Finale has 3 different kinds of music spacing:1. Time Signature Spacing. This is obviously the spacing you want. It is a linear spacing, giving a half note two times as much space as a quarter note.
2. Note Spacing. This is a more space-efficient spacing, giving a half note less than two times as much space as a quarter note. In the Document Options you can choose how tight you want the note spacing.
Some engravers prefer a note spacing where a half note gets 1.618... as much space as a quarter note. The ratio 1.618... is the "golden ratio" which was regarded to be especially beautiful in ancient greek art. Spacing with the golden ratio is called Fibonacci spacing after the italian mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (1180-1250) who worked with number series in which the next number is the sum of the two previous numbers, e. g. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21,... The ratio between two neighbours (e.g. 21/13) is an approximation to the golden ratio.
Other engravers prefer a tighter spacing, e.g. that a half note gets 1.414... as much space as a quarter note (1.414... = the square root of 2).
3. Beat Spacing. This is a hybrid between Time Signature Spacing and Note Spacing, using Note Spacing for the beats (e.g. giving a half note 1.618... the space of a quarter), and Time Signature Spacing for the notes within each beat (giving an 8th twice the space of a 16th).
Obviously, Time Signature Spacing is what you want. Therefore:
Mass Edit Tool.
Select the measure, and go to
Mass Edit menu - Music Spacing - Apply Time Signature Spacing
By The Way: It might be a good idea to turn off "Automatic Music Spacing" (Edit menu), since Finale uses Note Spacing when "Automatic Music Spacing" is turned on.
Peter
