Hi,
I’m trying to create the pickup measure like this:
Currently, I type 2/2, 0.625 into the Time signatures popover. Is there a more intuitive or simpler way to input this without calculating the decimal?
Not quite sure what you mean by “intuitive.” Are you hoping for a fractional expression rather than decimal (which would obviously conflict with the syntax of entering meters)?
Pickup bars are something I can’t remember how to do and have to always look up and think about. A right zone tool aid would be helpful
It’s not that hard:
The denominator of the time signature is always the unit, here a half note which is 1.
The common denominator of the pickup is 16. A half note contains eight 16th notes, 1 / 8 = 0.125, the pickup is five 16th notes, 5 * 0.125 = 0.625
Yes:
- write the rhythm at the end of bar
- activate Insert Mode (Global Adjustment of current bar)
- select the rests and press delete
- (deactivate Insert Mode)
(I used c but works also with cut c)
Thinking more about this, I could see where something like cutc,5x or cutc,1.25q(in the OP’s case) might be a nice way to be able to specify pick-ups using Dorico’s letter-name designations of durations. This would “divorce” the pick-up designation from the time sig’s so-called denominator and make it a (simpler?) absolute value expression.
I’d personally prefer fractions. And I’d prefer writing “4/4, pickup 3/8” or something, I find the abbreviations, commas without spaces and the whole structure with decimals hard to internalize.
So the core of my question was exactly whether there is any other way to input this pickup measure besides typing 0.625 into the popover.
@Christian_R, that’s a nice workaround! Also, as others have mentioned, it seems like there might be room for feature improvement here in the future. Thank you.
Speaking of “intuitive”, wouldn’t it be more help to show one entire beat? That’s what the conductor will give, anyway. And the violinist will certainly be thinking “… AND… play”.
Those three notes beamed together, without context, might be confusing.
This is how Chopin apparently wrote it (not sure if this is a copyist version):
It’s a question I’d put to Frédéric, too.
Oh yes, I would like to have his email, or Bach’s Instagram… 
Yes, this is just how Fryderyk wrote it 
As pointed out, clarifying the beats is the “modern” way, but Romantic composers wrote like this all the time, so I don’t think it looks that strange.
@Christian_R Brilliant! Wouldn’t have thought of that!
By going with this approach though, won’t the measure be counted as bar 1 by Dorico?
By using the traditional decimal method, Dorico counts the pickup as bar 0 as it should.
Can you make Dorico count the initial bar as bar 0? Haven’t fiddled too much with bar numbers.
No. Dorico recognises it is now a pickup and gives it bar number 0.
(try it and see for yourself)
Just to throw in another perspective: This is an ensemble work and only some of the players play this pickup. As a player who has rests in the beginning of his part, I expect the pickup length to be rhythmically exactly what I hear from the other players. If I have a written half rest and I only get to hear about a quarter I‘ll be confused if this is a late entry or just confusing notation and maybe won’t hit the one (or even a later time) on point. Therefore I strongly prefer the length of the pickup to be exact.
A fair point!
Another approach might be to show the pickup as a cue in the other players’ parts. That way they can see exactly what is happening.
This is amazing! I would never in the world have thought of this. Thank you.