Please forgive the length of this message, as what I am going to describe is complex, but does correct the situation you describe.This is not ideal, and does involve hidden (false) barlines, but you can now copy this throughout a section or piece with Finale 2000a, so you only need to set it up once. It's still a pain, but it will end up looking like it should.
Incidentally, If you've set up 3/4 and 6/8 simultaneously, most of this is review, I was just anal enough to plow through the rest.
Finale 2000a:
OK... here is the result we want:
(Fig. 1)
staff | 2 | | |
1 | 4 | | |
staff | 3 | |
2 | 4 | |
1.) set the score (or section of score) to 2/4
2.) get to the staff attributes dialogue box for staff 2 (double-
click on staff handle) and select "time signature" under
independent elements
3.) change the time signature on staff 2 to 3/8, but choose for it to
display as 3/4 (under more options)
*** for beaming purposes later, I find it better to use a
compound time signature of "1/4 + 1/8" for the 1st and 3rd bars,
and "1/8 + 1/4" for the 2nd and 4th, instead of "3/8" (3/4 for
display on both still though) - see Fig. 3 below
4.) Change the time signature of staff 1 to "1/4" in the 2nd and 3rd bars only, but choose 2/4 as the display time signature
Although the display will not show your time signatures, you should have this so far...
(Fig. 2)
staff | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
staff | 3 | | | |
2 | 8 | | | |
(Fig. 3)
staff | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
staff | 1 + 1 | 1 + 1 | 1 + 1 | 1 + 1 |
2 | 4 8 | 8 4 | 4 8 | 8 4 |
*** best for beaming later (more complex though)
(N.B. your time signatures should just show 2/4 all the way across for staff 1, and 3/4 all the way across for staff 2)
5.) Now, create a new staff style called "Hide right barlines" in
which the check box for "Barlines" is unchecked under the "items
to display" list (make SURE that "copyable" is selected in
dialogue box (new feature, thanks Coda!)
6.) Apply this staff style to bar 2 of staff 1, and bars 1 and 3 of
staff 2. You should now have this...
(Fig. 4)
staff | 2 | | |
1 | 4 | | |
staff | 3 | |
2 | 4 | |
7.) Copy these four bars (appear as 3 and 2) as many times as you
desire for your score with moass mover with "move everything"
selected.
Now for the actual music...I generally use speedy entry, so here is the next step when entering music. There is no change in entry in staff 1 (i.e. the rest of the staves in the score), but for staff 2, if you want beaming to look correct, you must treat it as if you were beaming across the barline. Again, this is ONLY in staff 2.
8.) Turn OFF "jump to next measure" under the "speedy entry" menu.
9.) In measures 1 and 3, always enter one eighth note too many, and
select "leave measure alone" in the "too many beats in this
measure" warning when you leave that measure.
10.) In the following measures (2 and 4), place an invisible eighth
rest as a place holder. (hide entry (or "O") when on top of
rest)
This means that in every two measures you should have the equivalent of...
(Fig. 5)
staff | 4 8th : 1 hidden 2 8th |
2 | notes : 8th rest notes |
(the ":" = the invisible barline)
11.) If correct beaming is desired, in each bar where there are note
values exceeding quarter notes (8th, 16th, 32nd, etc.) on the
third and fourth 8th notes of a bar, you must manually beam them
together (using "/" command)
(Fig. 6)
, , , , : , , , , , , : , ,
|_| |/ |/ : |_| = |_| |_| : |_|
If you wish for more advanced beaming, you would just add more notes to the first measure, and hide more rests in the second.
After all these steps, your final product will end up looking like this:
(Fig. 7)
staff | 2 , , , , | , , : , , | , , , , |
1 | 4 |_| |_| | |_| : |_| | |_| |_| |
etc...
staff | 3 , , , , : , , | , , : , , , , |
2 | 4 |_| |_| : |_| | |_| : |_| |_| |
Outside of a little tweaking with note placement via dragging, that solves the problem. For more complex meters, such as simultaneous 7/8 and 5/8, this same procedure is possible, using a whole lot of math and a double dose of patience, going to prove that Finale's claim to be able to produce any notation imagineable is not unwarranted.
GOOD LUCK!
Ward Baxter
