Table of Contents
Notation reference
Staves
A staff is a line or group of lines on which musical notes are notated to indicate the pitch and rhythm of music. Pitched instruments use the traditional five-line staff and unpitched instruments often use a single-line staff.
Ossia staves
Ossia staves are smaller staves shown above/below the main staff of an instrument. They are used to show alternative phrases that can be played instead of the original phrase, such as suggestions for ornaments, alternative notations from other sources, or an easier version.
Barlines on ossia staves
There are different conventions for whether ossias are connected to their corresponding staves with barlines, and if so, which type of barline should be used.

Barlines on ossia staves

There are different conventions for whether ossias are connected to their corresponding staves with barlines, and if so, which type of barline should be used.

If an ossia both starts and ends at barlines, the following accepted conventions exist among different publishers:

Barlines join the ossia to the main staff at both its start and end
A barline joins the ossia to the main staff only at its end
The ossia does not join to the main staff at all

When an ossia is joined to the main staff, some publishers use the same kind of barline as used for the other staves, which is typically a single barline, whereas other publishers use a dashed barline.

Dorico Pro provides options to accommodate all of these conventions in the Ossias section of the Barlines page in Engraving Options.

Note

When an ossia appears between the main staves of an instrument, for example, below the right-hand staff of a piano, then the ossia is joined with the same barline as the main staves, regardless of your chosen settings on the Barlines page in Engraving Options.