Finale Forum

The more I learn about notation, the more I come to realise that there are as many standards and conventions as there are countries, publishers, genres and sub-genres; and the idea that's it's a common universal language seems to fall down! One 'convention', if you like, is historical accuracy, whe...

There are all kinds of inconsistencies in notation. As illustrated in the other thread, I find it confusing when a whole rest is 4 beats in one bar, and then 2 beats in the next. Why should that be confusing? In an empty measure there could be any rest symbol, from whole to larger, without causing ...

Or like this:

Thanks. I will try it.

It's possible that the Sibelius conversion added "new" suffixes (the m7 and maj 7) to the suffix library. You can find out by looking in the chord suffix window. If these are at the end of the list, it might be that they are duplicates and do not match Finale's default suffixes. To swap them out, s...

You could use the "Change gap between chord symbol and all suffixes on all chords" plug-in: https://elbsound.studio/jw-lua-scripts.php#changechordgap which is included in the Elbsound Music Font Package and in the Elbsound Text Font Package. Thanks for your reply, Jan! You mention two packages. Do ...

Up to now I've never had a reason to delve more deeply into how to edit chords in Finale. So, possibly I'm asking something well known to others. In a PDF from Sibelius this is how chord symbols look: Chord symbols in Sibelius.JPG In the conversion to Finale it looks like this: Finale chords.JPG Wha...

Thank you all! I think I know how to proceed.

What is the most used label of this chord?: I've been informed that it could be written as Cmaj9, as an abbreviation of Cmaj7 and 9.

In a job I have, I've seen it labelled as Cmaj7add9, which doesn't seem quite right as the 'add9' understands a missing 7.

Any ideas?

I've also heard "plywood bass", which might have more to do with the player (or instrument maker) than the composer.

Very true.

But I don't think I would respect a composer less for using the label Double Bass in stead of Contrabass.

It just matters for me knowing what's what when editing something which I didn't do myself. I think I cannot make myself clearer than this. Sorry.

There is this problem that when I look at the music given to me by someone else, I don't know which voice this or or that note is entered in. It doesn't show simply. I have no problems with choral, or other, voices crossing each other. With layers I find that easier to make clear: fx Soprano goes un...

bkshepard wrote: ↑

Sun May 01, 2022 7:58 pm

In fact in many early orchestra pieces the part given to the players is labeled cellos and basses, or more likely celli e bassi.

Even more typically just 'bassi'.

To try to explain my view of the layers vs. voices issue: When using layers I always know which is the top voice. In your example you assigned voice one to what is really the second voice in music writing terms. That I find confusing.

If I'm supposed to edit a score which contains measures with two voices, I, not being used to that practice, have difficulties in identifying which voice is which. I feel much more confident with layers. Does that answer your questions?

And, needless to say, I use Speedy Entry all the time.

I just made another attempt at humour. Sorry.

This is of course a very elegant solution. I haven't used voices very much, but when it happened, I had some problems knowing which voice was which, when trying to edit them. Is that a real problem or not?

N Grossingink wrote: ↑

Sun May 01, 2022 5:59 pm

The many unsuccessful attempts at humor are sadly typical of the internet.

My apologies.

With ties between layers Finale doesn't know where to stop. You have to adjust the length of the tie with Special tools/Ties. Having it upwards here isn't an option.

Double bass (pronounced “base” rather than fish) is the smallest string instrument, but it is the largest. News, and not, to me. I already knew that Double bass isn't pronounced 'double fish'. I didn't realise the reason why it's called 'double' though - but of course you have to (at least) double ...

IMO ex. 3 is the best one. You might flip the first tie D-D though. (It's misdirected because of the use of two layers. Finale's 'fault', not yours.)

In this case ex. 1 definitely is the standard notation. (And perhaps 4/2?) In free-tonal music the key generally is more or less ambiguous, which leaves the question of a key signature with or without accidentals rather open. Judging from just this example, it seems more logical to omit the F# in th...

Ex. 2 is by far the more usual way to do it.
If you are concerned with readability, you might change the A# to Bb. When the music isn't atonal, pianists tend to think harmonies - here roughly A sus4, Gm, Dm.

I can recommend the Finale manual. It's very useful, and time saving.