Why I Post on the Forum

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

Moderators: Peter Thomsen, miker

konradh
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:33 pm
Finale Version: PrintMusic 2014a.v85
Operating System: Windows

Post by konradh » Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:56 pm

I post here because when I use Finale Help (or Google), things seldom work as described.

Example: I wanted to change a key signature from D to C. The directions say to click the key signature tool and double click the measure where I want the key signature--in this case measure 1--and the key signature dialog will appear. What happened: I clicked the key signature tool, double clicked in bar one, and the whole score highlighted. No dialog box appeared.

This is just one example. I am routinely unable to make things work the way Help describes.

More specifically, in this case I had a lead sheet with chords in D. I wanted to keep it but make a version transposed to C. Transposing all the notes was easy. Transposing the chords and changing the key signature was not. Supposedly, I could highlight everything (Select All), go to Utilities, and choose Change>Chords. Those options do not appear under Utilities.

If I could find instructions in Help that fit reality, I could work 10x faster.


konradh
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:33 pm
Finale Version: PrintMusic 2014a.v85
Operating System: Windows

Post by konradh » Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:17 pm

I did get the key signature issue resolved. It seems that *where* you click in the measure matters.

Other issues, like "Change Chords," are still outstanding.

User avatar
motet
Posts: 8229
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:24 pm

Looks like if you double-click on the existing key signature, time signature, or clef, you get the erroneous behavior you describe. Indeed, not very intuitive.

User avatar
motet
Posts: 8229
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2016 8:33 pm
Finale Version: 2014.5,2011,2005,27
Operating System: Windows

Post by motet » Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:27 pm

For Change Chords to appear, you need to select the measures from the Selection tool, not the Chord tool.

But if you want to change the key of your piece, just change the key signature; that will transpose the notes and the chords for you. Don't do those things separately.

What other issues are unresolved?

konradh
Posts: 62
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:33 pm
Finale Version: PrintMusic 2014a.v85
Operating System: Windows

Post by konradh » Thu Dec 30, 2021 10:54 pm

Thanks for the help. By fumbling around :-) I did discover that changing the key signature was definitely the smart way to transpose notes and chords all at once; and, as mentioned in another post, where one clicks in the bar to change the key signature does matter.

At this time, no issues are outstanding, although the instructions in Help on the topic of transposing are possibly unclear--at least to a dummy like me. I think my 1,000s of hours in a DAW have trained me poorly for a true notation program.

For now, all is well.

Gracias.

Post Reply