I am learning Dorico and ran into a problem with changing meters. In a new bar of 6/4, I am not able to write more than five beats. The rhythmic grid looks to have only 10 eighth notes. Is there an easy answer to this?
You likely have a meter change of some sort that follows this bar. Dorico does not add beats, so it’s possible to end up with incomplete measures.
The simplest solution is to add a quarter note by pressing Shift-B, 1q, Enter.
4 Likes
Dan:
Thanks for your response. The bar in question is in 6/4 and the bars on either side of it are 2/4. I tried your suggestion and the rhythm grid did show six beats, but this seems to be a zombie bar. When empty, it’s narrower and doesn’t act like any of the other bars. I can’t enter notes or paste in the correct music from elsewhere. I tried deleting the bar and inserting a new one, but get another zombie bar. I’ve attached screen shots: 1. the zombie bar, 2. the music I want in there, and 3. what I’m getting when I paste in the music from a normal 6/4 bar elsewhere in the piece.
Thanks for any advice you can give.
Mark
Looks like there only 4 beats in that bar, not 5.
If Dan’s suggestion to use the Bars popover didn’t work, can you upload your project so someone can take a look?
Delete the 6/4 time signature (two 2/4 bars will be created)
Engage Insert Mode (I)
Re-enter your 6/4 (shift-M 6/4)
Disengage Insert Mode.
When you add time signatures (or copy them from elsewhere), Dorico will not automatically add musical time to make whole bars. It will usually just re-bar the existing time up to the next time signature (or manual barline). If Insert Mode is on, it will pad the final bar to make complete bars.
This can be confusing, so it is worthwhile experimenting to see how different scenarios behave.
1 Like