Notation Question: Almost a Cluster Chord

[blackorpheus16]

I have a piano piece with a section that involves very close harmony, almost cluster chords, but more specific.

Here is what the chords look by default once I get all the notes I want in them (see Untitled.jpg).

And I think this is closer to what I want to get (see Untitled2.jpg).

My question is can anyone recommend a clean way of creating this chord (G-A-B-C-Db-D-Eb-E-F-G)? Perhaps my way is not the best. Also, is it going to involve putting in accidentals as articulations? I have a bunch of the chords in succession, so there's going to be a lot of nasty formatting stuff if I have to do it like that (like throwing in grace notes and hiding them to get the type of spacing I need). Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Peter Thomsen]

Two ideas:

1) Use splayed stemming.

2) Abbreviate passages of repeated chords by using stems alone after the initial chord.
Such passages may be easier to read if noteheads are reserved for changed chords.

See the attached files.

As you can see, splayed stemming can also be used to indicate note distribution between the two hands.

[blackorpheus16]

Splayed stemming... I didn't know it was called that and I rarely see it, but I like the suggestions. Thanks for the input and the file.

[blackorpheus16]

If it's not too much trouble, could you explain how you created the splayed stem? I see that you used the Shape Designer in the Custom Stem Tool, but I'm not sure how you got the notes and positioning you wanted in the Shape Designer...

[Peter Thomsen]

I didn't use the Custom Stem Tool, but rather the Articulation Tool.

The entire "splayed stem chord" is an articulation (a shape articulation) - it doesn't play back.

To understand how the articulation positions itself relative to the note, look at the splayed stem's positioning settings in the Articulation Designer.

Also, click the button "Handle Positioning..." (in the Articulation Designer) to see some additional positioning settings.

To make spacing for the splayed stem I went to
Document Options - Music Spacing > "Avoid Collision of:"
and selected "Articulations".


1) First of all:
I am using "Points" as Measurement Units (instead of Finale's default choice of Inches).
That makes the layout calculations easier:
The height of a staff is 24 Points.
Therefore the distance between the staff-lines is 6 Points - and the height of a single scale step is 3 Points.

2) If you have forgotten your document's Ledger Line Length and Line Thickness, go to
Document Options - Lines and Curves
where you can see the values (and write them down so that you have them when working in the Shape Designer).

3) You can find the document's Stem Thickness in
Document Options - Stems


4) and 5) are about the actual work in the Shape Designer:

4) The notehead characters and accidentals are inserted as text blocks.
Before you begin, go to
Shape Designer menu > Select Font...
and choose Maestro 24 Points.

5) To get the "notehead" text blocks vertically above each other, you have to enter them horizontally displaced, and then nudge them horizontally (using the keys LeftArrow and RightArrow) until they are in the correctly aligned position on a vertical line.


I hope that this is clear?
If not, ask again.

[blackorpheus16]

I'm still confused, but with the more basic stuff. How are you inputting stemless noteheads into the Shape Designer with the Maestro font? Are you using the Line Tool to create leger lines?

[Peter Thomsen]

I'm still confused, but with the more basic stuff. How are you inputting stemless noteheads into the Shape Designer with the Maestro font?...

The notehead characters from the Maestro font were entered using the Shape Designer's sub-tool "Text Tool".
Before you begin, go to
Shape Designer menu > Select Font...
and choose Maestro font, 24 Points.

Click where you want to enter the notehead character, and a text blinker will appear.
The character slot numbers are:
Black notehead (Quarters and smaller): Slot #207
White notehead (Halves): Slot #250

The way you type the characters #207 and #250, depends on your operating system (Windows or Mac) and on your keyboard layout.

...Are you using the Line Tool to create ledger lines?

Yes, I used the Line Tool.
Before I began, I went to
Shape Designer menu > Line Thickness > Other...
and set the Line Thickness to 0.75 Points, since that thickness is the ledger line thickness in my document.

The ledger line thickness may be different in your document.



By The Way:
In the Shape Designer menu you can Group an Ungroup selected items.
When items are grouped, you can move them together, as if they were one item.

[blackorpheus16]

Hmm... I'm running Windows on a laptop, so in order to type a code in I think I need to hit num lk then hold down alt and type in the numbers (km7 for 207 and kim for 250). When I do this I get two different dashes (one thick, one thin) instead of getting the noteheads. What's even weirder is that when I try to use the alt call numbers in my word processing program with the Maestro font, I get characters that are different from the ones I get in Finale (a perpendicular symbol for 207 and a small diamond for 250). Any suggestions here?

And what would the "correct" way to display a splayed stem when you have an unbeamed collection of notes (like in the .jpg)? Would you simply raise the original stem higher and attach the splayed stem under the flag?

[Peter Thomsen]

Hmm... I'm running Windows on a laptop, so in order to type a code in I think I need to hit num lk then hold down alt and type in the numbers (km7 for 207 and kim for 250). When I do this I get two different dashes (one thick, one thin) instead of getting the noteheads. What's even weirder is that when I try to use the alt call numbers in my word processing program with the Maestro font, I get characters that are different from the ones I get in Finale (a perpendicular symbol for 207 and a small diamond for 250). Any suggestions here?...

I'm sorry, but I'm using a Mac, and I have no knowledge about Windows laptop computers.
Just a thought:
Have you considered purchasing an external NumPad for the laptop computer?

...And what would the "correct" way to display a splayed stem when you have an unbeamed collection of notes (like in the .jpg)? Would you simply raise the original stem higher and attach the splayed stem under the flag?

Yes, extend the stem beyond the point where the diagonal stem joins it.
Any flags, beams or accidentals should be clear of the diagonal stem.

[blackorpheus16]

Maybe I should invest in one. Thanks for all this info! I haven't worked much with the Shape Designer in the past so this has been a big help.