Finale Forum

The longest note-value in finale is the brevis (or double whole note). Is there a way to notate the longa and maxima notes?

This is a very interesting question.


The Maestro font contains the Longa rest symbol.
But there is no Longa note symbol.

You can make Finale display a Longa rest, and you can change that Longa rest into a note, but Finale will display the note with the Brevis note symbol, unfortunately.


The Maxima is an even bigger problem:
You can double the note values of a selected region, but Finale will crash if you tell Finale to double a Longa.
And the Maestro font doesn't have characters for neither Maxima note nor Maxima rest.


You can find the Longa and Maxima characters in other fonts, e. g. in the Fughetta font.
So a free solution would be to
- create the note values as tuplets, hide tuplet number and tuplet shape.
- replace the notehead with the font character you need.


I suggest that you re-post your question on MakeMusic's own forum:

http://forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?c=1

There are many power users frequenting MakeMusic's forum, and I'm sure that many of them will be very willing to discuss this issue.


Peter

I cannot change the font for the notehead, except in the document options, and then they all change...

What I did is (with finale 2007 on a Macbook) select one note with the special tools-noteshape. Then the symbol selection window appears. I can select a symbol, or just type it. But the font is set to Maestro and I cannot change it...

Obviously I am missing something... I think in my old PC and old Finale it was just possible...

1. You can change the Notehead Font in the Document Options, but you can also change the Notehead Font with the Staff Tool, by selecting "Notehead Font" in the pane "Independent Elements".
The notehead font change can be made in the Staff Attributes (= globally for that staff)
or as a staff style you apply to a selected region (= locally for some regions in the staff).
In that way you can use different notehead fonts in different regions of the same document.

2. You can also change the notehead font of a single note:
Special Tools Tool. Click the subtool Noteshape Tool (or the subtool Notehead Position Tool).
Click inside the staff/measure to make handles appear on its noteheads.
Context-click on the notehead's handle.
In the context menu, choose "Edit...".
The dialog box Notehead Settings appears.
In the dialog box Notehead Settings you can change the notehead font.

3. Another solution:
Instead of changing the notehead's font character to a "Longa character" or a "Maxima character", hide the notehead, by changing its notehead font to the font style "Hidden" (or by replacing the font character with a space character).
You can then add a notehead symbol as an articulation or as a note expression.
The articulation or expression can be a shape created in the Shape Designer, so you can actually design your own notehead symbol.

Peter

I recently needed to insert a "longa" so naturally searched the Forum to get advice. I think I can add a bit to the discussion, and show how to actually do this. First, insert a note that has a simple stem, either a quarter note or half note. Then change the note head shape to the "square note" (accessible through the note head tool). For longas, the stem is on the right side, so, if your stem is pointed "up" then, just change the stem length to suit your taste and you're done. If the stem is down, then it is on the left side, and needs to be moved to the right. So, change the stem direction to shift it to the other side, then change the stem length again, only this case you are also changing the direction with the stem length tool. Hope this helps all those of you out there who edit renaissance music.

Although the thread has been opened a few years ago, the problem still remains.
Here is my solution: a JW Lua script that transforms all tied double whole notes to longas.


The script can be downloaded here: elbsound.studio/jw-lua-scripts.php
It requires a recent installation of Jari Williamson's JW Lua from finaletips.nu/index.php/download/category/28-beta-version

It's currently set to use the longa symbol from the Fughetta font, but it's self-explanatory to update the code for example to Bravura.

Jan
(it seems that I am not allowed to post URLs yet, so you need to copy the URLs to your browser)