Best piano score format settings

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armonia
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Post by armonia » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:28 pm

Hello,

I'm trying to correctly engrave a piano solo music composition. I would like to find the best formatting options in order to get nice results for this piano score in terms of readability and beauty, but I find that finale margins and staff size for default piano template doesn't look good enough.
I'd really appreciate your advices on this. Paper size will be A4.


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motet
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Post by motet » Tue Oct 03, 2017 5:42 pm

Since it boils down to a matter of taste, I suggest you play around with the settings yourself and see what you like. You'll learn more about Finale in the process.

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:02 pm

Another idea:

If you have a piano score with the layout you prefer, then try to recreate that layout with Finale.
You will learn a lot about engraving during the process.


Just one hint:
There are 3 different scalings in Finale:
- Page Scaling
- System Scaling
- Staff Scaling

The layout work might be easier if you Keep It Simple, and use only Page Scaling, i. e. setting both System Scaling and Staff Scaling to 100 % (= Staff Height 24pt).
Then experiment with different Page Scaling percentages.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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N Grossingink
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Post by N Grossingink » Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:44 pm

Peter gave some good advice.

In my opinion, the "beauty" of a music engraving is determined by a lot of factors. High on the list are line thicknesses. Finale's lines are a bit too fine for my taste. You could experiment with thickening them up a very small amount at a time. Each different kind of line should have a different thickness. My own order, from thinnest to thickest is: staff lines - stems - ledger lines - barlines. Make your changes and print out a copy for a critical evaluation. Repeat as necessary till you have the look you want.

I'm attaching a copy of a piano template containing my own personal line settings. I'm not trying to give the impression that these are correct - far from it. However, I've given a fair amount of thought to these settings. Copy in some piano notation and see what you think. Tweak the settings as you like.

N.
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LineSettings.mus
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N. Grossingink
Educational Band, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble a specialty
Sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFF5OeJDeLFGHMRyXrubFqZWXBubErw4/view?usp=share_link


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ttw
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Post by ttw » Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:32 am

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll give them a try next piece I write. Thomas Wolfe's curse doesn't apply to most programs.

armonia
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Post by armonia » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:23 am

Thanks so much for all the suggestions

Piano Pete
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Post by Piano Pete » Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:42 pm

Where are the options to tweak the individual parameter's thickness?
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motet
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Post by motet » Wed Oct 25, 2017 12:00 am

Document Options / Lines and Curves.

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:12 am

Document Options - Barlines.

Document Options - Stems.

Also, consider the thickness of Crescendo / Decrescendo wedges (hairpins):
Smart Shape Tool.
Smart Shape menu > Smart Shape Options…
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N Grossingink
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Post by N Grossingink » Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:35 am

Peter Thomsen wrote:Document Options - Barlines.

Document Options - Stems.

Also, consider the thickness of Crescendo / Decrescendo wedges (hairpins):
Smart Shape Tool.
Smart Shape menu > Smart Shape Options…
Also, Document Options > Lines and Curves (for ledger lines and staff lines).

Also, consider the thickness of ties (Document Options > Ties > Tie Contour) and slurs (Smart Shape Menu > Smart Slur options). Ties and slurs should be the same thickness (?).

N.
N. Grossingink
Educational Band, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble a specialty
Sample: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pFF5OeJDeLFGHMRyXrubFqZWXBubErw4/view?usp=share_link


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Hector Pascal
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Post by Hector Pascal » Sun Sep 05, 2021 2:04 am

Hi all,
Just revisiting this older post and appreciating the wisdom contained therein...

Question: Document Settings> Beams > Maximum Slope, should I choose 0.5 or 1?

Gould shows an example of 0.5 and 1 on p.19, so I am thinking I will set the maximum as 1.

What do you think?
Cheers,
HP.

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miker
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Post by miker » Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:18 pm

As everyone said, it's up to you. If you can't decide, split the difference, and try .75!
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