Guitar tablature is an essential notation method for guitarists, providing a clear and direct way to represent musical ideas on the instrument. While software like Dorico offers robust music notation capabilities, guitarists often require specific features tailored to the nuances of guitar tablature. This article delves into user-requested enhancements for Dorico, focusing on bow markings and slur handling within guitar tablature.
One key area for improvement lies in the display options for bow markings. Guitarists commonly use bow-like symbols to indicate picking direction – downstrokes and upstrokes – crucial for performance articulation and technique. Currently, users are seeking more control over where these markings appear in Dorico. The request is to have the flexibility to display bow markings exclusively on the TAB staff, solely on the notation staff, or on both simultaneously. This level of customization is vital for creating scores that cater to different reading preferences and engraving styles. The image below illustrates a score excerpt where the user desires independent control over bow marking visibility.
Score excerpt showing notation and TAB staffs
Another significant aspect for refinement is the horizontal placement of slurs within guitar tablature. Slurs, indicating legato phrasing, are visually represented as curved lines connecting notes. The challenge arises particularly when slurs cross system breaks in TAB. While Dorico offers options to extend slur ends outside staff lines, this can lead to awkward visual results in tablature, especially when notes are on inner strings. In such cases, slurs may appear disproportionately far from the TAB staff lines, disrupting readability. Users are requesting an enhanced algorithm for horizontal slur placement in TAB, ensuring a visually appealing and easily readable score. Ideally, slurs should intelligently adjust their horizontal positioning to remain visually connected to the tablature staff, except when crossing strings, where standard slur behavior should apply. The subsequent image highlights an instance where manual adjustments were needed to correct slur placement in tablature.
Score excerpt demonstrating slur placement issues in TAB
Furthermore, the user experience of editing slurs in Dorico is cited as needing improvement. Guitarists accustomed to other notation software like Finale or Sibelius often expect a more direct and intuitive method for adjusting slur shapes and positions. The feature request focuses on enabling users to rotate slurs by dragging the start or end handles, pivoting around the opposite end. This would streamline the editing process, allowing for quick and precise adjustments to slur placement without requiring manipulation of multiple handles to maintain the intended slur shape. This more efficient editing workflow would significantly benefit guitarists working with tablature in Dorico.
In conclusion, these feature requests highlight the ongoing need to refine music notation software to meet the specific demands of guitarists using tablature. Implementing enhanced control over bow marking visibility, improving horizontal slur placement, and offering more intuitive slur editing functionalities would greatly enhance the user experience for guitarists using Dorico, making it an even more powerful and versatile tool for guitar music notation.
