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On Location : Number Repeated Measures in Finale & Sibelius
When the same bar of music is repeated over and over, it’s common to indicate the the repeated pattern in subsequent bars using a single bar repeat sign, notated with a single slash with two dots:
However, if there are more than a few of these in a row, it’s pretty easy for the performers to get disoriented without some sort of numerical reference. So, it’s common practice to indicate the current number of the repeated measures by placing a number over every other measure, or every four measures:
In some cases, the numbers appear over every measure.
Sometimes, it’s desirable to number ostinato patterns which remain written out. That is, the one bar repeat sign doesn’t replace the notation, but the iterations of the pattern are numbered above each measure, or every n bars:
Both Finale and Sibelius offer tools to help you number repeated measures for either of these situations.
Grand Pause ( G.P. ) Text in Sibelius – Symbols Method
Q: I’m trying to figure out a better mousetrap for dealing with Grand Pauses (GP) in Sibelius. When I use tempo text to create a grand pause in the score, it doesn’t center over bar rests in the score or the parts, so it requires a whole lot of tweaking in both places. I’m hoping there is a smarter, less laborious way to deal with this?
A: Good question. There is actually more than one approach we can take to address this question, in the absence of a true Sibelius feature to center text within a bar. In this tutorial, let’s take a look at the Symbols method:
Aleatoric Elements : From Boxed to Out of the Box Notation In Finale
Music that supplies only the pitches while directing the players to improvise the rhythms freely is a common (partly) aleatoric device which gives the composer a desired degree of control over the tonality, while retaining temporal freedom.
The notation is typically indicated by surrounding a series of specific pitches with a square or rectangular box, along with a box extender line to indicate that the pitches are to be improvised on for a specific number of beats or a given number of seconds. The exact duration of the “box” can also be indicated as a text duration (e.g. 00:06″ etc).
In ”Creating Aleatoric / Temporal Boxed Notation in Finale, Part 1” we looked at how to create these semi-aleatoric directives.
Sometimes, the reverse is desired: the rhythm is notated, but the specific pitches are left up to the player. A common convention for this is to show stems of different lengths (without noteheads) to show the relative pitch relationships:
This is quite simple to do in Finale:
Creating Aleatoric Temporal Boxed Notation in Finale
Q: I would like to use Finale to notate the contemporary avant-garde works I am composing. In a score with a number of instruments, How do I encapsulate a series within boxes or repeat bars for only one instrument, while the others keep playing and counting normally, without the repeat sign?
A: Finale is very flexible in this regard. Start by entering the notes for the series you would like boxed. They can be quarter notes, or duplets or tuplets of any value. The note values you choose will determine the initial series width within a bar of score, and the relative width within the part:
If you are using tuplets, it is common practice to hide their numbers. Select the tuplet tool. Click the first note of the tuplet, and then double-click the little selection box that appears in the center of the tuplet. When the dialog opens, change the appearance popup menu to “none”, and do this optionally for the shape setting as well, then ok the dialog:
If you have multiple boxed notations on different instruments down the score which use tuplets, use the Mass Edit tool to select all the affected staves in your selected region, then go to Utilities > Change > Tuplets . . . where you can hide the tuplet numbers globally for the selected area in one pass.
As of this writing, there are several systems for notating boxed notation. To keep it simple, I will walk through one of the more common conventions . . .
Creating Tone Clusters in Finale, part 1
Q: I use Finale 2011 and now Finale 2012. Sometimes I need to notate cluster notes (tone clusters). But the Finale software doesn’t seem to support these. How can I create them?
A: Finale 2011 and 2012 allow you to notate tone clusters following a couple of different conventions easily in a few steps…
Creating Fractions & Other Symbols in Finale 2012 & Sibelius 7 using Unicode
U·ni·code
noun /ˈyo͞oniˌkōd/
An international encoding standard for use with different languages and scripts, by which each letter, digit, or symbol is assigned a unique numeric value that applies across different platforms and programs.
Finale 2012 and Sibelius 7 both feature Unicode font support. Among other things, this means a number of new symbols useful for music notation are now readily available in addition to the 256 “regular” characters we’ve always had access to. This cross – application Unicode support represents an important step for digital music preparation, as we not only have access to the comprehensive set of accented and diacritical characters used in Latin based languages, but we can now enter the text and symbols for titles, credits, lyrics and directives in non-Latin based languages such as Russian and Chinese.
One useful type of symbol sometimes used in music scores not built in to the Sibelius Word Menus or the Finale Expressions Selection Dialog in Finale are fractions. Without Unicode, fractions need to be displayed as two numbers with a slash between them, e.g. “1/2″. Directives such as “½ section trem.” or “Slow ¼ tone bends” or “trill ½” appear frequently in modern scores, for instance, so it is great to finally be able to display these properly and easily in both Finale and Sibelius.
On the PC, you should be able to type the most common fractions directly into either Sibelius 7 or Finale 2012 using ALT codes. Hold down the ALT key, type 0188 on the numeric keypad, and then release the ALT key to insert the symbol ¼. To insert the symbol ½, use the character code 0189. To insert the symbol ¾, use 0190.
Unfortunately, there are no designated keystrokes for fractions on a Mac, and if you are like me, you may have trouble remembering obscure ALT codes, anyway.
The good news is that with Unicode support, you now can simply copy and paste these characters into your music, and recall them again quickly at any time. It just takes a couple of minutes to set up, and from then on, they’ll always be there when you need them.
Take Control of Multirests in Sibelius and Finale
Let’s talk about rests. Multimeasure Rests, that is. You may not have given them much thought, but Multimeasure Rests play a key role in how your parts look. In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to control multirest settings and also, how add a unique touch to your charts in Finale and Sibelius with custom multirests.
In modern charts, the standard type of multimeasure rest is called an “H-bar”. The defaults for Finale and Sibelius are nearly identical. Here are the Engraved Style defaults:
Notating Fingered Tremolos in Finale and Sibelius
Fingered tremolo resembles a trill, but often with a larger interval between the fingers. The notation shows the tremolo marking between two notes rather than intersecting stems, or directly under or over a whole note. The convention is to show the full value of each of the notes in the tremolo pair.
Fingered tremolo is very straightforward to create in both Finale and Sibelius:
More Advanced Alternate Notation Techniques in Finale 2011
Typically, a score and its parts show identical information. Sometimes, however, it is necessary for the score and parts to show the same notation in different ways. A transposing part is a good example of this. Enharmonic pitches in the part is another.
Finale has a great Enharmonic feature which allows you to create an enharmonic unison for specific notes. The same pitches are enharmonically spelled differently in the part to allow the part to be read more easily.
In the Part, enter the Speedy Edit frame, select the pitch you want to change, and type 9 on the keypad to change the pitch to its enharmonic equivalent without changing it in the score.
Occasionally, it is necessary for significantly different notation to represent identical passages between the score and parts.
Displaying Different Octaves In Score and Parts in Finale
Question: “I’m working on a Violin Concerto in Finale 2011. The violinist who is playing the concerto prefers to have all the high passages written out in pitch (rather than using ottava notation). However, I would like to use the ottava notation In the score. How to I show the notes at pitch in the part, and 8vb with the ottava lines in the score?”
Answer: You can create and use a Staff Style for this. Select the Staff Tool, then choose “Define Staff Styles” from the Staff Menu, or right-click to choose Define Staff Styles from the Contextual Menu. When the Staff Styles dialog comes up, select the Transposition button, and choose Chromatic, up an octave. OK the sub-dialog, then give your new Style a name (e.g. “Up an Octave). OK the main dialog.
At this point, you should have all the notes with the ottava lines already in your score.
If your score is Transposing, go into the Violin part, Choose the Staff Tool and then select the region to be changed. Now, in the Contextual Menu, choose “Apply Staff Style To Current Score or Part”, and select your new “Up an Octave Staff Style from the list.
If your score is displaying in Concert Pitch, stay in the score, and apply your Staff Style to both the score and the part (e.g. select it from the main contextual list).
For either Transposing or Concert Score, hide the ottava lines in the part. Now the part will be displayed as the player wants it, you won’t have the ledger lines in the score, and playback should be just as it always has been.
This same technique can also be applied to transposing instruments, as long as you remember to adjust the Transposition appropriately for the transposition as well as the octave (e.g. you will need to transpose by key signature for transposing instruments in a keyed piece.)