User manual

There are generally accepted conventions for how notes and rests of different durations are
notated and grouped in different contexts.
In Dorico Elements, notes are automatically notated to t within bars and are grouped according
to your per-ow settings.
Depending on the prevailing time signature, there can be many different ways to beam notes
together. For example, you might want to beam all notes in the bar together in time signatures
that cannot be divided in half and are often not divided at all, such as 3/4.
There are also different conventions for how notes within tie chains should be divided to indicate
signicant beat boundaries within bars, and in which contexts they can cross beat boundaries.
Similar options apply to dotted notes, which are often notated as a single dotted note if they
start at the beginning of bars, but as a tie chain that shows signicant beat boundaries in the bar
if they start part-way through bars.
Conventions for beam grouping according to meter
According to accepted conventions, notes are beamed differently in different time signatures to
make the meter clear and easily readable.
For example, music in 3/4 is beamed in one group of six eighth notes (quavers), whereas music in
6/8 is beamed in two groups, each the value of a dotted quarter note (crotchet). Although these
two time signatures describe the same rhythmic value, the implicit meter within them is
different, and so the beam grouping is different.
Default beam grouping in 3/4 Default beam grouping in 6/8
For irregular time signatures, such as 5/8 or 7/8, Dorico Elements beams notes by default
according to the most common practices for those time signatures.
Default beam grouping in 5/8
Default beam grouping in 7/8
Note and rest grouping
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