User manual

General placement conventions for grace notes
Grace notes function like normal notes in many ways, but there are some specic conventions
about their stem direction, position relative to noteheads, and the placement of stem slashes.
Grace notes appear stem up by default, except when there are multiple voices with grace notes
in a single staff, in which case grace notes in the lower voices appear stem down. This affects the
placement of slurs relative to grace notes.
Grace notes are always positioned before a notehead, even if they are intended to be played on
the beat rather than before the beat. They are normally placed after a barline, so they can be
positioned directly before the notehead to which they are attached. However, groups of three or
more grace notes can be placed before the barline so that the note of the rst beat in the bar is
not pushed too far from the barline.
Grace note stem slashes appear at the beginning of a grace note beam if multiple grace notes
can be joined by a single beam at the same rhythmic position. If there is a single grace note, the
slash appears across the stem, and its
ag if applicable, and extends either side of the stem.
Adding accidentals causes their spacing to readjust so that the accidentals are clearly legible,
similar to normal notes.
Articulations can be added to grace notes wherever they are most clearly legible, which is most
likely outside the staff. Dorico SE automatically places articulations on the stem-side of grace
notes, and outside the staff if the stem or beam is within the staff.
Slurs relative to grace notes
By default, slurs starting on grace notes and ending on tie chains end on the rst note of the tie
chain. You can change the position of individual slurs relative to tie chains, including those
starting from grace notes.
RELATED LINKS
Changing the position of grace notes relative to barlines on page 599
Slur placement relative to grace notes on page 782
Slur position relative to tie chains on page 781
Changing the position of slurs relative to tie chains on page 782
Note spacing on page 362
Grace note placement in multiple-voice contexts
According to accepted notation convention, grace notes appear stem up by default when there is
only one voice on a staff, even if the notehead to which they are attached is stem down.
However, when there are multiple voices on the staff, all notes in the upper voices appear stem
up and all notes in the lower voices appear stem down, including all grace notes. This adjustment
happens automatically in
Dorico SE, but you can also override the stem direction of grace notes
in multiple voices and change their directions individually if necessary.
Grace notes
General placement conventions for grace notes
598
Dorico SE 3.1.10