Word Extension Blues

[mark carlson]

Does anyone know the rules of when to apply word extensions? In the attached Patchen Songs 2, it seems that there should be word extensions in m. 2-3 (love), m. 8 (on), m. 13-14 (love), m. 15 (rain), but there are none there.

In Patchen Songs 1, it seems to me there should be extensions in measure 8, 9, and 10, and in m. 40-41.

I checked to make sure I have smart extensions set, and since there are some extensions in song 2, it just seems weirdly inconsistent.

Thanks,

Mark

OS 10.15.6
Finale 26.3

[miker]

As near as I can tell, you had everything set correctly. I went back and deleted the word, and sometimes a word before it. I re-entered the lyric, and got the extension. I had to do it a couple times in one or two places, but eventually they went in.

No idea why.

How did you enter the lyrics?

[motet]

Did you maybe edit the notes after the lyrics were attached?

[zuill]

When I am in the Lyrics Tool and select the option to edit Word Extensions, then select the handle for those extensions, and press Backspace, the Word Extensions appear. In the Patchen Songs 2, there is some oddity, as there seems to be 2 Word Extension handles. It took a bit more pressing of the Backspace button as Finale seemed confused with the extra handle. It appears you use Type Into Score. I generally add my lyrics into the Lyrics window and then click assign. Maybe that's why I avoid these weird behaviors.

Zuill

P.S.: Backspace is for Windows. I don't know the Mac key for that.

[mark carlson]

Thanks, everyone, for your input! I'm pretty sure that my word-extensions problem is the result of the fact that these files were imported from Sibelius. (I hired students to copy them into Sibelius in 2005 when I thought I was going to switch my allegiance--and that never happened).

I had to delete the lyrics from a couple of songs, because the lyrics would be lower or higher for a single measure, and I couldn't find a way to change the height of words for just one measure; I ended up deleting the words and re-entering them. Lo and behold, those songs have appropriate word extensions.

I just did the same for song 1 that I posted here, and the word extensions are appearing as if by magic!

Whew! What a relief.

Mark

[David Ward]

FWIW if you've got different bits of text going back and forth between different singers on many staves (as in an opera), type into score is far easier than click assignment, at least for me. I got into a hopeless muddle with click years ago and don't intend to try it again.

[zuill]

2 things:

1. I would have just selected the extension handle as I mentioned and then caused it to reappear. Re-entering lyrics is the more drastic approach.

2. When I looked at the Lyrics Window in the posted file, it was hard to hunt down where I was, as it does not have any hard returns. I enter into the window using hard returns as a poem. I plan which Verse, Chorus, or Section I want to have each and every staff to have. This is especially helpful if there will be different baseline positions for different staves. Typing into Score can be confusing, especially since one does not always know in which Verse, Chorus or Section one might be in. Also, if there are different layers using lyrics, clicking them into the score can save issues later on. I never use the same Verse, Chorus or Section for lyrics where 2 different layers might be used. Troubleshooting can be a real chore there. In addition, where special fonts or fixed size might be needed for some lyrics, it's best to keep those separated if possible.

My 2 cents.

Zuill

[miker]

You're absolutely correct, David, with multiple lines. I go one step further, assigning each lyric line to a different verse. I have to adjust the baselines at the start, but that's easy enough.

But with something simple like barbershop, I type the lead line in Pages. Then, I run it through Juicio Brennan's Lyric Hyphenator, paste it into Finale Lyric window, and flow them in. The shorter echo lyrics, I type into score.

We all have our own ways, customized to what works best for us.

[mark carlson]

2 things:

1. I would have just selected the extension handle as I mentioned and then caused it to reappear. Re-entering lyrics is the more drastic approach.

Thanks!

1. I did try this, and it didn't work, alas.

2. And yes, I understand about the different verses and all, but in my songs, there is virtually never any time when I have multiple verses, so typing in the score works well. And I checked with those measures which had the lyrics at different levels than the surrounding measures, and they were all part of the same verse. I can't explain why they were at a different level, but getting rid of them altogether also made the problems go away.