I have 3 staves that this seems to be a problem on.
Baritone 3, Contra, Vibraphone in this order on the score.
Bar3 and Contra have a rhythm of 2 sixteenths and a dotted half, with a mf expression on the first beat and a (smart shape) decrescendo on the dotted half. This repeats for 15 bars. The Vibraphone part doesn't have any shaping on this section. It seems the decrescendos from the above two parts are "bleeding" into the Vibraphone stave, causing the vibraphone part to completely drop out in several measures. This occurs if all parts other than the vibraphone are muted.
I tried several things to test out when the vibraphone part was affected.
If all parts except vibraphone are muted = affected.
If Contra part deleted but Baritone 3 part intact = unaffected
Here's where it gets weird.
I decided to delete the notes on the Baritone 3 part, but retained the mf expressions and decrescendos. I deleted the mf expressions and decresendos on the contra part but kept the notes. Basically one staff (baritone) has dynamic markings, while the following staff just has notes. Theoretically the contra part should not decrescendo, but:
The contra part and the Vibraphone was affected by the decrescendo shaping on the "empty" Baritone 3 part.
I'm updated to Finale 2008a.
When I created the original measures, I setup the mf expression and decrescendo on the baritone 3 part, and then copy/pasted it to all the measures for the baritone and contra part. This was to ensure that each shape and expression was in the right spot, as well as not having to place each one 30 times.
Edit: there are two measures (9 and 10 of the 15) where the Vibraphone is unaffected.
Any ideas?
Sometimes finale gives me headaches
