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Keep it Together in Finale or Sibelius : Score & Parts in the same file
In the early days of Finale and Sibelius, individual parts were generated from a master score via a painful and aptly named process referred to as “Extraction”. The programs would dutifully export twenty or thirty cryptically named parts files onto your Desktop which would then need to be cleaned up and individually prepared for printing. Any subsequent changes to the score *also* required edits to one or more (or all) respective parts.
Today, parts are integrated within the score and the content is intelligently married. Sibelius calls its parts integration feature “Dynamic Parts“, while Finale labels their feature “Linked Parts“. In general, having scores and parts linked in one master file has proven to be a godsend, but there are some caveats.
Woodwind and brass instruments aren’t polyphonic. With some notable quality control exceptions in currently published music, common practice is to have one instrument per staff in the parts. Ideally, woodwind and brass players should not be required to locate their lines from within a divisi part.
At the same time, the better organized an orchestral score is, the more readable it becomes. Generally scores with fewer systems are easier to read. Quite often, the requirement is for pairs of instruments appearing on a single staff wherever possible: Clarinet 1 and 2 on a single staff, Horn 1 and 3 on a single staff and so on. For this tutorial, we’ll start with divisi or chorded staves in the score, and create individual parts from these.
Let’s take a look at how each program currently integrates score and parts, and some ways we can make Finale and Sibelius best work to our advantage despite any limitations.
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.
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.)