Time Signature with a Breve Denominator

Dorico
1

Hello,

Is it somehow possible to create a time signature for a meter with a breve denominator? I’ve tried entering 4/0.5 in the time signature popover, but that doesn’t work.

I imagine this time signature would literally appear as “4” over “0.5,” which would look silly, but with a note (not a number) displayed in the denominator, it could look nice and make sense.

If not, does anyone have a workaround?

Thanks!

2

I’m afraid this isn’t something that Dorico supports natively, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a time signature with a double whole note (breve) denominator. Is there any published music that uses this?

3

I’d be interested to know what sort of music this is intended for. Most 14th/15th-century music in which breves would be a ‘small’ note wouldn’t really have a regular ‘metre’ of 4 breves.

You’re probably best off using 16/2 and checking the property to use the Cut C symbol. Performers will soon work out whether they should be beating breves or anything else.

4

Not a breve, but Stockhausen’s Mixtur uses a doubled whole note tied together.

mixtur
mixtur772×210 10.9 KB

5

You can’t fool me. I know a smiley face when I see one! :smile:

Very friendly music. I like the bow tie too. Very classy.

5 Likes
6

I’m not aware of any published music that uses this — yet — but there might be, if Dorico introduces support for it!

Ben, you’re right — this isn’t for renaissance music, it’s for new music.

I like the Stockhausen example!

1 Like