Wrote a piece in Dorico. Fermatas don’t playback. None of the things I’ve read/tried work. Exported it as MusicXML and imported it to Finale…lo and behold! the fermatas playback exactly as expected.
Welcome to the forum.
Are you perhaps using Fixed Tempo mode rather than Follow Tempo?
Follow Tempo (when Dorico respects all tempo markings on the score, including fermatas) is when this is BLUE…
(Click it to change mode)
You should normally set the tempo by a notation on the score (use the tempo popover, eg, shift-T q=72)
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Borrowing this thread for something I just noticed: the fermatas do affect playback, in fact too well.
This is the Play mode screenshot of a short score/sequence, where a single fermata placed on a quarter note (beat 3 in 4/4) starts to affect the tempo over two measures too early.
Here’s the sheet music representation. The “music” (notes, accidentals, key signatures) are not relevant here, this was only a quick midi import + remote key signature test project. The original midi did not have any tempo changes (steady q=70 at the start of the project). Even adding an explicit new tempo in Dorico for q=66 at the start of m. 8 doesn’t change the issue — it seems that the “hold duration = 100%” property of the fermata already affects the previous tempo. Even if it’s removed, the score plays back fine at q=70 until the end of m. 7. Only at the start of m. 8 the fermata takes effect much too early. Tested on two different playback templates (HSSE and NP), no difference.
Hi ViliRobert, I can confirm this behaviour with a fermata for which I had adjusted the duration. In my case the tempo change extended backwards a bar from the fermata. Removing the fermata removed the tempo change.
I’m not sure whether this is by design, but in any case I don’t understand it!
Can you upload the document so we can have a look?
Otherwise, check the Playback options, that fermatas are set to play.
I think I understand the behavior now…and tell me if I’m wrong. I have increased the duration of the normal fermata in the playback options to “400”, and have the “follow tempo” set (thank you for that help). I’ve actually got two fermatas in the music in different places, and they behave differently depending on the note value. At the first fermata (I should say, the 4 fermatas that it placed in the score) the longest note value is a half note, and the duration is not quite sufficient. At the second (group of) fermata(s), the longest note value is a whole note, and the duration is entirely too long. My expectation is that the fermata occurs on the beat, but in Dorico, it is applied to notes(yes?). Also, the defaults for fermata duration are hilariously short. Now I have to figure out how to make the different fermata locations more musical in their separate circumstances. [cranky finale user here]
By default, Dorico adds “half again” to the length of a note with a fermata (e.g. like dotting it); and adds a gap afterwards of half the original note’s duration.
It’s possible that this may apply to the shortest duration on the beat position where the fermata is applied.
Yes, the duration of a fermata is calculated from the shortest note across all staves. So in the last screenshot, it would be calculated from the quarter note.
I think you would need to adjust your view here a bit, because Dorico works differently:
A fermata does not insert additional time “on a beat”, instead it stretches a note. If you have a quarter note and want to double its length, put 200% into the input.