Project-wide changes to the position of grace note beams

Position of grace note beams on the staff

Like all beams, grace note beams ideally follow the accepted standards for beam placement relative to staff lines, in order to avoid wedges. However, because grace notes are smaller than normal notes, this can lead to extreme slants in grace note beams.

In Dorico, you can change how grace note beam slants are positioned project-wide in the Vertical Position section of the Beams page in Engraving Options.

You can open Engraving Options in any of the following ways:

• Press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-E in any mode.

• Choose Engrave > Engraving Options in Engrave mode.

Beam slants in two-note groups of beamed grace notes

If there are two grace notes that cover a wide pitch range joined by a beam at the same rhythmic position, the angle of the beam can appear very steep.

You can choose whether the beam slant in such cases is left unchanged, or whether shallower slants are used, in the Slants section of the Beams page in Engraving Options.