Finale Forum

Hi -

When writing music, I generally don't pay much attention to the beaming/rhythmic division. For instance, I have a bar of 9/8 that is an 1/8th note and 2 half-notes. I was told it would make more sense to write it as 3+3+3.
Is there a feature in Finale that respells these rhythms according to what players prefer?

Thanks.

In “Finale-speak” it is not called “rhythm respelling”, but rather “Rebeaming”.

Generally, in Finale the beaming is defined by the “real” time signature.
Besides the “real” time signature you can also have a “display” time signature (= only for display).

Example:
“real” time signature 3/8 + 2/8
“display” time signature 5/8

The “real” time signature is used when you enter new notes = the notes will be beamed according to the “real” time signature as you enter the notes.

Finale allows that notes already entered can be beamed as you like - independent of the “real” time signature.

You can rebeam “manually” (= notes one by one) with the / key.

Or you can use the Utility to rebeam a selected region (perhaps the entire document):
Utilities menu > Rebeam > Rebeam to Time Signature…

By The Way:
In the same sub-menu you will also find the command Rebeam Music:
Utilities menu > Rebeam > Rebeam Music

Rebeam Music will rebeam the music according to the “real” time signature.

And to have 3 + 3 + 3 groupings in 9/8, define the time signature as 3 dotted quarter notes. If the music has already been entered, use the Rebeam to Time Signature function, as Peter explained.

thanks for the advice..
sorry to be dense, but how do i "define the time signature as 3 dotted quarter notes."?

Time signature>Edit Time Signature...

In the resulting dialogue box, click up or down to get three notes in the window, and choose dotted quarter from the drop-down.

thank you!