Positions of tempo marks

Tempo marks are placed above the staff and at the same positions as other system objects, because they usually apply to all staves. They are placed above notations such as slurs, ties, and octave lines, and are often aligned with rehearsal marks to ensure clear readability.

Tempo marks should be aligned with either a time signature or the notehead/rest at the rhythmic position to which they apply. For example, if there is a notehead with an accidental at the rhythmic position of a tempo mark, it is convention to align the tempo mark with the accidental.

If a repeat mark occurs mid-system and is not treated as a barline, tempo marks are aligned with the repeat mark.

When a tempo mark includes both text and a metronome mark, the text appears first, followed by the metronome mark. When horizontal space is tight, the metronome mark can be positioned below the tempo mark text.

You can move tempo marks to different rhythmic positions in Write mode. They are positioned by default according to your settings in Engraving Options.

You can move tempo marks graphically in Engrave mode, but this does not change the rhythmic positions to which they are attached.

You can change the default positions and appearance of tempo marks project-wide on the Tempo page in Engrave > Engraving Options.

Tempo marks are categorized as system objects in Dorico Pro, which you can show above the first bracket of selected instrument families. You can change the instrument families above which system objects appear in each layout independently, for example, if you want tempo marks to appear at multiple vertical positions in each system in the full score only.