Brackets: Staves

You use the Staff Tool to place staff brackets (including “curly braces” on piano staves) into the document. Add brackets to staves by grouping the staves. Drag the top or the bottom handles of a bracket to stretch it, or to change its distance from the staves. To create nested brackets (one bracket within another), group each set of staves that you want the brackets to enclose. Staves can belong to more than one group. You can also create “floating” brackets, unattached to any staves and placed anywhere in the document, for certain modern pieces that require them.

 

Note that Finale’s Setup Wizard automatically generates brackets based on your staff selection. Brackets are also pre-defined in Finale’s template files.

 

After a system has been optimized, edits to groups and brackets only apply to that system. To edit groups and brackets on optimized systems en mass, use the Update Groups and Brackets plug-in.

To place a bracket on grouped staves

Finale allows you to define only one bracket for each group you create. However, if you want to place more than one bracket on a group, there’s an easy way to do so. See “To create additional (nested) brackets, below.”

  1. Click the Staff Tool  image\Staff_Tool.gif. The Staff Menu appears.
  2. If you haven’t yet created the group, do so now. See Groups—To group staves.
  3. Click a group handle, then choose Edit Group Attributes from the Staff Menu. Or, double-click a group handle. (Or, choose Edit Group Attributes from the Staff Menu without selecting a group.) The Group Attributes dialog box appears. To display the attributes of another group, click the arrow controls to select another Group ID number.
  4. Click one of the bracket styles in the Group Attributes dialog box to select the style you want to use for the group.
  5. Specify the position of the bracket in relation to the group. In the Distance from Left Edge of Staff text box, enter the distance, in measurement units, that Finale should place the bracket from the left edge of the staff. A negative number moves the bracket to the left. Enter numbers into the Vertical Adjust (Top of Bracket) and Vertical Adjust (Bottom of Bracket) text boxes for the distance to extend the upper and lower ends of the bracket in relation to the top of the top staff and the bottom of the bottom staff, respectively. To align the bracket’s ends evenly with the top and bottom lines of the group, enter a value of zero. A positive number for either option moves the bracket’s end upward.
  6. Click OK to add the bracket and dismiss the dialog box.

To move or stretch a bracket

  1. Click the Staff Tool  image\Staff_Tool.gif. Handles appear on every group bracket in the document.
  2. Drag the bottom handle up or down. Drag the top handle left, right, up, or down. When you drag the top handle horizontally, the entire bracket moves. When you drag either handle vertically, you can make it appear to enclose even non-grouped staves.
  3. Select a bracket handle and press backspace to revert a bracket to its default length (so it encloses the staves of a group).

To correct bracket display

In the course of creating a document, you may have added or dragged staves between existing staves. Such changes could have unexpected results, especially concerning the appearance of your brackets. If a bracket doesn’t appear to be drawn correctly, you can usually solve the problem with this technique.

  1. Click the Staff Tool image\Staff_Tool.gif. The Staff Menu appears.
  2. Choose Sort Staves from the Staff Menu to restore their appearance, based on the new staff order.

To delete a bracket from a group

  1. Click the Staff Tool  image\Staff_Tool.gif.
  2. To delete a bracket on-screen, click a bracket handle, then press delete.
  3. Or, click a group handle, then choose Edit Group Attributes from the Staff Menu. (Or, double-click a group handle.) Or, choose Edit Group Attributes from the Staff Menu without selecting a group. The Group Attributes dialog box appears. To display the attributes of another group, click the spin controls to select another Group ID number.
  4. Select None from the Bracket palette, then click OK. Finale removes the bracket from the group.

To create additional (nested) brackets

Finale allows you to define only one bracket for each group using the Group Attributes dialog box. However, you can still place more than one bracket on staves. Simply create additional groups for the same staves, choosing a different bracket style for each group. This has the advantage that each bracket is automatically sized to match its corresponding group.

 

Create a new group that contains the staves that you want the bracket to enclose, then choose a bracket for the new group. See “To place a bracket on grouped staves” earlier in this section.

To modify brackets on a system-by-system basis

You can avoid showing a bracket on a group containing a single staff, such as a solo line. If you don’t want a bracket to appear, make sure that Show Bracket If Group Only Contains One Staff is not selected in the Group Attributes dialog box.

However, there may be situations where you need the bracket configuration to change from one staff system to another. If you optimize the system (remove any empty staves), you’ll find that you can use the Staff Tool in Page View to rearrange and re-bracket the staves on a system-by-system basis. For details on staff optimization, see Optimizing systems.

  1. Choose Page View from the View Menu. Two handles appear on staves that have been optimized.
  2. Drag to adjust the bracket for the staff system. Or, double-click the group handle for that staff system that you want to change, change the bracket as needed, then click OK. (For instructions, see Groups—To group staves, and “To place a bracket on grouped staves,” above). Any changes you make will appear only in the single, optimized, staff system. 

After a system has been optimized, edits to groups and brackets only apply to that system. To edit groups and brackets on optimized systems en mass, use the Update Groups and Brackets plug-in.

To create “floating” brackets

A “floating” bracket is unattached to any particular staff; it can appear anywhere on the page. Finale considers such a bracket purely graphic, you can use the Expression Tool to place it.

Floating brackets can be especially useful when you need to enclose a group of lyric verses, as shown:

  1. Click the Expression Tool  image\Expression_Tool.gif.
  2. Double-click on, above, or below the note to which you want to attach the bracket. The Expression Selection dialog box appears.
  3. Click Create, and then select the Shape radio button.
  4. Click Create. You arrive at the Shape Designer dialog box.
  5. Choose Bracket Style from the Shape Designer Menu, and double-click the bracket style you want.
  6. Click the Bracket Tool , and then click in the drawing area. A bracket appears. To adjust its height or width, click the Selection (arrow) Tool, click the bracket, and drag its bounding handles.
  7. Click OK, OK, Assign to return to the score. You can stretch or move the bracket as needed (see below).

To move, stretch, or delete a floating bracket

  1. To move or delete the bracket, click the Expression tool. Click the note or measure to which the bracket is attached. Its handle appears.
  2. Drag the handle to move the entire bracket. Click the handle and press delete to remove it. To stretch the bracket, double-click the handle, and drag one of the eight bounding handles that appear. To completely reshape the bracket, double-click it a second time, and drag its individual control-point handles.

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