Looking for a Hymn template and shape notes.

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Ken
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Post by Ken » Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:04 pm

I'm new to Finale PrintMusic. I've composed a church hymn with SATB parts, and would like to put it into Finale PrintMusic. Is there a hymn template? I saw the SATB choral template, but do not need to have each part on its own staff. What I need is the traditional soprano and alto parts in the treble clef, and tenor and alto parts in the bass clef. Is there an SATB hymn template?

Also, I would like to apply shape notes to the composition. How can I do that? Thank you.


Adrian_Bb
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Post by Adrian_Bb » Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:12 pm

You can create your own choral lead sheet in PrintMusic. Open the document assistant by creat a new document. On the left side choose vocals and in the window in the middle you can choose sopran, alt, tenor and so on. If you click the Button "Add" the selected voice will be list on the right window.
PrintMusic_document_assistant.jpg
PrintMusic_document_assistant.jpg (25.84 KiB) Viewed 12608 times
The voices are appears at the score in her order of the right window.
PrintMusic_choral_lead_sheet.jpg
PrintMusic_choral_lead_sheet.jpg (40.43 KiB) Viewed 12608 times
Hope this will help.
Kind regards,
Adrian


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miker
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Post by miker » Fri Oct 12, 2012 11:52 pm

PrintMusic won't do shape notes, unless you can get a Finale template. Sorry.

Set up your SA/TB score by starting from the Wizard with the soprano and bass only. That will give you a treble clef staff, and a bass clef staff. Enter your soprano in the upper staff in layer one, altos in layer two. In the bass staff, put tenors in layer one, and bass in layer two. You can change the names, or delete them entirely. Once you have it set up the way you want it, save it as a template. Then, the next time you need it, it's ready to go.
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Ken
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Post by Ken » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:41 am

Thank you Miker and Adrian. The screen shot helped. I've followed your instructions Miker. Now I have some more questions.
How do I add a layer to a staff?

Also, I removed the Soprano (S) and Bass (B) indicators. The top staff is shorter (left to right) than staves below it, since the program was providing room for those Soprano and Bass labels. How do I move that bracket and staff to the left? The first bracket appears to be tied to a dashed-line grid. Selecting it with the selector tool turns it light purple. But when I drag it, the other brackets move with it. I need to move it by itself. And, I'll need to move that opening bar that precedes the treble and bass clef signs to the left, so it aligns with bars below it.

There is a Shape Notes template in this version (Finale PrintMusic 2011a), but I don't see how to use it.

Once I get this lay-out structured correctly, I'll do as you suggested and will save it as a template. Thanks for your help.

Ken
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Post by Ken » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:58 am

I figured out the positioning question. Select the Page Layout tool and drag the square handles associated with the grid lines. Nice! I still don't know about the other questions yet.

How do I get rid of the measure numbers? I opened the Staff Attributes dialog (right click on part text) and unchecked the "Display Measure Numbers" box, but that had no impact after clicking OK.

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:13 am

Ken wrote:…How do I get rid of the measure numbers? I opened the Staff Attributes dialog (right click on part text) and unchecked the "Display Measure Numbers" box, but that had no impact after clicking OK.
Disclaimer:
I don't know PrintMusic.

My guess is that there is a Measure Number Region that is set up to, always display measure numbers on the top staff.
The setting "Top Staff" in the Measure Number Region will override unchecking the Staff Tool box "Display Measure Numbers".

I don't know whether PrintMusic can edit a Measure Number Region - or delete it.
Switch to the Measure Tool, and look in the Measure menu (provided PrintMusic has that).
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miker
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Post by miker » Sun Oct 14, 2012 1:45 pm

I had another look at PM2011. I missed the shape Notes template. Sorry! To use it, start with that template. Add additional staves as needed, enter your time and key signatures. When you enter the notes, they will automatically take the shapes.

I tried another method of setting up the SA/TB score. I started with two staves of Voice (no staff name) from the wizard. With the clef tool, I changed the clef on the lower staff to the bass clef. With the text tool, I entered the Soprano/Alto and Tenor/Bass labels. You'll find there are a lot of ways to do the same thing!

To hide the measure numbers, switch to the Measure tool. Select All. From the measure menu, choose Hide Numbers.

Please do the tutorials and watch the videos to learn about layers (and a lot of other things! Layers are one of Finale's basic and important functions, and it's important that you understand how to use them!
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Ken
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Post by Ken » Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:29 am

Thank you. The videos helped. I need to add a few pickup measures for phrasing. These do not appear at the beginning of the song, but a few times in the verse and chorus.

With the instructions at this link, I was able to change the time signature, and the number of beats in the measure.
http://www.finalemusic.com/UserManuals/ ... asures.htm

What is unclear is how to hide or remove the displayed numeric time signature numbers. This song is in 3/4 time, and when I add a pickup measure, the pickup measure shows 1/4 time. I need to hide that 1/4 time signature. Also, the measure preceding the pickup has 2 beats, not 3, but it shows 2/4.

The time signature dialog for Finale Print Music 2011 does not display a "more options" button. Without that, is there a way to just hide the time signature elements? The eraser doesn't remove it. Right clicking on the time signature doesn't provide a hide option. Selecting the 1/4 time signature and pressing "H" doesn't hide that element.
http://www.finalemusic.com/UserManuals/ ... _rests.htm

How can I do this? Thanks.

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miker
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Post by miker » Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:44 pm

Again, that's a limitation in PM. You can't hide time signatures. Sorry.

Could you post a picture of what you need? There may be a workaround, to get it to look the way you want.
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Ken
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Post by Ken » Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:25 pm

Thanks Miker. That's a bummer. I wish there was a hymn-writing specific version of this tool. I just can't justify $600 to get a couple of hymns into the format that I need. Much of the functionality, like extra instrumentation, I just don't need. What I'm shooting for is a format similar to Paperless Hymnal, which I understand is built via the full version of Finale. I don't intend to do anything at that scale -- maybe 2 or 3 personal hymn compositions per year.

Since I can't do the pickups, which are pretty common in hymns, it looks like I'll need to print the output to a graphic, and then edit that. I'm pretty fluent with graphic editors. The playback feature is very nice, and the print formatting is exceptional. So it still makes sense for me to put the composition into Finale PrintMusic.

I've still got to write the second verse and bridge for this hymn. So I'll likely have some other questions. I really appreciate the help that you, Peter, and Adrian have given me. Thanks.

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miker
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Post by miker » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:50 pm

Unfortunately, everybody wants PrintMusic to do "just this one thing." If it did everybody's "one thing," it would be Finale.

You might see if you can get one of those TPH files as a Finale2011 doc, rather than PowerPoint. If you can, you could strip the notes, and use that as a template. Unfortunately, if you had to change the duration of those pickups, it would be screwed up, again.

Why not look into something like MuseScore? I'm not really expert with it, but it's free, and pretty powerful. It might do what you want.
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Ken
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Post by Ken » Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:09 am

Thanks Miker. I see your point. I'm a software engineer, and recognize the complexities of formatting the output for demanding clients, and getting the music to play. I worked with the MuseScore program several months ago. While it handles pickups admirable, one of it's challenges revolves around getting multiple lines of lyric text between the staves.

At this point I thought it made sense to give Finale a shot, especially based on web recommendations. The visual output of the Finale products are professional grade. As a professional web developer, I'm immersed in a world of well designed interfaces. The bar is continually raised, with white space, crisp visuals, superior fonts, and clean UI. If I'm going this route, I want this to LOOK great, and output from the Finale suite looks incredible.

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miker
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Post by miker » Tue Oct 16, 2012 11:24 pm

Agreed. But unfortunately, for the specific feature set that you're after, you have to buy the whole hog.

Remember, if you are a student or a church employee, you are eligible for a discount. http://www.finalemusic.com/Finale/Academic.aspx
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