Working with voices on Piano staff, a struggle in Elements

How in the world do you write notes in a specific voice in, for example, a piano staff? This should be straightforward. I am trying to write a simple phrase in two voices in a piano treble staff. This is ridiculous! How do you know which voice is the active one you are writing notes into??

As far as I’m aware, Elements is exactly the same as Pro for voices.

View > Note and Rest Colors > Voice Colors (turn on!)

And pay attention to the cursor when you’re typing notes in - it’ll show an upstem or a downstem. If there’s a number next to it, like 2 for instance, then it’s upstem 2 or downstem 2. If there’s no number, you’re in upstem voice 1 or downstem voice 1.

bobby,

Check out this video, which is quite helpful in getting used to Dorico’s handling of voices:

The part Anthony mentions about removing unwanted rests has been made easier since this video was made. There is now a “Remove Rests” under the Edit Menu.

The video helped explain things a bit, thanks!

You are welcome. Once you get used to it, in my opinion, it seems more liberating than thinking along the lines of “voice 1”, “voice 2”, etc.

I agree with musicmaven. I tried to think in terms of voices when I started with Dorico. Now, as long as the sticks point the right way, I don’t care. This has never bitten me.