John Valentino

 

                        Advanced Notation in Finale 2002 for PC and MAC

 

 

 

Advanced Tuplet Tool Options: Continuous X-tuplets

There is a problem whenever a measure needs to contain all variable tuplets, for example a measure in common time that needs to contain four 5-tuplets.

The first step is to change the meter using the meter tool , to a meter that has enough beats in it to fit the correct number of notes in their non-tuplet forms. Change the meter by selecting the meter tool then double-clicking on the measure that needs to be changed. Simply slide the 2 scroll bars until you create the desired meter, then click “ok.” In this case, four 5-tuplets consist of twenty notes total, and in non-tuplet from that would be twenty 16^th notes. So the time signature should be changed to 5/4, and enter twenty 16^th notes.

            The next step is to select the tuplet tool  and click once on the note that needs to be turned into a variable tuplet. A menu will appear and this is where you enter the number of the tuplet note value that will occur during the space of a given number of non-tuplet notes, then press “Ok.” In the case of forming 5-tuplets set the ration to five 16^th notes in the space of four.

Then use the tuplet tool  on every fifth note to create four 5-tuplets in the 5/4 signature.

Now use the meter tool  again, but this time set the signature back to the original meter, which was common time.

Advanced Tuplet Options: mixed duple and non-duple rhythms in the same beat or subdivision of a beat

            First enter the number of notes in there appropriate non-tuplet values. For example if you wanted to form, in common time, two 16^th notes followed by three triplet-16^th notes, you would enter five 16^th notes.

Then use the tuplet tool  on the note that begins the tuplet. In the case of forming two 16^th notes and three triplet 16^th notes, use the tool on the third 16^th note, using the appropriate ratio in the tuplet tool option box.

Since the double bar extends through the entire beat, it is difficult to distinguish the rhythm. To make this more readable open the special tools panel  then select the secondary beam break tool . Now click on the measure and boxes will appear above each of the notes.

Double-click the box above the note that begins the tuplet, and select to break only the 16^th note beam.

When “OK” is pressed it will remove the 16^th note beam, separating the duple from the triplet and making the rhythm easier to read.

Cross-Staff Notation

            The first step is to input the notes into the measure making sure to keep all the notes in one staff.

Then click on the note-mover tool  which will make the note-mover pull-down menu an option.

 

Open the pull-down menu and select “Cross Staff.” Then click on the measure containing the notes that need to be pushed into the other staff. This will make boxes appear over the note-heads. Hold the shift key and click in the boxes of the notes that need to be in the other staff.

Now release the shift key and mouse button, then click on the first selected note-head and click and drag them into the other staff, and release the mouse button.

The next step is to move the beam into the middle of the two staves. This is done by clicking on the special tools button  and selecting the beam angle tool . This will cause boxes to appear on both ends of the beams. Click in either beam box and drag it to the desired location, then release the mouse button.

This procedure sometimes leaves the stems on the incorrect sides of note heads, to correct this select the special tools button  and choose the reverse stem tool . Next click on the current measure. This will cause boxes to appear above and below the stems of the notes. Clicking in the boxes above the notes will cause the stems to move to the left, clicking on the boxes below will shift the stems to the right.

There is still a problem in the lower staff where a whole rest, which does not serve a purpose since both staves are acting as one, is present. Finale views the lower measure as not having any entries at all, the cross staff notes are associated with their original position so it is impossible to remove the whole rest without adding an entry to make the lower staff active. So it is necessary to add two half rests into the measure.

Select the speedy entry tool  which will add a menu option called “Speedy.”

Then click on the measure containing the rests you wish to remove. A box will be created around that measure. Align the cursor over the first rest by clicking once on it, then open the “Speedy” pull down menu, open the “Speedy edit commands” menu, and then select “Show/Hide entry.” Do this for the other rest as well.

 

 

 

Uneven Meter and Appropriate Note Beam Groupings

            After a finale file has been created in any meter, the meter tool can be used to change any number of measures. There is also the ability to create an uneven or composite meter, for example 5/8. This is done by selecting the meter tool  and double-clicking on a measure, which will bring the time signature selection screen.

Before you enter the composite meter using the composite button, you must decide the duple and triple divisions of that meter which will determine the beaming. For example you can break 5/8 into 2 and 3. To do this open the composite menu and enter the correct divisions. In this case you would enter 2+3/8 and select “OK."

The 2+3/8 meter is needed to specify beaming, but the time signature can still read 5/8 as originally intended. To do this select the “Options >>” button which will open a new box. Click on the “Composite” button inside the new box and enter the compound meter of 5/8. After clicking “OK” select the option to “Use a different time signature for display,” then select “OK.”

 

 

 

Reordering the Score After File Creation

            After a score has been created with or without the creation wizard, the order of staves can still be changed. To do this first click on the staff tool  which will cause several boxes to appear next to each of the staves.

Click in the box closest to the clef and drag it to the desired position. Depending on the distance of the staff moved, it might be necessary to drag other staves into other positions as well.

Once the staves are in their approximate positions, open the “Staff” pull-down menu and select “Respace Staves.” This will bring up a menu-box, select “OK” then all the staves will be in the new order with even spacing.

Next the bracket needs to be extended to reach all the staves. Double-click in the box in the center and off to the left of the bracket. This will open the group attributes menu-box. Change the settings in the “Staff” and “Through” boxes to redraw the bracket.