First and second endings

You can easily create a repeat with first and second endings that will playback correctly (as shown below).

To create a repeat with first and second endings

1. Click the Repeat Tool  ; then click the first ending measure to highlight it. If the first ending is longer than one measure, click the first measure of the first ending and the hold down Shift and click the last measure of the first ending so all measures you want to include in the first ending are highlighted.
2. Right-Click the region you just highlighted and choose Create First and Second Ending. The first ending, backward repeat barline, and second ending appear in the score. At this point during playback (upon reaching the backward repeat bar) Finale will go back to the closest forward repeat it finds, so we’ll add that next.
3. Right-Click the first measure of the repeated section and choose Create Forward Repeat. You could also double-click the measure, and double-click the forward repeat bar graphic. This section is automatically configured to playback correctly. Also, if any measures are inserted or removed from within the repeated section, Finale makes the appropriate adjustments so playback continues to jump to the correct measures as indicated by the repeat markings.

For more advanced repeat indication, such as nested repeats, to configure playback you may need to specify the target and number of passes for backward repeat bars manually. See Backward Repeat Bar Assignment dialog box and Create Ending dialog box. 

Note: You can add the forward repeat before creating the first and second endings. The order for the last two steps isn’t crucial.

To adjust the brackets on a repeat ending

1. Click the Repeat Tool  . Three handles appear on the bracket. (A single handle appears on each repeat bar.)
2. To stretch a bracket, drag its upper handles vertically or horizontally. To delete a repeat, click any handle and press delete. You can’t stretch a bracket further than the length of one system.

To change the default bracket height for repeats (and set the number font)

1. From the Document Menu, choose Document Options and select Fonts. The Fonts options appear.
2. To change the font for the numbers that appear in a repeat bracket (for example, the “2.” in a second ending bracket), in the Text drop-down menu, choose Ending repeat, and then click Set Font. See Document Options-Fonts for more details.
3. To change the height of any brackets in your score, choose the Repeats category, then click the Repeat Endings button. Change the Height of Bracket number. The units are whatever you’ve selected in the Document Menu for Measurement Units. See Document Options-Repeats.

To move, hide, or delete a text repeat

1. Click the Repeat Tool  . Handles appear on all repeat markings.
2. Drag its handle to move a text repeat; select it and press delete to remove it. Note that in terms of its playback functions, the marking is still associated with the measure in which you originally placed it, even if you drag it to a different measure. Repeat markings initially appear in all staves. To assign an ending or text repeat to specific staves of your score, use the Staff List options available in the Create/Edit Ending dialog box and  Backward Repeat Bar Assignment dialog box. Also see Staff List dialog box.  

To change a backward repeat’s playback definition

1. Click the Repeat Tool  ; a handle appears on the barline.
2. Double-click any handle. The Backward Repeat Bar Assignment (playback definition) dialog box reappears. Make the desired changes, and then click OK (or press enter). (See “To place a repeat in your score,” for the playback options you can specify.)

To hide the ending brackets and text repeats for a specified staff

If your score includes a piano part (for example), you normally won’t want ending brackets (such as a first ending bracket) to appear above both the treble and bass staves. Similarly, you would probably want a Text Repeat (such as “To Coda”) only to appear above the treble staff, not above both. If you want to remove these items from just one staff:

1. Click the Staff Tool  , and double-click the staff for which you want to hide the brackets or Text Repeats. The Staff Attributes dialog box appears.
2.  In the Items to Display section, uncheck Endings and Text Repeats. Click OK. (If you want to assign the text repeat to a number of staves in your score use Staff Lists in theCreate/Edit Ending dialog box and  Backward Repeat Bar Assignment dialog box).