Automating Finale for Windows
A frequent question for Windows users of Finale is if there is any equivalent to Keyboard Maestro, the popular macro utility for MacOS. Unfortunately the answer is no: There is…
Of Note ran from 2011 to 2022 as a home for deep, practical notation craft across Sibelius, Finale, and Dorico. It was founded and stewarded by the late Robert Puff, whose generosity and expertise shaped the work of countless engravers. Read the tribute to Robert Puff →
Finale 27 – Symbol Select for expressions, Smart Lines, and more
Finale 27 introduced a powerful new feature that is easy to overlook, especially since MakeMusic hasn’t mentioned it in any of their marketing materials. In almost every place you can…
Dorico: Editing recorded scripts
I have been spending a lot of time lately working in the JW Lua plug-in for Finale (here’s a shameless plug for the JetStream Finale Controller), but I have also…
Create narrow h-bar multirests in Finale
Multirests are a key House Style element of all printed music. Multi-measure rests have evolved over time. The style of multimeasure rest currently in favor is called an “H-bar”. (more…)
Understanding Finale’s Category Designer
Q: I created a “Custom” category of expressions, and exported the library to disk. When I load the library with an older Finale file, it adds the category. However, when…
Using the select graphic feature of Sibelius for correspondence & desktop publishing
Q: Occasionally when I write to someone I want to include a few music symbols, say, a metronome indication or generic notes and rests to illustrate a rhythm; it’s frustrating…
Create lead / top line chord notation for rock, jazz & pop charts in Finale
Lead Line Chord Notation, also referred to as Topline Notation is a shorthand notation convention that is sometimes used for rock, jazz and pop guitar or keyboard charts. Lead Line…
Instrument changes using 3rd party libraries in Finale later than 2012
This tutorial shows how to use “change instrument” to get correct instrument changes for playback when using available 3rd party ARIA libraries in Finale 2012 and later. (more…)
Create ½, whole-tone, flat, natural & sharp trill lines in Dorico
There are a couple of common approaches for indicating trills with specific trill-to pitches in your music score. One way is to indicate the trill-to pitch as a stemless, cue…
Beyond defaults : Take control of note spacing in Finale
Music spacing (historically referred to as “punctuation”) is controlled by a mathematical ratio in Finale. At any point in time, this equation determines the horizontal placement of notes and related…
