Accidental question/problem

General notation questions, including advanced notation, formatting, etc., go here.

Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker

surfinboy
Posts: 38
Joined: Mon May 01, 2017 3:17 am
Finale Version: 25.5.0.259
Operating System: Mac

Post by surfinboy » Tue May 05, 2020 4:09 am

My key signature is C major, but I have a measure with an Eb chord that's going to have some Eb's in the melody. The first note I entered an E plus a - (flat accidental), but then in the next Eb an octave higher it entered it on playback as E natural, and forced me to add a flat to it (even though the first note was marked Eb - see attached image). Is this a Finale quirk, an accidental setting I need to change, or something in music theory I didn't know about?
Finale 25.5.0.259 for Mac OS 10.13.6


User avatar
Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6601
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Tue May 05, 2020 5:20 am

There are key signature accidentals, and there are note accidentals.

Key signature accidentals apply to all octave levels, and all measures.

Note accidentals, On The Other Hand, only apply to the current octave level, and only until the end of the current measure.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

User avatar
David Ward
Posts: 814
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 4:48 pm
Finale Version: F 25.5 & 26.3
Operating System: Mac

Post by David Ward » Tue May 05, 2020 6:38 am

surfinboy wrote:
Tue May 05, 2020 4:09 am
… … … or something in music theory I didn't know about?
Yes: as Peter says, you must restate the accidental for each octave in which it occurs and it only applies for one measure.
Finale 25.5 & 26.3
Mac 10.13.6 & 10.14.6

Post Reply