Interrupted ties

[motet]

Can Finale do this?

[motet]

Looks like I can tie to hidden notes. Is there another way?

[miker]

You can apply the tie, and use the Tie tool to drag the ends.

[motet]

I couldn't get the back ties on the right part of the measure to appear without, with great effort, putting in a note before them and hiding noteheads, stems, and ledger lines. But as you can see, hiding the stems also erases part of the staff.

I tried the--what would be much simpler--"tie end" trick but that didn't seem to work.

If anyone has a better way...

[motet]

Ah, perhaps you mean flip the ties backward, Mike? I didn't think of that.

[HaraldS]

How many different tie shapes would be necessary? I guess 4, if I'm not mistaken: a long one for the highest and lowest note in the chord, a normal one for normal positioned chord notes and a short one for chord notes on the "wrong" side of the stem due to seconds. I think, creating those 4 ties with the shape designer as articulations and assigning them inidivdually to each notehead would be the best way.

It would take only a reasonable amount of time to create and keeps you in control of all ties.

[motet]

Hmm, interesting idea. The tie tool is kind of painful.

[motet]

Dear pianists,

Is my Finale-rendered measure below equivalent to the original I'm copying? I find the ties tedious and hard to make look good; doesn't the pedal marking make themn superfluous?

[zuill]

You need to make sure the stems go in the right direction to indicate m.s. to m.d. And of course, you need those markings.

Having said that, the dotted quarter does convey the same time value. Since it is pedaled, the result is the same. The only advantage of having the quarter tied to 8th is the way it helps the eye to see the beat. Without it, it is just a bit harder, since the notes of the arpeggio are reduced in size.

Zuill

[motet]

Thanks. I'll fix the m.d. and m.g. and stem direction. It's a pretty free rhyrhm flourish, so I think your other point is OK.

[zuill]

m.d. and m.s. I think m.g. is for monosodium glutamate.

I generally use r.h. and l.h. The old terms are archaic and suggest the wrong thing in modern society.

Zuill

[motet]

What if I make the high C a regular-sized eighth note? Would that convey the rhythm better?

[zuill]

Since you have the dotted quarter, that could be more confusing, I think. This is a tough one to decide.

Zuill

[motet]

I had second thoughts about that after posting it.

[Peter Thomsen]

… the m.d. and m.g. and stem direction …

… m.d. and m.s. I think m.g. is for monosodium glutamate …

I could be wrong her, but I think that the terms {m.d.} and {m.g} are french for Right Hand and Left Hand.

The terms {m.d.} and {m.s.} are italian for Right Hand and Left Hand.

[Peter Thomsen]

What if I make the high C a regular-sized eighth note? Would that convey the rhythm better?

The high C should have its stem downwards - since it is played by the left hand.

In the original layout the high C has its stem upwards because of the tied eighth chord below.

[motet]

Good catch--thanks.

[motet]

Are r.h./l.h. in whatever language even necessary given alternating stem directions?

[motet]

Another question:

Any way to get the 32nds spaced closer together aside from manual fiddling? I did these as regular 32nds and then resized them, rather than using Finale's grace note feature. Is that perhaps my mistake?

[Anders Hedelin]

Maybe a smaller Minimum distance between notes with ties (Doc Opt, Mus Spac) would help, at least a little? (With AMS turned off it would be possible to have different settings in different measures.)