If you are trying to enter in chords such as Cb or Fb in Cmajor, Finale will automatically respell the chords to the enharmonic equivalent, B and E due to the Simplify Spelling Option under the Chord Menu.

I run into clients who struggle with this automation all of the time.

To turn it off just go up to your Chord Menu and un-check Simplify Spelling!

See you in the score!

Finale, being the amazingly flexible program that it is, gives the user three different ways to create time signatures that are over-sized. The first option utilizes a staff that is already in the score for the time signature. The second option adds a new hidden staff and the third option creates shape expressions.

I have posted a video that walks through the steps for the first option, utilizing a staff the is presently in the score.

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I am often surprised how many times I have run across a client that either does not know about, or just doesn’t use the main tool palette context menus.  These are the menus that you can get to by right-clicking (ctrl-click on Mac) on a highlighted measure.

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Most often found in early motets, this is the practice of having different time signatures performed at the same time.

This is a fairly straight forward process within Finale and I have created a video that walks through the steps to create isorhythmic notation.

N.B. - This is the easiest way to setup this style of notation, but it will not playback.

I will save the playback version for another post.

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There were two press releases on Thursday April 3rd and both were positive for MakeMusic.

The first deals with  K B Software & Systems b.v. (KBS), Finale’s distributor in the Netherlands, and their expansion into Dutch-Speaking Belgium.

The second talks about the continued growth of the amazing SmartMusic program.  I receive a lot of requests to put my music into SmartMusic - it is quickly becoming the standard for music education.  The best thing is that it is quite fun to use!

This of course can translate into good news for Finale.  Finale is the only notation program that can be used with SmartMusic, and continued success by MakeMusic will help to keep Finale strong and better than ever!

Let’s say that even after the below steps, Finale still crashes after you start playback or enter a few notes.  What could the problem  be? Continued

Have you ever had one of those weeks when you put your head down and when you looked back up it was Friday already….I think I just did.

Anyway, here is the link:

MakeMusic 4th Quarter Results

Regular posting should resume…uh, regularly.

No fancy titles here. No super-deluxe phantom work-station or X-9000 sequencing sampler giga-studio all in one.

A simple title for a simple purpose: Virtual Midi Keyboard.

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