I have a cadenza in a solo part, with a clear downbeat note in all the other parts. I’m seeing the symbolic 8-bar (32 beat) rest with a pause rather than a 3-beat rest, which would make more sense in the other parts. I’ve used an X time signature for everyone - should I limit that to the soloist?
Hi @David_Keeffe, if you search the forum for “cadenza” you will find several threads discussing this.
One good method is to create a huge (hidden) tuplet that contains all the Cadenza notes, and leave the same normal global time signature for all instruments. So the cadenza will be written into the space of the tuplet container, and the other parts become the expected fewer rests, instead of 32 bars rests.
If you would like to share this couple of bars in a Dorico file (or a complete snapshot of the whole bar, saying which time signature you have), we can give more specific suggestions.
Here a quick example (you can hide the tuplet bracket and number, then):
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Thanks. I saw this proposed method in my searches but hoped there would be a more conventional method. I’ll try this.
This is a perfectly conventional method. You can reproduce any notation within the tuplet and enter it very quickly using Dorico’s normal note entry tools.
OK: second attempt at a reply.
I carefully counted up the beats and entered 39:3q. This is what I got. You can see the tuplet falls short AND there are strange ties and grouping. If it experiment with different ratios I still get the strange ties and grouping at the end. Clearing the X only makes it worse.
Hi @David_Keeffe ,
- you may want to include the quarter rest into the tuplet (optional)
- the counting, including the rest, is 40 quarters, so in the popup you need to write 40:4q (40 quarters in the place of 4 quarters)
- you have some forced duration going on
- (and I still see the open meter in your screenshot: the bar has to be in the same global time signature)
Here the realisation:
cadenza test.dorico (449.1 KB)
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Thanks so much! I was starting to look at re-casting it to several bars.
Even if you make an arithmetic error, just engage insert mode, remove the tuplet and replace it with the correct one (Dorico will not lose your notes!)
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That worked really well, except for one thing, and I think I understand why. What I don’t know is how to resolve it.
The accompanying voices have a single crotchet (quarter) which doesn’t need a fermata. However, because the tuplet shortens the effective duration of the initial rest, and the first sixteenth of the cadenza gets a fermata, Dorico quite reasonably puts a fermata on all the first notes in the accompaniment. How do I remove it? Engrave mode seems to be the way, but there’s no obvious “hide this” that I can apply to the accompaniment fermatas - or alternatively no obvious “put this fermata only on this note”.
Dorico creates automatically the fermata for all the instruments.
If you want a fermata only on one note, you need to fake it:
you can create a Playing technique that has a fermata Glyph and position itwhere you need, instead of using a real fermata:
PS: actually you can exclude the rest from the cadenza tuplet: your calculation was correct: 39:3q , but without open meter.
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Thanks. All working now. I think one lesson was to work out complex things in a separate file and then copy and paste.
On reflection… If you do prefer to use the open bar to write the cadenza, you could just add the tuplet in all the other parts to get the correct rests. eg 3:39q (or as here, for a 13.5 beat cadenza, a 6:27e tuplet)
There are usually many ways to produce the same result.
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You can also use an extra flow for this, no need of extra file 
But if you use insert mode diligently you can also correct many things “on place” 
Enjoy the journey of discovering the many elegant possibilities that Dorico offers.