I am trying to figure out the best way to have multiple instruments in a single one-staff percussion parts in a piece with multiple percussionists. If I do it with players with multiple instruments I get problems with score order because for example if a player switches from xylophone to bass drum, suddenly in the score order shows the the bass drum above the vibraphone.
So is it better to have only single instrument players and then create parts in which I hide the extra lines, making every instrument change at a line break and writing “to X” by hand? That’s what I have done in the past.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by score order, sorry? The order of instruments at the top-left of my layout is the same as the order of the instruments in setup mode. What’s the need for “swapping”?
The order of the instruments in setup is the same as the order in the score. If a player plays multiple instruments they will always be on the same stave and same line in the score. But percussionists often play 2-5+ instruments in a score. That means that if you have a the order of the percussion in a standard way (grouped by pitched and unpitched, high to low) this order can get changed if you are using players with multiple percussion instruments.
See the attached file. In the first line it makes sense from top down xylo/vib/snare. But the second line the vibraphone changes to bass drum and now the order is bass/xylo/snare. Third line becomes Bass/wd-block/cymbals. Basically there is no more orchestral order. Do one just not adhere to orchestral order?
Your example has system breaks at the moment of instrument changes. But what if instrument changes would be mid system? Would you like to create extra staves instead of Dorico’s current behaviour?
