Any way automatically to get Dorico to put whole bar rests in these 4/4 groupings instead of two half rests? Likewise, in empty 3/4 groups, can I get Dorico to place a dotted half-rest?
Hi @jjm_335,
[EDIT: sorry, I just saw that you are looking for an automatic way, and I don’t know if what follows may be helpful]
you can use Force duration:
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Select the first rest in bar 2, press O (letter) and 8
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Select the first rest of the 3/4 group, press O (letter) and 77:
Alternatively, using hidden time signatures with custom beat grouping:
- for the first case you can use this in the popover: ([4]/4|3/4)
- and for the second case, this: (4/4|[3]/4)
(but this will affect the whole system…, eventually you could add them as local time signatures to affect only one system…, but I think Force duration is more straightforward in this case)
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Thanks. I was hoping for something like option 2, but of course this overrides the typical beat groupings within each “measure” of 4/4 and 3/4, which is worse. Thus I guess option 1 is the winner.
Maybe I’m taking the wrong approach and it should be notated with half rests, and with quarter rests in the 3/4 portions. It just looks clunky.
I think the two half rests are important, so the player remembers the first half is 4 beats and the second is 3 (whole bar rests lose that distinction).
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There is a rule that there should be no confusion about whether a whole note rest is a whole note (e.g. 4 quarters) or a whole bar rest (which could be anything). In other words, you don’t use a whole note rest for a four-beat rest if you’re also using it as a whole bar rest of different value.
(Hence why 4/2 and 3/1 often use the breve (double whole) rest as a bar rest, so that the whole note rest can be used for whole notes..!)
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That makes sense of course. My hesitation is that with the players likely to be reading this kind of music—with a consistent rhythmic grid and a rhythm section—I suspect I’ll get a lot of complaints like “why can’t you just put a dotted half-rest in these 3/4 sections instead of a bunch of quarter rests!” But I guess one can never please everyone.
The dotted half is another story. There is an option in Notation Option for whether dotted rests are allowed (though it doesn’t seem to work for things like dotted eighths).
would you mind telling me where this setting is located? I had looked for it earlier, but thought I might have been mistaken that it existed.
Notation Options > Rests > Simple Time Signatures.
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I can’t find a setting where this changes the three quarter rests in a group. I’ve tried “rests at the end of simple beats”, which looks like the only setting. What am I missing?