Alternating Time Signatures in Finale - Is it Possible?

[BugleMe]

Hello,
I am running Finale 2014.5 on a Mac using OS High Sierra 10.13.6
Is it possible to create Alternating Time Signatures in Finale?
What I am trying to do is copy a score that has alternating time signatures of C time followed by 3/4 time over and over again. My work around has been to set the first measure as C time, then hide the next measures time signature which I've set to 3/4 time. I then just copy and paste these two measures over and over until I have the number of measures I need of alternating time. I then create a 3/4 using the Expression Tool by putting a 3 over a 4 using Maestro 24pt. as my Font. Then highlighting ONLY the 4, using baseline shift to raise the 4 to where it needs to be by .645. Now that I have the 3/4 created, I just paste it next to the C and eyeball it into position.
So my question is, Is there a better way to achieve this? Is this something that Finale is able to do?

Screen Shot 2020-05-31 at 19.55.42.png

Thanks for your help!
BugleMe

[motet]

You're basically doing it the way you have to in Finale. For the time signature, you could instead set the first measure to display as 4/4 + 3/4 and change the document option Composite Time Signature Plus Character to something blank. I don't how to get it to read C instead of 4/4, though, but it saves you making the 3/4 expression and creating space for it.

[BugleMe]

Yes, I tried that first but I wanted to stay true to what the composer had written (C & 3/4) and this was the only solution I could think of.
If I knew a way to substitute the 4/4 with a C using Compound time that would be the way to go.

[Peter S.]

Do you need to show the time signature (C 3/4) only in the beginning of the section or every second measure?

If you need it only at the beginning you could enter 1 measure as C, the second measure as C but shown as 3/4 and the third measure as 3/4 with hidden key signature.
Use a staff system stile to hide the rest for measure 1 (empty lines), then open measure settings for measure one, set the width to zero and uncheck the counting of this measure.
Then copy mesure 2 and 3 over and over again as many times as you need them.

Peter

[zuill]

This was created with a slightly simpler approach.

Zuill

[BugleMe]

OK, you have my attention. How did you do this?

BugleMe

[zuill]

Here's the file. let's start with that. Since I don't know exactly what you have in your document, I can't say my approach will work for you. I did change one setting involving Time Signatures in Document Options which works for this simple file, but may not work in yours.

Zuill

[motet]

"Space before time signature" is OK if it's the only one in the piece. On the other hand, adding space after for a 3/4 expression can be accomplished with the measure's spacing handles.

[zuill]

That's why I gave my caveat. The advantage to my approach is only having to add one character as opposed to 2 (or creating a shape with 2 characters).

Zuill

[motet]

Sounds like BugleMe as able to do it with one expression by adjusting the baseline offset.

[zuill]

Okay. A rough demo in the other style.

Zuill

[BugleMe]

I like this. How did you add the space before the 3/4?

[zuill]

A third approach.

Zuill

[motet]

With two expressions it's easier to get placement just right, maybe:

[BugleMe]

OK, I've been messing around with all the suggestions and here are my findings:
Making changes to the Score are fairly straight forward. In each section (there are several) that starts with the Alternating Time Signatures of C 3/4 time, the first measure I affect using the Measure Attributes and add Extra Space at the beginning to allow room for the extra 3/4 time signature, and this worked throughout the document. I previously didn't know about this and it seemed a game changer. However, when I created parts, the extra space I added in the score didn't carry over to the parts which is frustrating. So in order to achieve the same effect in all the parts I'm going to have to manually change each part and each measure that has the C 3/4 time signatures. Does anyone know a way to sync or link these kind of changes in the score and make them appear in the parts?
Also, when the C 3/4 time signature is at the beginning of a multi-measure rest, the beam doesn't center itself taking into account the need for extra width that the C 3/4 time signatures take up. Let me now enclose a few examples of what I am talking about.
Before affecting the part:

Screen Shot 2020-06-02 at 10.08.53.png

After affecting the part:

Screen Shot 2020-06-02 at 10.06.34.png

Notice how the beam of ten measures is unaffected. Is there a way to shorten or center the beam, giving equal space to either side of the beam?
Thanks everyone for your time and expert advice in this thread!!!
BugleMe

[zuill]

If you select the MM rest and Right Click, there's an option to Edit the MM reset. Change the starting point by adding a bit to it.

Zuill

[BugleMe]

Thanks for that tip Zuill!!

[motet]

Also useful at the other end for clef changes right after the rest.

[BugleMe]

Motet, sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by...
"Also useful at the other end for clef changes right after the rest."

[motet]

-

[BugleMe]

Got it! Thanks!