I have no idea if this is a “me” problem, or if it’s something lacking in Dorico.
I have created a short new file, with only the notes from 1st and 2nd flute/piccolo, with the exact same measure layout as in my original score.
The most important problem is that on page two, where the piccolo switches to 2nd flute, I’d like flutes 1 and 2 to share a staff, which is normal condensing.
However, the second I try to add the condensing change so that this happens, all of the music in Flute 1 disappears (as well as that on subsequent pages!).
I get a single staff, marked flute 1 / flute 2, except the MUSIC that’s supposed to be there… well, it isn’t!
There’s also the rather obvious fact that the “to flute 2” text is in the wrong place, it should be one measure back, on the 1st page, above those rests in the piccolo part.
It looks stupid over the flute 2 staff!
Unfortunately, only the first instrument held by a player will condense. Search something like “condensing first instrument” and you’ll find this has been brought up many times. The only workaround I have seen is to have separate players for the doubling instruments and include both players in the part.
(Condensing experts: Is it the first instrument held or played? In Michel’s file the Picc is the 2nd instrument held, but it plays first, and prevents Flute 2 from showing, not vice-versa.)
the excerpt in question is only taken from a movement of a larger work… the piccolo is actually not the first instrument that player uses. it plays flute 2 before switching to piccolo, then back to flute 2.
I was able to fudge a fix to this, luckily the music allowed for it.
Where the 1st flute plays in the last measure of the first page, I added a whole note in voice 2 of the 2nd flute, then resized it to 1%, and adjusted the vertical placement of the whole bar rest so that it was in the default placement.
This forced the “to flute 2” text back one measure, and tricked Dorico into thinking that the 2nd flute was now playing in that measure.
I was then able to manually condense the music on the next page so that the two flutes shared a staff, with no notes disappearing.
EDIT:
Dammit, I noticed another issue now that the first problem worked…
the music in flute 1 is supposed to be slurred into the notes on the next page… but now the slur appears on one page, but does not appear on the next.
Basically the first rule of Condensing is that everything needs to be in the same Voice 1 (doesn’t actually matter whether it’s upstem or downstem but needs to be consistent). Stick anything in any other voice and results may be unpredictable.
You can probably hack your way around it with a short (less than a bar) Chord Symbol Region on the Flute 2 stave straight after the Picc. finishes, but you’ll need to pad out the bar with explicit rests as Dorico won’t automatically fill the empty space.
IIRC the problem is that internally the instrument doesn’t actually change until the first note in the new instrument, meaning that (despite labelling) the rests on page 2 and 3 technically belong to the Piccolo so can’t be condensed with Flute 1.
that’s probably something the developers should look into…
technically (musically speaking) the player will put down their piccolo as soon as they are finished and begin the switch to the other instrument (in this case, flute 2).
So Dorico should rather calculate the change from the very last note of an instrument, and not from the first of the next instrument.
It’s just sort of anti-logical from a musician’s standpoint to say "the instrument isn’t changed until the first note played by the new instrument. That’s not at all how it physically works in the real world.
the odd thing is I can actually condense the two staves marked flute, after the piccolo has finished playing, except all of the notes from flute 1 become invisible. so it IS allowing me to condense the two staves, but for some odd reason, it’s just hiding any material that is already in flute 1.
Assuming you mean via Manual Condensing, note that the only effect your Condensing Change has is to hide the Flute 1 music. When the Flute 2 comes in on page 4, your Manual Condensing isn’t respected. Even if you add a Frame Break at bar 15, the following page doesn’t respect your Manual Condensing. Even if you then copy and paste your Condensing Change to bar 15, it still won’t be respected, because as far as it’s concerned it’s trying to condense a Piccolo stave with nothing else.
It really isn’t allowing you to condense the two staves - the labels are designed to mask the fact that the instrument change doesn’t happen at all until the first entry of Flute 2.
well, frustratingly, I’m going to have to put up with two separate flute staves after that piccolo change, with the 2nd flute staff being empty.
it looks funny and wrong. it leaves too much white space on the page.
but until this gets fixed somehow, I will have to make do.
I’ve redone the file, with some comments.
added in the slurs, and what is expected behaviour from an engraving program as regards condensing and placement of text. condensing issue.dorico (1.3 MB)
with the hack I was able to get the result I need. so thank-you.
Note that nothing in that hack is obvious or intuitive. I would never have found that out without you mentioning it, since I don’t use chord symbols at all in my music. this is a tool that is totally foreign to me. and I’ve never had to enter explicit rests in an empty measure before. add to this the requirement for the chord symbol region to begin BEFORE a specific note so that a slur appears? most definitely not intuitive.
however, remains that this is problematic. the program should not require a hack for something as basic as this.
I noticed that in the flute 2/piccolo part (not the score, but the individual part) I get the “to flute” text at the end of the piccolo passage, but there’s not “flute” text marker where the flute starts playing.
am I missing a reason why the score would show this text, but the part doesn’t?
