User manual

Breath marks
Breath marks are placed above the top line of the staff, at the end of the note to which they
apply; that is, they appear just before the following note.
Breath marks apply only to the staff to which they were added, as they do not affect the overall
tempo, but instead only indicate to a single player or group of players a suitable place to break
their line in order to breathe.
Caesuras
Caesuras are positioned at the top of the staff, with the top staff line passing through the middle
of the caesura and the bottom of the caesura resting on the second staff line. They are
commonly placed at the end of a bar, before the barline.
Caesuras are automatically added to all staves at the same rhythmic position, immediately to the
left of the notehead or barline to which they were input. They are not linked to noteheads, and
adjust note spacing to create a clear gap.
Multiple holds and pauses at the same rhythmic position
Because fermatas apply to all staves, only one type of fermata can exist at the same rhythmic
position. For example, you cannot have a short fermata on one staff and a long fermata at the
same rhythmic position on another staff.
A Britten curlew can be used at the same rhythmic position as another kind of fermata, but it
cannot exist simultaneously with any breath mark. This is the only exception in Dorico SE.
Caesuras can co-exist with any type of breath mark, but you cannot have a caesura and a fermata
at the same rhythmic position.
Changes to fermatas on single staves
Changing the type of fermata or caesura on one staff automatically changes the type on all
staves at that rhythmic position, as a pause at one particular rhythmic position can only be of
one duration.
However, if you override a particular fermata on one staff, for example, by changing it to a
Britten curlew or a breath mark, changing the existing fermata on another staff does not change
the marking on the overridden staff. Deleting the marking on the overridden staff reverts that
marking to match the fermata on the other staves.
For example, changing a fermata to a breath mark changes the marking for only that staff. That
note is not affected when the type of fermata on the other staves at that rhythmic position is
changed.
Holds and pauses
Positions of holds and pauses
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Dorico SE 3.1.10