I switched to Dorico several months ago, before the Finale announcement. I love it!
What’s the best workflow to create a choral piece with piano acc? I created a blank document using the Dorico template. I have changed the condensing so choir parts are only two staves instead of four. I have a full size keyboard and good keyboard skills, so I will play each part in individually.
• I want to input the piano part one staff at a time. The last time I tried that, it splits between both staves. How do I get it to only go to the clef I’ve selected?
• I should add the lyrics last, with condensing on, right?
Hi Dean! A belated welcome to Dorico …
With midi or alphabetic entry, the notes stay on one staff unless you extend the caret to both staves. If you prefer to play the parts in real-time, I guess one way would be to input into a scratch staff and move the notes (Alt-M or N) onto the piano staff afterward. (But won’t you need up- and down-stems sometimes?)
As for the choir parts … as I often say here: Choral condensing doesn’t work well with lyrics so far. So unless you need 4 separate staves for further divisi, or a lot of polyphony, it is fine to just write directly onto 2 SA/TB staves, with up- and down-stems for differing rhythms where needed. The Condensing feature is mainly for combining wind instruments in an ensemble score that need their separate part layouts; singers get a score with all the parts anyway.
If your music has both unison passages and polyphony, as a lot of anthems do, there are threads on the forum with various suggestions of how to handle those changes.
If you post a sample of the kind of textures you’re writing (once you can attach files), we can offer more specific advice …
Thank you. That’s what I’ve been doing with the piano parts.
Personally, I would advise NOT using Condensing for choral scores.
If the music is simple enough to use a choir reduction throughout; then use the Choir reduction instrument, with Down-stem voices for Alto and Bass.
Otherwise, use 4 separate staves throughout.
If there are lengthy sections of music that would fit a reduction, followed by a lengthy section of counterpoint that suits separate staves, then I would just use a System Break and hide the ‘empty’ staves (in Layout Options, or using Manual Staff Visibility in the System Break).
Unless you’re actually saving a modulus of 4 pages (e.g. saving an entire sheet in a booklet), then there’s no point in switching staff layouts, and singers will thank you if they don’t have to think about which line they’re supposed to sing.
Also: don’t use abbreviated labels on every system. Beryl will always sing the second line down.
I’m entering a piano reduction right now, and I’m doing each voice, on each staff separately. Are you using Note Entry, or “live” recording? Dorico will only split the notes if you’re playing live to the beat.
Good to know. I was live recording, but I started over using Note Entry.
Thank you. I added a new instrument - Choir (reduction) - that only has two staves.