Invisible accidentals

[karelm]

Hi, I am using Finale 2007 on Windows XP and have a few questions.

1.) I have a big problem where I have the write note playing and entered, but the accidental doesn't show up sometimes. This is really a problem because the music sounds fine since it is the right note, but a player will read it incorrectly and use up expensive session time for me to find what note is wrong. For example, an E flat that is played only shows the E. When I enter the "-" sign to make the note is a flat, nothing happens indicating the note is already a flat. I can then make it a natural or a sharp and the note accidental doesn't change but the playback is affected. This has happened a couple of times on different projects. Most of the time the accidentals are correct but I'll never find a wrong one if the music plays back fine. I believe this bug only happens if I copy and paste the music from anoter stave.

2.) Sometimes it appears that dynamics or hairpins attached to the note don't follow the note. The dynamics and hairpins are created being note attached but they still become "orphaned". Is there a trick to prevent this orphaning from happening?

Example: Create a 6/4 score with notes and attach a dynamic and hairpin to a note a few bars in. Now change the score to 3/2 keeping and delete bar one and two. The note attached items are now attached to the wrong place.

Thanks, Karim

[Peter Thomsen]

1.) This is a known bug in Finale 2007.
Hopefully it will be fixed in the first maintenance release.
The bug is related to the enharmonic respelling of a note.
If your Eb was entered as an Eb, there shouldn't be a problem with it.
On The Other Hand, if it was entered as a D# and enharmonic respelled as Eb (Simple Entry: \ ; Speedy Entry: NumPad9), you get all the trouble:
Internally Finale still sees the note as a D#, so accidentals and ties won't display and work correctly.
And you get the trouble when you copy music, since Finale believes you are copying a D#.
For now, when you encounter the problem, clear the note (D#), and enter the correct note (Eb).
This is also what you should do during note entry.
I suppose that you are entering music with a MIDI keyboard?
In this case, enter the note without accidental (E), and add the accidental with the computer keyboard.

2.) As Far As I Know, the Smart Shape Tool's hairpins can only be measure attached, not note attached.
This means that they will stay on the beat position relative to the measure, but they won't move with the note, as it is moved horizontally to another beat or vertically to another staff line.
I suppose that your dynamics are entered as Note Expressions?
I can't explain why your Note Expressions become "orphaned".
And how can you see that a Note Expression has become "orphaned"?
Note Expressions display in red on the screen, whereas Measure Expressions display in green.
Are saying that your red Note Expressions have turned into green Measure Expressions?

Peter

[karelm]

Thanks Peter.

For question 2, here is what I mean. I have a few bars of music and on the fifth bar I have a hairpin from "pp" to "mp". What I did was change the time signature from bars 1 and 2 and delete measure 4. Now, the notes I entered in bar 5 would be on bar 4 but "pp" and "mp" plus hairpin stayed behind on bar 5 - the notes moved but the note attached objects didn't. They are still red but on the wrong place in the score.

Thanks,
Karim

[Peter Thomsen]

I believe that I have followed your instructions to the letter, but I don't get the same results:

I created a 6/4 score, and entered notes into the first 6 measures.
In measure 5 I added a note expression with pp, and another note expression with mp.
To measure 5 I also attached a Smart Shape hairpin, connecting the pp and the mp.
I changed the time signature to 3/2, with "Rebar Music" selected.
And I deleted measure 4.

Now I had in measure 4 the notes I entered in measure 5.
The note attached pp, the measure attached hairpin, and the note attached mp, all of them had correctly moved to measure 4.
In Other Words: No orphans.
I can't explain why your note expressions and smart shapes get "orphaned".

Could you e-mail me a sample file?

Peter

[karelm]

Peter, can you give me your email address so I can send you the MUS file?

Thanks,
Karim

[Peter Thomsen]

Click on "Memberlist" in the top of this forum.
I'm #9 on the list.

Peter