I’m seeking advice on creating a custom symbol in Dorico for a music theatre project. The symbol I need is one that indicates precisely where the performer should hit “GO” for QLab cues. The attached example shows what I’m aiming for. It’s crucial that the symbol includes a line or a similar feature to pinpoint the exact moment for the cue. Has anyone managed to create something like this in Dorico, or is there a workaround that doesn’t rely solely on graphic elements? I’m looking for a solution that integrates seamlessly with the score.
Thank you for any guidance or insights you can provide.
I created a new line annotation symbol using editor and SVG, and it turned out quite well. However, I’m having difficulty figuring out how to automatically attach it to the barline. Could you please explain if and how this can be achieved?
One question you might consider: does the performer hit go on the bar line or on the first note of the drum cue?
I created a playing technique for these situations (can be any graphic) and usually attached them to the actual notes, on which the cue occurs, which should be much clearer.
Often, he is the one who determines the position of the first beat (therefore, I find it simpler to mark the starting point on the bar line). However, there are occasions when he needs to accurately hit a specific downbeat. Can you tell me how you deal with such scenarios? I’m really interested in understanding your approach to managing these kinds of tasks.
I treat the player as any other musician (assuming they can read music), create a staff for them and write in rhythmical notation.
Here an excerpt which was also executed with QLab. The player was reading the “K.R.”-staff (Klangregie in German referring to sound engineers versed in electronic aspects of contemporary music)
But the point is, I think it’s better to put the cues at the correct rhythmic position (so which notes are sounding in the moment the cue being hit) rather than barlines which actually have no temporal meaning (e.g. in they are not events locatable on a non-measured timeline).
In other words: we don’t think/listen in barlines, we hear the notes. Barlines just organize the notes visually and present auditory patterns visually as well, to facilitate reading.
I get your perspective. In my situation, QLab operates somewhat independently of the musical score. For instance, there are moments when the ‘go’ command is given during a fermata because it initiates the next sequence or a specific sound. If you have a technician who follows their own ‘score’ for the go button, it might be as straightforward as notating a drum pad. However, that’s not my scenario. Thanks for your explanation, though. I understand your reservations about using the barline for the ‘GO’ command, but I was hoping to have the flexibility to do both.
If the operator doesn’t follow the score, why notate it then?
Anyhow, you can alternatively use playing techniques and hide them in the appropriate part layout and also move them in the score.
It’s some work but playing techniques give you more freedom in using any graphic you want as a symbol.
Just for inspiration here is another score where I used playing techniques without rhythmic notation - you can see the freedom of the graphics here quite well.
The operator, (that is a musician), encounters situations where he need to activate a counter to (for example) start a clicktrack that is “outside” the music score’. So, in our setup, the QLab cues are not always rhythmically placed in the bar.
