Finale Forum

• I imported a piano part from my sequencer (Cakewalk) into Finale PrintMusic (although this same problem occurs when I notate music from scratch).
• In several measures, the right hand should be holding a whole note chord while the left hand plays a quarter-note arpeggio (broken chord).
• Problem: Finale turns the whole note chords into a quarter note chords, I assume because it is trying to constrain the number of beats per bar.
• How do I make those chords whole notes? (This example references wholes and quarters, but there are many similar scenarios involving other note values.)

I seem to recall there is some solution involving parts. I really need the simplest and least cluttered solution possible since this is a very common occurrence in piano music. My publisher is requesting piano-vocal arrangements for about a dozen songs, so this is going to be an important topic for me.

Thank you! --Konrad

Could you post an example?

Please look up Layers in your Help files. This is basic Finale usage, and you must understand it. If this isn't what you're looking for, then, as John said, post a picture.

That is a perfect example of what I need. I will research "layers" later--I could not recall the correct term.

I really appreciate the quick help! --K

Mike's example is perfect, but here is an image of the exact problem in my sheet music. The G-C-E chord in the first bar should be made of whole notes. In the second bar, the low A should be a whole note. I will research layers.

Thanks again, --Konrad

Generally, this is what importing a MIDI file does. There are sometimes more advanced methods of saving time with this, but don't count on it. If you had a MIDI file we could test, we might be able to see, but don't hold your breath.

When recording in real time with MIDI, if using a sustain pedal, the sound of a whole note for the chord is just the pedal doing that. The chord is actually not entered as a whole note, but a quarter, thus the result you get.

My advice: just enter your music from scratch in Finale. It will save much time and frustration.

Zuill

Konrad,

Zuill is correct. Often, importing is more trouble than it's worth.

In this example, I entered the whole notes in Layer 1. Then, I switched to Layer 2. I entered and hid the rests to get me to the proper beat, and entered the layer 2 notes.

Thanks. Yeah, this is frustrating because, although I see how to enter the layers from scratch, I don't see an easy way to say, "OK, put these notes in layer 2 so I can edit the durations."

I hate to have to recreate all the work. I have a lot of writing to do, so I need to streamline the notation of piano parts as much as possible. (Lead sheets are not problem.)

Unfortunately, there isn’t any way to just click on a note and assign it a layer. (Interestingly, SmartScore can do that!) In Finale, the only way I can think of is go measure by measure, delete some notes, change some layers, re-enter some notes… Probably easiest to do it from scratch.

How do you enter notes in Finale? Maybe we can suggest a quicker way.

I have entered music from scratch in the past, but it has been a while. Right now, I am getting about a dozen songs I recorded prepared for a publisher and have been importing MIDI files for lead sheets, then adding lyrics and chord symbols. That works fine. When I started importing the piano tracks to create piano/voice arrangements I started hitting issues.

Thanks for the time. I will play around with this. I may be ale to delete and re-enter certain notes as you suggest without too much rework.

--K

You have all been great and really helpful--thanks.

In this short example, the low A should be a whole, the E should be a dotted half (which it is), and the middle C should be a half, not part of the triplet The triplet on top is correct. This pattern of sustained arpeggios occurs frequently throughout the piece.

I tried using one layer for the whole, one layer for the dotted half, one layer for the half, and a fourth layer for the triplet. I was not able to get that entered correctly.

Maybe I need to add rests, like a quarter rest before the dotted half. If so, I'd really like to suppress those rests later so they don't clutter the score.

What I am trying to do seems like pretty standard piano music, so it really shouldn't be so complicated to enter. This must come up every day.

Once I figure out the trick, I think I can power through the piece quickly. What am I missing?

Thanks again, --Konrad

You are correct about the rest before the dotted half. After you enter the rest, type H and it will be hidden. You can see the gray, hidden rest in Mike's example above.

::: Bill

Only 2 layers in each staff; no need to go to 3 and 4.

As Bill said, you can hide the rest by tapping the H key, or, drag it off the page. Either way, it won't print.

All you're missing is practice!

For extra credit, grasshopper, tell us why the hidden rests in my first example are pink, and in the second, grey.

In miker's last example there actually are two half rests at the beginning of the top staff (layer 1 and 2). They don't show as separate because of the setting Consolidate rests across layers (Document options > Layers).

I guess I will have to start from scratch. Finale won't let me erase the middle C which should not be part of the triplet. I can't understand the logic of blocking me from erasing a note. Y'all probably think I am stupid at this point, but I don't understand why it is so difficult and counter-intuitive to do something this basic.

Also, I'm struggling to understand how to do this in two layers. It seems like, in the layer universe, the low whole note A would be a layer, the dotted-half E would be a layer, the half note middle C would a layer, and the quarter triplet would be a layer--for a total of 4 layers.

I am willing to buy video instructions, if they exist.

Yeah, I tried switching layers, but Finale wouldn't let me put notes where I wanted--it insisted on putting them at the first of the bar. OK, so I tried adding rests. That erased notes I had already entered. I cannot believe this is so hard.

Hey, just let me enter notes and let me be responsible for getting the right number of beats per bar.

Konrad,

I sent you an email.

Thanks to the excellent help from the patient people here, I understand how to enter the parts--at least everything is working so far.

There is one odd thing: when I click the speedy entry tool, select the measure, and hit H to hide the extra rests, the print/PDF copy looks like this: That's fine, but it would look better if that half-rest were in the middle of the treble staff instead of over it. I tried clicking and dragging, and also clicking and then using down-arrow, but that rest wants to stay up in the air.

It's not a horrible problem, but a publisher would want me to change it. Ideas?

By the way, because of the great assistance on the forum, I find this fairly easy now. All the extra rests are odd, but not a problem as long as they can be consolidated or hidden.

Thanks!

Two ideas:

1) Go to
Document Options - Layers
and adjust the default vertical positioning of floating rests (adjust for both Layer 1 and Layer 2).

2) In the Simple Entry Tool you can move a selected rest up/down with the arrow keys.

Konrad,

To move the rest vertically:
while in the Speedy window, position the cursor over the rest, then press Shift 8. That should move it to the standard position.

If you have the full TGTools, there's a plugin under "parts-join rests of multiple layers". Running that plugin would fix all of these rests in the entire file at one time. Also, if you run this plugin, you wouldn't have take time to hide the rests.

Hmm. Clicked the speedy entry tool. Hit number key 8. Got message "too many beats in the measure." Clicking OK really messed things up and I had to undo.

Don't understand why I can't drag that rest where it goes. It seems you would be able to drag notes to the right pitches and this would be similar--I would think.

Thanks.

You press "Shift 8", not just 8.

OK. Shift 8 looks like it moves the rest, but when I click away, it goes back where it was. What am I missing?

OK. Click Simple | Click the rest | Drag the rest | **Hit zero to end**.

Thanks--got it.