Mark Up a Score?

[Rick_in_MN]

Hi folks.......
Does anyone know if there's a way to mark-up a score within Finale? I'm wanting to be able to make notations like those depicted in this article.

Thanks.

[motet]

How do you envision making the marks? One can add expressions, text blocks, etc., but it looks like what you want would be better done on a tablet with a stylus, probably with a program that allows you to mark up a PDF file.

[Rick_in_MN]

How do you envision making the marks? One can add expressions, text blocks, etc., but it looks like what you want would be better done on a tablet with a stylus, probably with a program that allows you to mark up a PDF file.

Yes… I'd thought of that, but—as I'm working on an arrangement—it would be nice to be able to drop in little notes to myself for things I want to come back to, without having to leave Finale to do it.

I can try to come up with some expressions to do this, I suppose, but it would especially helpful to be able to make markings in a color.

[motet]

Colors would be nice, but I don't know how. I've occasionally done things like this:

[Rick_in_MN]

Yep… that may be the best way. And—by doing it as an expression—it stays attached to the measure.

[N Grossingink]

Yep… that may be the best way. And—by doing it as an expression—it stays attached to the measure.

I would use a Measure-attached text box. In Preferences > Display Colors, set the color of these to bright red or whatever you like. Go to the Text Tool menu and switch to "Measure Attached" and set the font and size, that way all new text boxes will maintain the same look.

[Rick_in_MN]

Yep… that may be the best way. And—by doing it as an expression—it stays attached to the measure.

I would use a Measure-attached text box. In Preferences > Display Colors, set the color of these to bright red or whatever you like. Go to the Text Tool menu and switch to "Measure Attached" and set the font and size, that way all new text boxes will maintain the same look.

OK—that's a good trick. I had to do some digging to learn how to do this. I'll have to figure out how to do these quickly, but it would mostly do what I need.

Thanks!

[miker]

We’ve been asking for a sticky-note kind of feature for at least the last decade.

[Rick_in_MN]

We’ve been asking for a sticky-note kind of feature for at least the last decade.

Yes! That would be fantastic.

[blueshift]

Tim Davies says on his https://www.timusic.net/debreved/ blog that he leaves invisible (non printing, visible on screen) text comments all over his scores (and so do I, in 36 pt impact).

[Rick_in_MN]

Tim Davies says on his https://www.timusic.net/debreved/ blog that he leaves invisible (non printing, visible on screen) text comments all over his scores (and so do I, in 36 pt impact).

Very interesting—please tell me how. (I searched his site and couldn't find the post you reference… sorry.)

[bakkumd]

There is a JW/RGP Lua script written by "Chris" that puts post-it style notes into Finale - printing or non-printing. There are a few other options as well. They appear as measure attached shape expressions. It is on the French Finale site. You need to register/log-in to download the scripts. Also - This script is already translated into English and appears to work well. https://finale-aide.fr/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6702#p33862

If you need to update one of these "sticky" notes, delete it and make a new note with the script - much quicker than editing a shape expression with text.

They look like like this:

                                     (Click to enlarge image)


Here is the interface:

                             (Click to enlarge image)

[blueshift]

Here's my note to self, Tim Davies style.

In scroll view, your text blocks will be red, even when you switch back to page view, and they attach to measures. right click and uncheck 'show' to make them non-printing.

[Rick_in_MN]

There is a JW/RGP Lua script written by "Chris" that puts post-it style notes into Finale - printing or non-printing. There are a few other options as well. They appear as measure attached shape expressions. It is on the French Finale site. You need to register/log-in to download the scripts. Also - This script is already translated into English and appears to work well. https://finale-aide.fr/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6702#p33862

If you need to update one of these "sticky" notes, delete it and make a new note with the script - much quicker than editing a shape expression with text.

They look like like this:

Composer notes.png
                                     (Click to enlarge image)


Here is the interface:

Dialog.png
                             (Click to enlarge image)

Thanks, bakkumd. This looks great.

(Addendum: Looks like the site doesn't like to play with Safari, but works fine with Chrome)

ADDENDUM 2: This is GREAT!

It turns out the JW Lua plugin no longer works (at least on my machine) due to either Finale or macOS updates (development of that plug has apparently been abandoned because the developer has retired), so need to use the RGP Lua plugin instead. The JW "Creer des annotations.lua" script runs fine in RGP Lua.

Thanks again, bakkumd.

[Rick_in_MN]

I also created a key command to launch the annotations script:

Go to System Preferences… Keyboard… Shortcuts… App Shortcuts…

Click the + to create a shortcut for Finale using this menu title:
Plug-ins->Lua->Créer des annotations/Add annotations

I used the key command Control-Option-Command-A to launch, but you can use anything you like that doesn't conflict with another keyboard shortcut in Finale. Just select a measure and hit the key command and it runs the script.

[ebiggs1]

We’ve been asking for a sticky-note kind of feature for at least the last decade.

Yes we have and a "highlighter" too. Finale is supposed to be the great music education tool and lacks such simple but very nice to have items. MM is yet again relying on third party plug-ins to do what should be basic in software stuff.