Piano Score to 8tet

[bdidderlee]

I am brand new to scoring for multiple instruments on Finale 2014 (Windows 8.1), and would like to know the easiest way to take my 5 voice piano score of a well known standard, and transfer each voice to the appropriate instrument on a score which includes 4 horns, guitar + piano, bass & drums.

This is also my first attempt at using layers. They are not always consistent, voice per layer, and a single voice might flow through several layers. Kind of a mess, I know, but I was more concerned about just getting the info entered and my voicings to sound.

Thanks for any help.

[Peter Thomsen]

Welcome to the forum!

Your description is a bit vague:

“This is also my first attempt at using layers. They are not always consistent, voice per layer, and a single voice might flow through several layers. Kind of a mess, I know…”

My first guess would be that since the piano score is “kind of a mess”, you should not copy music from the piano score to the 8tet score, but rather set up a new, fresh 8tet score, and enter the 8 parts manually, one by one, into the 8tet score.

[bdidderlee]

Thanks, Peter.

Sorry if I was being vague.

I was hoping to avoid entering all the parts manually since that would be A LOT of work. If I clean up the layers on the piano score first, what then would be the procedure, simple copy and paste each voice into the 8tet score, or is there a way to export?

Thanks again.

[miker]

It depends. Do you have lots of key and time changes? If so, copying and pasting these only works with full measure stacks. Copying out only a single staff drops those changes (at least, in my experience.) if that's the case, make multiple copies, and delete all but a single part, which you can then copy and paste into the new doc.

[Peter Thomsen]

bdidderlee,

Actually you can make a Stack Selection of a single staff in a multi-staff document.
To do so, switch to Scroll View, and program a Staff Set of only that particular staff.

To program a Staff Set you must be in Scroll View.
Also, you must be in the Staff Tool.
Click on the staff to select it.
Then hold down the correct modifier key (= Ctrl, I think), and go to
View menu > Staff Sets > Program Staff Set …

When you have programmed a Staff Set, you can select that Staff Set from Scroll View (but now you do not have to be in the Staff Tool), and selection will automatically be Stack Selection.

When you switch back to Page View, you will see all the staves; a Staff Set only works in Scroll View.

With a Stack Selection you can copy everything from a single staff - including key and time changes.