Did you enter the part directly into Dorico, or was it imported from MIDI or MusicXML?
I would guess these are not actually cautionary accidentals, but somehow the key signature doesn’t match the notes.
There have been reported problems importing MusicXML files where the key signature in the MusicXML file doesn’t explicitly say whether it is major or minor, and Dorico ends up taking account of the key signature but not displaying it.
If you attach the project (or a cut down version a few bars long) it would be easier to figure out exactly what is wrong.
I’ll attach the file. I entered everything directly into Dorico. As I’ve only been using Dorico for a few months, I’m using an existing score as practice to get comfortable with how everything works.
Test.zip (817 KB)
It’s because you’re (ab)using the divisi feature to write for multiple players. I would advise against this. Options are provided on the Staff Labels page of Engraving Options to draw the staff labels in the way you prefer without using divisi.
How? The only option I see to group the staff labels is if they’re solo instruments.
That is true, though I think you’d be OK using solo players in this project.
Well, yes, but is there a way to switch over at this point (short of adding new players for each instrument and copy-pasting everything over)? I’m only using this (an existing score) to get comfortable with the program, and solo players won’t always work since in band scores individual parts often divisi lines even if this one doesn’t.
It would be quite easy to add new players, select the first bar of music, choose “select to end of flow,” and cut and paste into the new parts.
Yes, but again, solo players won’t always solve the problem because those parts in band music often have divisi lines which wouldn’t work with a solo player.
We do plan to add further flexibility for staff labelling in future so that you wouldn’t have to use section players to obtain this kind of labelling.
Fair enough. Again, this is more an exercise than anything else. The most I might use this file for is to transpose some parts to be covered by other instruments, and none of this will really affect that.
I’m still not sure why the accidentals are showing up. Is there a logical reason for it to be happening, or is it a bug that’s only going to show up when you abuse features like this?
It’s considering all of the three divisi sections together for accidentals, which would sometimes be useful for the purposes of real divisi but is never useful in the case of writing for three solo players.
Right, but there’s no reason for those accidentals to be there. Those notes were never altered, even in the other divisi parts. There’s only two measures in the entire piece that have any notes outside the key signature and they’re on page 5. Why would it be putting cautionary accidentals on page 1? And why would it be doing it even if I turn off all options for cautionary accidentals?
What’s really weird about this one is that if you overtype the pitches (with the same pitches) the cautionaries disappear. I can’t quite explain this, given the “Accidental” switch isn’t switched on for any of these notes.