TUTORIALS
#TipsTuesday
RESOURCES
A plethora of help, shortcuts, templates and more are also available in our Resources section.
ARTICLES
Tip: Using tokens to add information to a project
- Fill out information pertaining to your project—including each flow—in the Project Info dialog, found in the File menu, or by pressing the key command Ctrl/Cmd+I from anywhere in the application.
- The master pages used by Dorico contain text frames that are filled with various tokens by default, for information such as titles and composer details. When the information has been filled out in the Project Info dialog, these tokens are substituted with your data.
- All tokens are available by right-clicking in a text frame. The tokens are arranged by category making it easier to find the ones you need.
- Dorico knows which is the current flow and substitutes the correct data for flow-specific tokens, such as flow title.
- By including the flow number in certain tokens (for example {@flow3Title@}) you can retrieve the details for specific flows wherever you are in the project. This can prove very useful when building contents or index pages, and so on.
- There are useful tokens for page numbers, including for the current page and total page count. You can also specify page numbers and counts for individual flows.
- There are various tokens that fill with the current layout name, number, and tokens that specify player names and staff labels. There is even a token to list all players in the layout.
- You can even use tokens within the Project Info dialog.
- There are shortcut tokens for standard accidentals, for help with building project and flow titles that contain key signatures. However, you can access any musical symbol via a token by using its SMuFL code. Visit https://w3c.github.io/smufl/gitbook/ and search the Glyph Tables. For example using {@U+E050@} will resolve to a treble clef.
Tip: Guitar string indicators
- It’s easy to add string indicators to guitar music in Dorico. Select the notes you would like to see string indicators for, open the Properties panel and scroll to the furthest right section: String Indicators. Enable the Show property to see the indicators.
- You can set the string for individual notes in the Notes and Rests section, back at the left-most end of the panel.
- If you would like to see string indicators (with continuation lines) above or below the staff, select the relevant notes and invoke the Playing Techniques panel by pressing Shift+P. Type ‘string‘ and the number you require. Select from the list and press Return.
- You can move, lengthen and shorten the indicator using the usual Write mode handles.
Tip: Create custom condensing groups
- Enable condensing to group together similar instruments on as few staves as possible.
- In Layout Options (Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+L), you can define your own custom condensing groups.
- Choose Players > Condensing and add a new group. Select multiple instruments by holding down Ctrl/Cmd.
- You can even group together different instruments for common condensing pairings, such as trombone and tuba.
Tip: Format bar numbers for large orchestral scores
- By default, the format of bar numbers is the same in both the full score and instrumental parts. When working with a large orchestral score, you may wish to format the bar numbers differently, so that they are more frequent, and easier to read at speed.
- Start by modifying the bar numbers (score) paragraph style in Engrave > Paragraph Styles…
- Then open the Layout Options for the Full score and select the Bar numbers page. Here you will find numerous options for setting the frequency and appearance of bar numbers in the layout, including where to place bar numbers (which can be at multiple positions down the system), and drawing bar numbers in a rectangular or circular enclosure.
Tip: Edit Lyrics dialog
- Use the new Edit Lyrics dialog, added in Dorico 3, to review a whole line of lyrics at once.
- Seeing the entire line of lyrics in one place can make it easier to spot and fix mistakes.
- Open the dialog by selecting a lyric in the line that you would like to edit in Write mode, and choosing Edit > Lyrics > Edit Line of Lyrics….
- Make the necessary changes to any incorrect lyrics, ensuring that you do not add or remove any words or syllables. The total number of lyrics must be the same as when you opened the dialog, or Dorico will not be able to resolve your changes. Refer to the label at the bottom of the dialog to check the current number of lyrics matches the target.
- Press OK to apply your changes and close the dialog.
Tip: Display chord symbols only in slash regions
- Sometimes you may wish to show chord symbols only in specific bars for a layout, such as slash regions.
- In Setup mode, right click the relevant player and choose Chord Symbols > Show in Chord Symbol and Slash Regions.
- Adding further slash regions will reveal existing chord symbols.
- You can also define your own regions that will display chord symbols. Make a selection in the score and choose Write > Create Chord Symbol Region.
- Chord Symbol Regions can be moved, lengthened and shortened.
Tip: Switch between guitar notation and tablature
- Dorico can show music for fretted instruments both as standard notation and as tablature.
- Use Layout Options to choose whether to show music using notation, tab, or both.
- When editing the music for a fretted instrument, both the notation and the tablature is updated.
- You can even choose to display notation in one layout and tab in another.
Tip: Automatically calculate harp pedaling
- Dorico can automatically calculate the pedal positions required for a harp to play the written music.
- Any notes that out not playable using the current pedal positions are displayed in red. This is controlled by the View > Notes And Rest Colours > Notes Out Of Range menu item.
- Select a note where you would like to change the harp pedaling, and choose Write > Calculate Harp Pedal. Dorico looks ahead in the music and creates a pedal diagram that will work for as long as possible. When you come to a note coloured red, this indicates that a change in harp pedaling is required, and you can create a new pedal diagram at this point using the same menu item.
- When creating subsequent pedal diagrams, Dorico can create a partial diagram displaying only the pedals that must be changed to a new position. This can be controlled for all diagrams in the project using Engraving Options, or for individual diagrams using the properties panel.
- You can choose to display full harp pedal changes using note names or a diagram. This can be set on a per-layout basis, using Layout Options, or for individual pedal changes using the properties panel.
Tip: Show guitar diagrams for chord symbols
- Enable chord diagrams by switching to Setup mode, right-clicking a player and choosing Chord Diagrams, selecting the tuning that you want to show.
- Chord diagrams show beneath chord symbols, and now when you add a new chord symbol, the appropriate diagram is displayed automatically.
- Chord diagrams—in different tunings—can be shown on multiple staves; simply enable them for different players.
- Press Alt+Q to cycle between the different fingering variants for a chord diagram.
- Press Shift+Alt+Q to open a dialog that lets you choose from all possible alternatives.