Odd Multi-Time Signature Question

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kma1281
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Finale Version: 2014
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Post by kma1281 » Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:26 pm

Hey guys. I'm typesetting a piece of music for a local orchestra and there is a section where a small ensemble plays off stage. The small ensemble starts off in 2/4 while the rest of the orchestra is in 3/4. The only weird thing is that the composer is grouping three 2/4 measures per one 3/4 measure and I'm not sure how to make this work. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks very much for any help.

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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:04 pm

Finale is strongly measure-oriented so you'd need to resort to tricks. Here I've made 2/4 the "real" meter and defined top staff to have an independent time signature of 1/4 displayed as 3/4. Then I removed the barlines with a staff style, shown.

Another method would be to make 3/4 the real meter and do the 2/4 as an independent time signature of 6/4 displayed as 2/4. But then you'd have to put in fake barlines, which cause spacing issues.

You might just want to write the offstage music as a separate piece, or rewrite the offstage music as eighth notes.

kma1281
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:22 pm
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Windows

Post by kma1281 » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:11 pm

Thanks Motet! I'll give those tricks a try. I appreciate your help very much. 8)

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Peter Thomsen
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Post by Peter Thomsen » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:29 pm

Here is a demo document.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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motet
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Post by motet » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:37 pm

When you space that normally, though, you run into spacing problems with the false barlines, as I say.
0582.png
I've never found a satisfactory solution with false barlines. You can define them as articulations instead of expressions and try to get Finale to take them into account in spacing. That's somewhat better, but still doesn't always quite work out.

kma1281
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:22 pm
Finale Version: 2014
Operating System: Windows

Post by kma1281 » Sat Apr 21, 2018 11:53 pm

Yeah. It looks like the least stressful thing is to just write the street band in a separate score. Maybe I can insert it as a graphic after I've finished it. Luckily their time signature will match with the primary signature after 12 bars (and hopefully stay that way) so it shouldn't be too big a problem. Thanks very much again for the suggestions. You guys are awesome! 8)

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