Respelling accidentals

You can change the enharmonic spelling of notes so they are shown as their enharmonic equivalents, for example, to show the stepwise movement in a phrase clearly, or to avoid altered unisons in a chord. You can do this for all layouts or just for part layouts.

Dorico Pro uses an algorithm that automatically decides the spelling of pitches, based on key signature and context.

There are always at least three options for every pitch, as Dorico Pro allows enharmonic spellings to show up to two accidental glyphs. This means the same note can be spelled four ways, if the original pitch can be spelled with the note name either two notes below or two notes above, using a maximum of two accidental glyphs. For example, B is a possible enharmonic spelling of G♯ because a triple-flat uses a single accidental glyph, whereas an F♯ uses two accidental glyphs.

Procedure

  1. In Write mode, open the layout in which you want to respell accidentals.

    If you respell accidentals in a full score layout, this also affects their spelling in part layouts. If you respell accidentals in part layouts, this only affects their spelling in that part layout.

  2. Select the notes you want to respell.
  3. Respell the selected notes upwards/downwards in any of the following ways:

    • Press Alt-= to respell upwards.

    • Press Alt-- to respell downwards.

Result

The enharmonic spelling of the selected notes is changed.

Example

Figure: A G sharp

Figure: When respelled downwards, the G sharp becomes an F triple-sharp

Figure: When respelled upwards, the G sharp becomes an A flat

Figure: When respelled upwards again, the G sharp becomes a B triple-flat