Some instruments have no upstem voice

Dorico
1

For some reason my alto,tenor and trombone don’t have an upstem voice. If I add an upstem voice, note entry continues to default to downstem. How do I fix this? I’ve attached a picture showing upstem on the trumpet by default, but downstem on the alto.

note entry upstem
note entry upstem461×591 22.9 KB

note entry downstem
note entry downstem472×580 23.6 KB

–Neil

2

Dorico will remove any empty voices when you load a project, so if you have input notes only in the down-stem voice, the default up-stem voice will be removed. However, this is no big deal: the nominal stem direction of a voice only matters in the context of multiple voices being present, so as long as you only have a single voice it doesn’t matter whether it’s up- or down-stem.

You can use Edit > Voice > Change Voice to change notes in the single down-stem voice to a New Up-stem Voice.

3

I know, but it disturbs my sense of order.

4

You could also select a note on each staff > right click > Voices > Default Stems Down (or similar - I’m typing this on a phone). That way all your upstem voice 1s will become downstem voice 1s.

5

The pictures I posted are a file I use as a template. Based on what you said I did the following:

  1. Open file
  2. Add upstem voice notes to every staff
  3. Save and close file
  4. Reopen file
  5. Delete the notes
  6. Close the file

Now my template is behaving “properly” and everything is defaulting to upstem voice.

Thanks,
–Neil

6

FWIW, I have imported some XML files where a given staff doesn’t have an up-stem voice, but only down-stem voice(s). (Regardless of actual stem direction.)