User manual

Non-sustaining instruments
Non-sustaining instruments, such as piano, harp, marimba, and most percussion instruments,
have no further control of the dynamic of notes after they have been struck. For this reason, non-
sustaining software instruments often use note velocity for dynamics, because this is set at the
start of the note.
Placement of dynamics
Default settings for the vertical placement of dynamics and their staff-relative placement in
Dorico Elements are designed to ensure that dynamics are clear and legible and follow general
placement conventions.
The placement of dynamics relative to the staff varies, depending on their function and the type
of player. For example, dynamics are placed below instrumental staves and above vocal staves by
default. This ensures dynamics are kept as close to the staff as possible for legibility but are not
placed between noteheads and lyrics on vocal staves. For grand staff instruments, such as piano
or harp, dynamics are usually placed between the two staves, but can be placed both above and
below when each staff requires separate dynamics.
In general, dynamics are not placed within the staff, as hairpins in particular become very hard to
read. They are also not usually placed within tuplet brackets.
Dynamics are placed outside of notations such as slurs, which must be kept close to noteheads,
but inside pedal lines, which can be placed further from noteheads and still be clearly
understood.
Changing the placement of dynamics relative to the staff
By default, dynamics are placed below the staff for instruments and above the staff for voices.
You can change the placement of individual dynamics relative to the staff, for example, to have
different dynamics above and below the staff in multiple-voice contexts.
PROCEDURE
1. Select the dynamics whose staff-relative placement you want to change.
2. In the Properties panel, activate Placement in the Dynamics group.
3. Choose one of the following options:
● Above
● Below
RESULT
The placement of the selected dynamics is changed.
Groups of dynamics
When dynamics are grouped together, they are automatically aligned in a row and can be moved
and edited as a group. For example, you can move the  in the middle of the example within the
group, and the hairpins either side automatically adjust to compensate.
A single dynamic, either immediate or gradual, is considered a group on its own.
Two or more dynamics are automatically grouped together if they immediately follow each other
horizontally on the staff, were input together or in sequence, and have gradual dynamics
between the immediate dynamics.
Dynamics
Placement of dynamics
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