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Printing Two Separate Parts Side By Side As Matched Pairs of Pages

Q: I’m preparing a score in Finale 2011 for a piano ensemble, i.e. for two pianists playing simultaneously at one piano. How can I print the score so that the 1st and 2nd parts are printed on even and odd pages correspondingly?

A: Finale doesn’t have a specific feature to do this. However, it is possible to print individual pages in such a way that everything is sequential, as well as in matched pairs. There are just a few things to keep in mind:

  1. Match the layouts in two separate parts so that the starting and ending bar numbering for each pair of pages will be consistent between the two parts.
  2. Hide the page numbers in the Finale file, since these will not be correct when you line the pages up side by side. Right click the page numbers, and uncheck “Show”.
  3. Print the individual parts and tape the pages together in pairs so that Piano 1 and Piano 2 pages line up correctly. As mentioned above in #1, the bar numbering and layout for each part should match at the start and end of every page.

ADD PAGE NUMBERS & PRINT AS A BOOKLET

Using a PDF editing program such as Acrobat Pro, you can combine the pages in proper order after the fact. Save each page of each of the two parts as separate PDF files, then combine the files to assemble them in order: Piano 1, page 1, Piano 2, page 1, Piano 1, page 2, Piano2, page 2 etc.

Once the file is assembled linearly, you can optionally add page numbers to the assembled PDF file, as well as use any of the normal features supported by your printer to create a booklet etc.

Finally, add a title page the front cover, then start the Piano 1 part on a left facing page (even numbered) rather than the standard right facing page (odd numbered) in order that pairs of pages will always be displayed as you open out the printed booklet.

OTHER LAYOUT OPTIONS

It should be noted that another, perhaps more standard approach would be to create a part which is 4 staves, with piano 1 and piano 2 vertically aligned; essentially a “mini-score”. If your score is 2 pianos only, you can do the layout right in the score. If the two pianos are parts in a larger score, from Managed Parts, create a single part which contains both instruments by selecting the Piano 1 Instrument in the left column of Managed Parts, then selecting Piano 2 in the right column, and selecting “Add to Instrument” so that it shows up in the “Staves and Groups in Part” center column under Piano 1. Finally, select “Edit Part Name” and rename to “Piano 1 & 2”.

That’s it!
robert

related : Piano Music for Four Hands in Sibelius 

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Dolet 6 Music XML Plugins for Finale & Sibelius are now Freeware

Yup, that’s right: Just in time for Christmas, MakeMusic is offering the Dolet 6 Music XML plugin for both Finale and Sibelius on their website as a free download. Here’s the link:

http://www.makemusic.com/Products/MusicXML.aspx

Cool, right? But wait, what is a Sibelius plugin doing on the Finale website?

In case you missed the official announcement, on November 2, 2011, MakeMusic entered into an agreement to acquire selected assets of Recordare® LLC, the Internet music publishing and software company.

Under the terms of the agreement, MakeMusic purchased the MusicXML™ open format and Dolet® software technology, including copyrights, source code, and trademarks. MakeMusic also announced that the founder of Recordare and inventor of MusicXML, Michael Good, would join MakeMusic as the Director of Digital Sheet Music.

In case you want to read the official MakeMusic press releases, here they are:

  1. November 28, 2011
  2. November 2, 2011

 

Additionally, the Recordare site has more information about the future of Music XML.

  1. Recordare FAQ
  2. More about the MakeMusic Acquisition

Both Finale 2012 and Sibelius 7 already have decent Music XML integration built in, allowing you to import and export Music XML files for collaboration with others, or, in the case of Finale, for back saving to a previous version of Finale.

The Dolet 6 plugins use the latest Music XML 3.0 technology, with support for additional musical symbols and lots of other goodies, so even Finale 2012 and Sibelius 7 users will benefit. And, if you are using and earlier version of your notation software, such as Finale 2010 or Sibelius 6, it’s a huge step up, essentially giving users a comprehensive file exchange feature.

robert

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Creating Fractions & Other Symbols in Finale & Sibelius 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.

More recent versions of Finale and Sibelius 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 later or Finale 2012 or later 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.

more >> “Creating Fractions & Other Symbols in Finale & Sibelius using Unicode”

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Controlling the Layout when using the Finale Score Merger. . .

Q: I have several short pieces for brass quintet which I have merged together using Finale’s ScoreMerger feature. The pieces are all appended in the correct order, but each short piece is now on a separate page, which is not ideal, particularly for the parts. I would like these to appear like movements of the same piece, with each new piece starting on a new system, but on the same page as the ending of the previous piece, if there is space available. How can I make the pieces look this way?

A: If you have the “Treat as Independent Movements” option checked in File > ScoreMerger. . ., this option automatically inserts page breaks between each merged  / appended piece.

In the main program, if View > Show > Page Layout Icons is checked, you will see the page break icons in the top left margin of each new page. To remove these page breaks, select the Page Layout Tool, then right-click on the little move handle at the left edge of the first system on each page. When the contextual menu comes up, select “Delete Page Break”, which will allow existing music to move to the previous page. If you’ve already merged the pieces, you will need to do this for the start of each new piece.

Note that if the “Treat as Independent Movements” option is *not* checked in ScoreMerger, the next piece will appear consecutively as if it were the next bar in the score or part. If you have merged the pieces *this* way, (and don’t want each piece to begin on a new page, but *would* like each piece to start a new system),  select the Measure Tool, then double click the first bar of each new appended piece and check “Begin A New Staff System”, which will force the music to a new line, but not to a new page.

That’s it! That’s all there is to it.

for Kevin Ball

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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:

more >> “Take Control of Multirests in Sibelius and Finale”

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Collision Avoidance in Finale, Part 1 : The Little Things

Q: What method(s) do you use to avoid collisions in “busy” scores in Finale, i.e: a tutti section with dynamics, hairpins, accents, chord symbols, etc… I have messed with the Avoid Collisions plugin but that doesn’t seem to do the trick for me.

A: For me, regardless of the notation program you are working in, there are a couple of basic “small things” that make a piece of music look “clean”. The first is a consistent amount of white space between any two objects that are close together on the page. The amount of minimum white space between any two objects is usually a matter of personal taste; a “house style” decision.

The second is that wherever possible, the vertical alignment of similar grouped objects such as dynamics, chord symbols or lyrics should remain consistent. Horizontal alignment should also be consistent. For instance, if you decide that techniques like “arco” and “pizz.” should be right aligned with noteheads horizontally or centered over notes, then you should locate these markings consistently in that position as much as is possible.

more >> “Collision Avoidance in Finale, Part 1 : The Little Things”

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Halving or doubling rhythmic values in Sibelius & Finale

Q: A student of mine has created a .MID file and imported it into Finale 2011. However,  all the note values are twice the length she desires. How can she make the notation appear correctly?

A: The musical terms for lengthening and shortening the durations of notes in a musical passage so that the length of the phrase is increased or decreased are “augmentation” and diminution”.

dim·i·nu·tion Noun /ˌdiməˈn(y)o͞oSHən/
The shortening of the time values of notes in a melodic part.

aug·men·ta·tion Noun /ˌôgmenˈtāSHən/
The lengthening of the time values of notes in a melodic part.

With that bit of technical jargon out of the way, let’s take a look at how to do this in Finale and Sibelius:

more >> “Halving or doubling rhythmic values in Sibelius & Finale”