User manual

Common practice accidental duration rule
In common practice, an accidental affects all notes of the same pitch in the same octave within
the same bar, unless it is cancelled by another accidental. If it is not cancelled, it is automatically
cancelled in the following bar.
NOTE
To ensure that the cancellation is unambiguous, it is customary to add a cautionary accidental to
the rst note of the same pitch in the following bar.
In Dorico SE, the common practice accidental duration rule is used by default.
In common practice, the accidental of a note in one bar is automatically cancelled in the
following bar. For example, in the key of G major, if an F
♮ is in one bar, an F in the following bar
shows a sharp sign, even though the sharp is already implied by the key signature.
When using the common practice accidental duration rule by default, Dorico SE also displays
cautionary accidentals, which are restatements of an earlier accidental. They are considered
optional; that is, they are neither explicit conrmations nor cancellations, but help to eliminate
ambiguities.
Cautionary accidentals are also known as “courtesy accidentals”.
Cautionary accidentals are shown in the following circumstances:
● Subsequent notes within the same bar have the same note name in different octaves.
● Subsequent notes in the following bar have the same note name in the same octave.
● The rst occurring note in the following bar has the same note name in any octave.
● Augmented/Diminished or double-diminished/augmented intervals are identied within the
same bar.
For each of these situations, you can choose whether cautionary accidentals are shown in
parentheses, shown without parentheses, or not shown at all.
Accidentals
Accidental duration rules
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Dorico SE 3.1.10