In a score I'm preparing, I have many pairs of notes whose durations should be played in the ratios 2:1 or 1:2, with each pair having a total duration of a half note. The common way to notate this is using triplets, as shown in example #1 below. However, it looks a bit clumsy to me, and my (amateur) choristers don't know how to sing it until I explain it to them. Example #3 is easier to understand, but I've got a lot of these and I don't like how cluttered it looks. I'd like to notate it as shown in example #2, with something small to indicate that the dotted rhythm should be "softened" or "relaxed" so that it sounds more like example #1. The rhythm doesn't have to sound exactly like a tied triplet, but I really don't want the abruptness of a true dotted rhythm.
Is this a done thing? I've seen music with an indication at the beginning of the piece like Example #4 (which is actually a pair of examples), but that approach doesn't work for me in this case because I want most of these rhythms "relaxed", but not all.
Any suggestions will be most appreciated.