Adding fermatas

First Steps
Product
Dorico
Version
5.0
ft:locale
en-US
Document type
Webhelp

There is a pause in the recording of this song in the beats before the first chorus. One way of notating this is to use a fermata, also known as a pause mark.

Procedure

  1. In bar 16, select the G on beat 3 on the vocal staff.
  2. Press Shift-H to open the holds and pauses popover.
  3. Enter fer into the popover.

    Holds and pauses popover above the staff with an entry for a fermata

  4. Press Return to close the popover and input a fermata at the selected rhythmic position.
  5. Select the C on beat 4 and repeat steps 2 to 4.

    Fermatas input in bar 16

Result

You have input two fermatas on the last two beats in bar 16. Dorico automatically shows fermatas on all staves, including adjusting the note or rest they appear on according to the contents of each staff.

Selecting a fermata on one staff selects it on all staves, because they are all representations of the same, single item. On the bottom piano staff and trombone and banjo staves, it appears above the closest note to its rhythmic position, in this case the whole note or bar rest, but there are attachment lines indicating its actual position on each staff.

Fermatas automatically appearing on all staves

Note

  • Fermatas do not currently affect playback.

  • You can also add fermatas using the Holds and Pauses panel on the right of the window, which you can show by clicking Panels Panels button in the Notations toolbox, then Holds and Pauses Holds and Pauses button in the Notations toolbox in the Notations toolbox.