Finale Collision Avoidance, Part 3 : Dynamics

Tip: When entering dynamics with hairpins in Finale, enter the dynamics first, then the hairpins. The reason for this is that the text dynamics locations will help you determine the proper start and end point of the hairpins:

In this example, I enter the hairpin first:

The problem is, when I add the start and ending dynamics, with their location under the notes, I’ll need to adjust the hairpin after the fact:

A better approach is the enter the dynamics first:

Now, it’s easy to see just where to start the hairpin and how far to extend it:

Another thing that costs people valuable time and also makes for inconsistent layouts with more collisions is to enter dynamics over and over in each line of the score. While this is necessary when parts are different, in tutti passages or when instruments are grouped together homophonically, the horizontal positioning of the dynamics for every instrument should be identical (as much as possible).

Take the following example:

The dynamics of all the saxes are to be identical, so ideally, we just copy and paste the dynamics and hairpins in one shot (including horizontal positioning) down the score into all the instruments playing this line.

1. Go to Edit > Edit Filter
2. In the Markings section of the Edit Filter dialog, check Expresssions: Dynamics, Expressive Text …
3. Also check Smart Shapes Assigned to Measures.
4. Ok the Edit Filter dialog
5. Highlight the area of music containing the dynamics to be copied, and copy this region to the clipboard.
6. Now, highlight the staves you want to copy the dynamics into (you can also just highlight the top staff – (see next step.)
7. Select Edit > Paste Multiple and Type the number of staves you want to copy the dynamics into in the Paste Vertically Section.
8. OK the Paste Multiple Dialog.

With the Edit Filter set for dynamics text and hairpins only, it’s quick work to do multiple copy and paste operations to get the dynamics looking just right throughout the score:

Finale has a useful feature which allows you to Alt / Option Arrow Down / Up to copy dynamics text into an adjacent staff, but this only works with text, not hairpins. Paste Multiple is a powerful alternative.

That’s it!

~robert

Also, please check part 1 and part 2