mildly OT: stacking articulations

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Michel R E
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Finale Version: Finale 2012, 25, 26
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Post by Michel R E » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:45 am

I know I saw a chart at one point that indicated the preferred order of articulations when stacking them, but for the life of me I cannot find it again.

I am having to add up/down bows to a string piece, and am coming across multiple instances of items for which I can't seem to figure out the order.
If I recall correctly, articulations that directly affect playback (attack, duration) should go nearest the note.

Let's say I have a unis. expression, and a staccato, and a down bow, on a note.. which goes in what order? I presume the staccato goes nearest the note. But then, should something like unis. go next? or should the bow direction come next?

I have other spots with multiple expressions (arco, divisi, la metà) and then articulations a tenuto or staccato, and the bow direction. That's an awful lot of information to squeeze into a small space.

If anyone has a suggestion I would immensely appreciate.
I do have the Gould book, but I must be looking up the wrong words, because I'm simply not finding the information I need.
User of Finale since version 3.0 on Windows.
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N Grossingink
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Post by N Grossingink » Thu Aug 31, 2017 8:43 am

As far as I'm concerned, articulations of duration or force go closest to the notehead, followed by bowing indications, followed by text directives. The text can appear before the note or directly above, depending on the context (whichever looks best).

N.
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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Thu Aug 31, 2017 11:57 am

Michel R E wrote:… I do have the Gould book, but I must be looking up the wrong words, because I'm simply not finding the information I need.
I suppose that you in Elaine Gould’s “Behind bars” already have found p. 121–122, which discusses slurs stacked with other articulations.

Quoting p. 121:
“The smallest signs go closest to the notehead”
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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