revert "remove staff"

Dorico
#1

When writing for a Singers Ensemble (instrument Choir) I sometimes only need one treble staff (but for most of the time of the piece both).
What I then (would like to) do is remove the bottom staff, which works great, even in the middle of a system.

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But I cannot revert that - I mean to show both staffs afterwards somewhen (even in different systems).

  • “Create Staff Below” doesn’t work, because it’s a Section Instrument.


  • “Hide empty Staves” in LayoutOptions with “Allow Individual staves of multi-line Instruments to be hidden” doesn’t seem to work on section players (like a choir)

Is there some option I’m missing? Or is this just not possible (yet)?

#2

Can you add a Divisi, or is it now me that’s missing something?

#3

setting up the choir/ensemble as divisi from the start could be a workaround, but it’s actually the other way round:
I have a full 2staff (treble&bass) choir from the start (in every flow). In some flows the sing or even speak unison for a long time, so I could and want to remove one staff (from the layout of a coductor score or a vocal score) just to save space. But then - let’s say in the last 8 bars - they split to a normal full choir again.
I’m just wondering: There’s the option to remove an unneeded staff in the middle of a system, but no way (that I can find) to restore it later.

#4

I think the easier thing to do is just combine the voices onto a single staff and use the option to hide empty staves. You can then prudently use system breaks to avoid it mid system. Alternatively, have your normal two voice staves, and then add a third for when they are combined; again using hide empty staves so that the “third instrument” isn’t visible when it’s not being used. You run the risk of making a score that’s unduly difficult to follow. Depending on your circumstances, especially of the drop outs are only for a few measures, you’re better off using system breaks as I said or just duplicating the parts so that each group sees it on their stave.

My opinions aside, what you want to achieve is possible. The problem is you have to choose choir reduction as a “solo player”. As you know you can click “remove stave” and then where you want to add a stave back in, click on the treble staff and click “add stave below”. I repeat: this only works on a solo player.

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#5

another proof of concept with the divisi feature for you:

This is much more in keeping with proper engraving and will be clearer to the singers when they are together and when they split. If you simply drop measures out that doesn’t clearly indicate that they are supposed to sing the other part. The arrows solve this. All I did was add one voice instrument. when it was time, I split it by adding a divisi; when it was time to end, I restored unison. I know this looks really clunky but that’s simply because of my annotations messing things up. In practice this is very nice.

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#6

@Romanos401 Thanks for the comprehensive answers!