User manual

Table Of Contents

Open

An open time signature has no restrictions on meter, beaming, or beats. Any number

of notes can be added, with any beaming. In Dorico Elements, an open time

signature can be shown with an X or N, or without any signature.

Non-power of two

A non-power of two time signature is one such as 5/6, which indicates ve sextuplet

notes lasting for a whole note (semibreve). Examples of time signatures like this can

be found in the music of Adès.

Some composers, such as Boulez, have written fractional time signatures. Dorico Elements does

not currently support these.

RELATED LINKS

Time signature styles on page 734

Large time signatures on page 732

Input methods for time signatures on page 172

Time signatures popover on page 173

Pick-up bars

Pick-up bars, also known as “upbeats” or “anacrusis”, allow you to include music before the rst

full bar. Often, pick-up bars only comprise a few beats whose main purpose is to lead in to the

start of the piece.

Pick-up bar of a single quarter note beat at the start of Chopin's Mazurka Op. 30 No. 2

Pieces that start with a pick-up bar have time signatures that are positioned at the start of the

system as normal. However, the rst full bar of the time signature occurs after the rst barline

and not before. Therefore, pick-up bars do not contribute to the bar number count. Bar numbers

are counted from the rst full bar in the ow.

Because pick-up bars are linked to the number of notes/rests in the music, in Dorico Elements

they are linked to time signatures and so you must input pick-up bars alongside a time signature.

However, you can hide time signatures you do not want to show in the music.