User manual

Hiding/Showing time signatures on page 741
Large time signatures
Large time signatures are scaled-up time signatures that appear much larger than normal
relative to the staff size. They can be helpful in orchestral scores, as the smaller staff size in such
scores means standard time signatures are small and harder for conductors to read.
Large time signatures are also very commonly used in lm scores, as conductors rarely have
much time to prepare the scores before recording sessions. Having large time signatures makes
changes in meter more visually clear on the page, especially when music contains multiple
changes in meter.
In Dorico Elements, you can show large time signatures at the following positions:
●
Once per bracketed group
●
Above the staff and at system object positions
Time signatures shown once per bracketed group
Instead of showing a time signature on every staff that is the same height as the staff, you can
instead show a single large time signature on each bracketed group of staves. When shown once
per bracketed group, time signatures are scaled up in size according to the number of staves in
the bracketed group. The largest time signatures are shown on bracketed groups containing four
or more staves. When shown on single staves, they extend a small amount above and below the
staff, which is commonly used for parts for lm music recording sessions.
Narrow, serif time signatures shown once per bracketed group
You can change the size of time signatures on different sizes of bracketed groups on the Time
Signatures page in Engrave > Engraving Options. You can also change whether all the staves
between the brass and string brackets, which often include percussion, harp, and piano, are
treated as a single bracket or separately for the purposes of showing large time signatures.
Large time signatures shown on bracketed groups occupy horizontal space, which can be a
signicant amount when they are especially large and use the standard time signature design.
Therefore, we recommend that you use one of the narrow designs in layouts that show large
time signatures on bracketed groups.
Time signatures shown at system object positions
Similar to showing large time signatures once per bracketed group, you can also show time
signatures only at system object positions and above the staff. Therefore, its positions in each
system are controlled by the same options that control the positions of other system objects,
such as rehearsal marks and tempo marks.
Time signatures
Large time signatures
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