Stuck at how to input this passage

There’s a tricky special case with some composers when they write in their manuscript – for example in an unison passage for all winds – staccato dots only on top of the page, ie. above the flute parts. This can lead to issues in interpretation: were the staccato dots only meant for the flutes? Or do they apply to the rest of the winds as well?

Players back in the day were used to reading from parts where repeated staccato marks and such were regularly omitted. Modern editions do often fill in these assumed articulations in passages that are repeated, but it can lead to a lot of unnecessary clutter and confusion as well.

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I agree about the clutter and try to avoid it. Before computer setting, with copy and paste, the copyists had either to write or engrave everything by hand, so no wonder they saved time by omitting the obvious. Another case is the indication of triplets, when they have already been established, and their continuation is quite clear.

David

It is a very interesting subject. David, the video on Beethoven’s wedges (dashes) and dots also mentions the point you were making. Unissons is also an issue with the cello and double bass parts. There often is just one stave for both instrument sections and it is assumed they should play an octave apart. However in short passages it might say. « unison « above the stave without mentioning who of the two should change an octave. In many cases both directions work when considering the instrument range. You realize the challenges a new conductor, having own ideas on interpretation, is faced with when meeting a well aligned orchestra.

BUT we are hijacking the actual thread. I gave the editing of the midi score I posted a try but gave up. To create space for the notes which had to be shifted I first changed all notes to 1/64 but than realized that Dorico for some reason stops at 1/32 in their grid. So the smallest step to move notes is 1/32. What I also did not manage is to show the 1/16 notes in the sequences 1/32-1/16-1/32. The 1/16 keeps showing as two tied 1/32 notes. Is there a setting to do this?

That’s the notorious Dorico 101 question. Use force duration.

Thanks Janus, that worked but I had to input the note again i.e. place the carrot and input on top with the forced button pressed, You cannot highlight it and then force the way it is shown. Is that like it should be?

You can force the duration of existing notes, but where they currently appear as tied notes, you have to shorten the duration first.

So select the tied 32nd notes, press 3 (to turn it into a single 32nd note), press O for Force Duration, then press 4 for 16th. Takes longer to type than to do!

If you don’t like the visual feedback in Lillie’s approach of losing a note by changing the duration of the tied notes, you can use the sequence U O 4 (this just cuts the tie but leaves the two notes in place before you force duration. Still just 3 keystrokes)

Nice! Thanks
Making 1/64 grid jump is not possible I guess? I tried setting it to 1/32 and then in the pulldown decreasing it but then it actually jumps up to 1/16. So the increase and decrease buttons seem to be going in circles.

When changing the duration of notes, you don’t need the rhythmic grid – just press the key commands I gave for note durations, or click note durations in the Notes panel on the left of the Write mode window.

You can also refer to this page about changing the duration of notes. Here’s information about the rhythmic grid.

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