Adding another voice to the top staff

In bar 9, a second voice appears on the top staff, so you need to add an additional voice to the staff. We will also explain how you can identify the voice into which you are inputting notes.

Procedure

  1. In bar 9, select the rest on the top staff.
  2. Press Shift-N to start note input.

    • Beside the caret, there is a note symbol. This indicates the voice to which anything you then input is assigned by showing its stem direction, a number, and type (normal, slash, or grace).

      Caret active on the top staff in chord input

    • Currently, the note symbol shows you are inputting notes into the first up-stem voice on the staff, but this bar requires a down-stem voice.

  3. If chord input is active, press Q to stop chord input.
  4. Press Shift-V to create a new voice.

    • A + sign appears beside the note symbol, whose stem now points down. This indicates a new down-stem voice.

      Caret when adding a new down-stem voice

  5. Press 7 to select half notes (minims), then . (period) to add a rhythm dot, making the duration dotted half notes.
  6. Press B to input a B♭ in the new down-stem voice.

    Caret indicating the down-stem voice without the + sign, as the voice is no longer new

    • Dorico shows a cautionary ♭ accidental on the B due to the B♮s on the bottom staff in the previous bar.

    • The caret automatically advances to the next bar. However, in this instance, there are still other notes in the up-stem voice in bar 9 that you need to input.

  7. Press Left Arrow until the caret is positioned at the start of the second beat in bar 9.

    • When moving the caret using the arrow keys, how far it moves depends on the current rhythmic grid resolution (rather than the note duration selected in the Notes panel when you press Space). The current rhythmic grid resolution Rhythmic grid selector in the status bar is shown in the status bar at the bottom of the window. By default, it’s set to eighth notes.

    • The note symbol beside the caret indicates that it’s still set to the down-stem voice, but the eighth notes in bar 9 are in the up-stem voice.

  8. Press V to switch to the up-stem voice.

    Caret active on the top staff with the up-stem voice selected

    • V cycles through all active voices on the staff. As there are currently only two voices on the top staff, pressing V switches between the up-stem and down-stem voices.

  9. Press 5 to select eighth notes (quavers).
  10. Press E, G, F, then E to input the pitches E♭, G, F, and E♭ as eighth notes into the up-stem voice.

    Eighth notes in the up-stem voice input in bar 9

  11. Press 7 then . (period) to select dotted half notes (dotted minims).
  12. Press Q to start chord input.
  13. Press Ctrl-Alt-A (Windows) or Ctrl-A (macOS) to input the A♭ a fifth below, rather than a fourth above, the preceding E♭, then D to input the D♭ above as a dotted half note chord into the up-stem voice.

    Chord on the top staff input in bar 10

  14. At the start of bar 11, press V to switch to the down-stem voice
  15. Repeat steps 5 to 13 to input bars 11-12.
    Tip

    Alternatively, you can press Esc to stop note input, select bars 9-10 on the top staff, then press R to repeat the material directly after itself.

  16. Press Esc or Return to stop note input.

Result

You have added a new down-stem voice and input all the notes required in bars 9-12 for the top staff. The order in which you input notes for each voice doesn’t matter: Dorico automatically updates stem directions and voice columns to accommodate voices.

Notes and chords in bars 9-12

After Completing This Task

Input the notes in bar 13 on the top staff using what you have learned in this task, or copy them from bar 11.