Here’s an idea for future versions of Dorico. (Maybe it has been suggested before.)
When one copies string parts to wind instruments, they copy complete with playing techniques that are meaningless to wind players, like, upbow, downbow, pizz, arco, and probably a few others (louré, etc)
Removing these from the wind parts can actually take quite a lot of time.
Would it not be useful if Dorico would automatically strip out these otiose playing techniques when they are pasted into wind parts?
Similarly, if one writes a bowed passage for strings and then decides to covert it to tremolando, the bowing mostly becomes useless. So it might be good to have a dialogue box asking if one wants to remove the playing techniques when inserting the tremolando marks.
You can Edit > Filter … Playing techniques (Write mode) or before pasting, Filter … Notes and chords (set up a key command)
You would need some kind of list in the Playing Technique definitions of which instrument groups the techniques were applied to (or not applied to).
And, invariably, there would be some cutting edge new music that wanted to mark flutes with pizzicato…
And there is Select more
I think it’s a good idea. I run into this frequently when doubling instruments. One of my favorite combinations is to double contrabass pizzicato with contrabassoon, where I usually write first on the string bass and copy/paste. Plenty of other scenarios abound as you wrote. I currently do arco’s suggestion of filtering playing techniques, but for me it also entails flipping to deselect only for my filtering, just an extra step - it would be handy not having to do this for such moments where it’s obvious that the incoming instrument doesn’t use that playing technique, and I wouldn’t be mad at saving a little bit of time.
I can’t remember where, but I think I’ve seen a ‘pizz.’ marking in a wind (bass clarinet?) part. It was very suggestive for the staccato passage it applied to. I should have made a note of it…
That said, yes, I think it’s in essence a good idea to remove nonsensical playing techniques when pasting a passage into a different instrument.
(Still, where do you put the precise boundary? Remove lyrics if it’s not sung?
I often display lyrics in instrumental parts doubling a vocal part. Attentive musicians will easily pick up the correct articulation and phrasing.)
Thanks for all these helpful hints. Maybe someone will someday write flutter-tongue for the Double Bass too.
One other thing…
When inserting eighth, sixteenth, or tremolando slashes, Dorico inserts them on every note. Say, I insert double slashes (for 16ths), they get applied equally to half and quarter notes (rightly making 16ths), but they also get applied to eighths (making 32nds) and so on.
It would be good if there could be a more intelligent approach to these processes.