Percussion

Percussion Maps

Finale’s percussion notation offers a great deal of flexibility and control, especially if you take advantage of creating and reusing percussion maps. Finale allows you to use one map for a whole ensemble and turn on only the instruments you need on each staff as necessary.

Percussion staves within Finale are special in that they automatically ignore key signatures and transpositions. Also, if you enter a note and Finale does not find a match “in use” in that staff, that note will appear on the staff in its usual position as if it were in treble clef.

If you find that Finale doesn’t appear to use the percussion map that you selected, edit the map in the Percussion Map Designer dialog box, and make sure that Notes to Use is selected for the actual notes that you're entering and would like displayed on a particular staff. (Scroll through the list and click on the note that you want to use, then check the Notes to Use section to make sure that Highlighted Note is selected.)

If Finale displays your percussion notes with the wrong noteheads and you’re sure the percussion map is set up properly, confirm the Notehead Font settings in the Staff Attributes dialog box. (Make sure that the correct notehead font is in use for the staff, and that the Notehead Font checkbox is selected.)

Important! Finale will not use the note definition (the new notehead and position on the staff) unless Notes to Use is selected for the particular note you’re entering. Review the settings in the Percussion Map Designer for the map selected for the percussion staff. This is the step that is most commonly forgotten when constructing or selecting note definitions for a percussion staff.

Note Entry

In standard notation, percussion staves are non-pitched. However, some of Finale’s methods of note entry depend entirely on pitched information. Entering notes with the HyperScribe Tool or the Transcription Mode, importing a MIDI file, and using Simple or Speedy Entry Tool’s MIDI Input all rely on pitched information; Finale can automatically assign pitched MIDI notes to the desired lines and spaces.

You can also enter notes using the Simple Entry Tool without a MIDI keyboard. This method enters non-pitched notes directly on a percussion staff, automatically assigning the correct notehead from those “in use” in the staff on that position. For a list of common instruments, and their staff positions, see Notes Used in Percussion Maps (Chan 10 patch 1) in the appendix. If more than one notehead shares the same staff position (the ride cymbal and first tom-tom, for example), Finale will pick the first notehead it sees assigned to that position. You can then switch between all available noteheads by “sharping” or “flatting” the note with Simple Entry’s alteration tools (Half Step Up, Half Step Down, Sharp, and Flat). This allows Finale to cycle through all available noteheads.

Percussion Library

We include many percussion maps in the library. Their purpose is to get you started and to provide maps for some common approaches to notating percussion staves. Although users notate percussion in many different ways, Finale’s libraries are based on one increasingly accepted standard.

However, since no single standard exists for percussion notation, you’ll probably want to create your own custom maps or edit Finale’s to match your needs. Once you've created the maps, save them into your own percussion library so that you can load them into any new file you create. Or, load them into the Maestro Font Default file, so the percussion maps are ready for use in new documents. For a list of the Percussion Maps included in the Percussion Library, see Notes Used in Percussion Maps (Chan 10 patch 1) under Finale Libraries in the Appendix.

The Entry maps provide most of the note definitions for a standard five tom-tom drum kit and other percussion instruments. Each map is configured for use with Maestro Percussion, one of Finale’s notehead fonts. You can also use Tamburo or any other music font for your percussion staff. (Choose the notehead font to use for the staff in the Staff Attributes dialog box.)

The Bass Clef Entry and Treble Clef Entry percussion maps simply provide a point of reference for entering notes with MIDI. Percussion notation is non-pitched, but some people find it convenient to refer to the lowest of the five lines as “G” or “E”. In this way, you can easily enter pitchless notes by using your MIDI keyboard. Use whichever clef reference makes the most sense to you.

The Instrument maps include note definitions for the named instrument only. For example, Congas contains note definitions for three conga notes only.

The scrolling list in the Percussion Mapping dialog box displays the MIDI Entry pitch. The Bass Clef maps use MIDI note 43 (G1) for the lowest of the five lines. The Treble Clef maps use MIDI note 64 (E3) for the lowest line. One additional map for each clef offers playback configured for General MIDI percussion notes.

The General MIDI Entry & Playback map is based on the percussion tones defined on notes 35 through 81 on Channel 10 (listed in the General MIDI specification). Finale already has configured all common drum set MIDI notes, leaving the remaining Latin and other instruments for you to customize. Refer to the General MIDI Percussion Map Table table for a list of percussion tones.

How to use Percussion Notation

The Percussion Notation feature lets you map a MIDI note entered on your MIDI keyboard, or a note entered without MIDI, to a defined notehead and position on a percussion staff. Notes in a percussion staff can also be remapped to other pitches for playback. Combined with the Staff Setup dialog box (also accessed from the Staff Attributes dialog box), you can now easily create the exact percussion staves you want in your document. You can use Finale’s Maestro Percussion font that contains characters sized and shaped specifically for use as percussion noteheads, or you can select another font, such as JazzPerc, if you prefer.

To load a percussion library

We’ve provided a library that contains percussion maps with note definitions set to General MIDI percussion sounds as well as notes set up for non-MIDI use. You can either use the percussion maps as they are, or edit them for use with percussion staves in your document. This library has already been loaded into the Maestro Font Default file and the templates.

1. Choose Load Library from the File Menu.
2. Locate and select the percussion library that you want to open. The percussion notation library included with Finale is named Percussion Maps.LIB. It is located in the Libraries folder in your Finale folder.
3. Click OK Finale loads the library into the current document, then returns you to the music. The percussion maps contained in the library will appear in the Percussion Map Selection dialog box. The most recently loaded libraries appear at the bottom of the list box.

To save a percussion library

1. Choose Save Library from the File Menu.
2. Click Percussion Maps.
3. Click OK.
4. Enter a file name for the percussion library, then locate and open the folder where you want to save your library.
5. Click OK. Finale saves the all the percussion maps in your document to the percussion library, then returns you to the music.

To create a percussion staff

1. Click the Staff Tool  .
2. Click to the left of the staff. The every measure of the staff is selected.
3. From the Staff Menu, choose Apply Staff Style.
4. Select Percussion (1 line or 5 line) and click OK. Any notes that appeared in the staff will be remapped. Any notes that you enter, with or without MIDI, will also use the percussion map. If more in-depth information about percussion staves, see the instructions below.

To create a percussion staff with a customized percussion map 

1. Click the Staff Tool  .
2. Double-click a staff. The Staff Attributes dialog box appears.  
3. Near the clef display, click Select. Double-click on one of the percussion staves.      
4. Choose one of the three pre-defined staves from the Staff drop-down list. Choose from Standard 5-line, 1-line with Full Barline, 1-line with Short Barline. Or, if you’re setting up a custom staff, choose Other to display the Staff Setup dialog box. After you create a custom staff, click OK to return to the Staff Attributes dialog box. For details about setting up a custom staff, refer to Staff Setup dialog box.
5. Under Independent Elements, click Notehead Font if it’s not already selected. The checkbox becomes selected.
6. Click Select (to the right of Notehead Font).
7. Choose Maestro Percussion (or JazzPerc) 24 point as the font for percussion noteheads on this staff, then click OK. Or, choose an alternate font that contains all the notehead characters that you want to use for percussion.

Tip: If you want to use the same notehead font for all staves, it’s quicker to set the notehead font in Document Options-Fonts, rather than to set the notehead font individually for each staff.

8. Choose Percussion from the Notation Style drop-down list if it’s not already selected. (To change a staff back to standard notation, choose Standard from the Notation Style drop-down list.)
9. Click Select (to the right of the Notation Style drop-down list).
10. Click Create if you want to create a completely new percussion map containing note definitions for a percussion staff. Most likely you’ll want to edit an existing map that appears in the list box. If so, click the percussion map, usually General MIDI Entry and Playback, that you want to use for the current staff, then click Edit. In either case, the Percussion Map Designer dialog box appears.

Tip: The Percussion Map Designer dialog box serves two functions. First, it lets you create or edit a percussion map which you can use on any staff. Second, it lets you choose which notes you actually want to define for the current percussion staff.

8. For each percussion sound you wish to notate, use the list on the left side to select a MIDI “note” used for entry. If you are using a MIDI instrument for entry, you can use the “Listen” button at the bottom of the window to select your “MIDI entry note.” Keep in mind that this method will reset your Playback note to the Entry note, although this can be corrected in the following instructions. The Note Definition section displays the settings for the selected note. The notes appear in order by pitch, from MIDI note 0 through MIDI note 127.

Tip: If you intend to use MIDI for entering notes, be sure to select the MIDI note number that contains the percussion sound that you want to use. If you follow this rule, then you can actually HyperScribe or transcribe your music, and Finale will automatically map the note to the proper position and notehead character. If you don’t plan to use MIDI (when you enter notes with Simple Entry or Speedy Entry without MIDI), Finale simply looks for a percussion map on the staff position of the note that you enter, and uses the first percussion note definition it finds if there is more than one in use for that staff. You can cycle through all note definitions assigned to that line or space by using the Simple Entry tools or Speedy Entry commands that alter the pitch of a note.

9. Enter a Playback MIDI note number in the Playback Note text box. This is the MIDI note used to make the playback sound. The default for this setting is the General MIDI Percussion Map value; see General MIDI Percussion Map Table. For non-General MIDI instruments, see your device’s manual for these settings, or set the playback note using the “Listen” button.
10. Enter a Staff Position, counted in steps from middle C, for your percussion notehead. The MIDI note you enter and the notated staff line can be different.
11. Click the Select button next to Closed Notehead or Open Notehead. Finale opens the Symbol selection dialog box in the Notehead font. For Closed Notehead, select the notehead you want to appear on quarter notes or smaller notes. For Open Notehead, select the notehead you want to appear on half, whole or double whole notes.
12. Click Highlighted Note in the Notes to Use section (if it's not already selected) if you want Finale to use this note definition on the current staff. This checkbox must be selected if you want the notehead, new placement and playback note to appear and sound on the staff according to the note definition. If this checkbox is not selected, Finale will display the note in standard notation.
13. Continue selecting and editing notes in the list box until you've made all the changes that you want. Remember to select Highlighted Note in the Notes to Use section if you want each individual note to appear on the current staff.

Tip: Occasionally you may wish to notate more than one percussion instrument on the same line or space on the staff. This is easy to do in the Percussion Map Designer dialog box. Simply select different notes from the list box, change their noteheads, then drag them so they share the same Staff Position.

14. Click Done. Finale returns you to the Percussion Map Selection dialog box.
15. Click Select and OK. Any notes that appeared in the staff will be remapped if Use Note was selected in the Percussion Map Designer dialog box. Any notes that you enter, with or without MIDI, will also use the percussion map selected for the staff. For percussion MIDI playback, continue with the instructions below.
16. From the Window Menu, choose Instrument List.  
17. For percussion staves, select Channel 10, Program 1. If your playback device is not General MIDI, the channel and Program may be different; see your device’s manual. For more information, see also the Instrument List window.

To adjust stem connections on noteheads

In order for Finale to properly attach stems to the alternate notehead shapes you use in percussion notation (such as X noteheads), you must turn on Stem Connections in the Stems section of the Document Options dialog box (under the Document Menu). Stem connection settings tell Finale precisely how to attach stems to the edges of noteheads.

1. From the Document Menu, choose Document Options, and select Stems. Then click the Stem Connections button. The initial settings in the dialog box are for the Maestro font’s X notehead character.
2. Click the notehead that you want to edit. Click Edit.
3. Select a new symbol for the notehead. Click Set Font to choose a font other than the Default Music Font, then click OK. For example, choose Tamburo, or any other font that contains noteheads. Click Select to choose a notehead character from the font you specified or the Default Music Font, then click Select.
4. Enter new H: and V: values for the Upstem and Downstem values.
5. Click Use Stem Connections. The dialog box is dismissed. Finale will now use these settings when it draws a stem on any of the noteheads you defined in the Stem Connections dialog box.

Tip: To turn off stem connections in a document, uncheck Use Stem Connections in the Stems section of the Document Options dialog box. Refer to Stem Connection Editor dialog box for more details about setting stem connections.

To enter percussion notes using Simple and Speedy Entry

When you enter notes onto a percussion staff, Finale notates them according to the settings in the Percussion Map Designer dialog box. Remember that only the notes for which you selected Use Note will be displayed according to the note’s definition in the percussion map. Other notes will appear in standard notation.

Occasionally you may have more than one note mapped to the same line or space on the staff. (See “To create a percussion staff” earlier.) If this is the case, you can use the up or down arrows on the Simple Entry Palette, or the plus or minus keys for Speedy Entry to cycle through the different noteheads. To see a chart of common percussion instruments, and their staff positions, see Notes Used in Percussion Maps (Chan 10 patch 1) in the Appendix.

For Simple Entry:

1. Click the Simple Entry Tool .
2. Choose Simple Entry Palette from the Window Menu to display the palette if it doesn’t already appear.
3. Double-click the Half Step Up Tool   or Half Step Down Tool   on the Simple Entry Palette, then click the note you want to change. If more than one note was assigned to the same staff position, and is in use for the current staff (as defined in the Percussion Map Designer dialog box), Finale displays the next open or closed notehead for that staff position. Continue to click the note to cycle through all the noteheads on that position until you reach the notehead you want to use.

For Speedy Entry:

1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool  .
2. Click the measure you want to edit.
3. Click the note you want to change.
4. Click + or - to change the notehead.
5. Optional: Press the 9 key. If two percussion noteheads appear side-by-side, Finale will flip the position of the noteheads.

To create slashes-with-cues drum notation

In most jazz scores, the drum kit part is not written out in full. Instead, the part usually contains slash marks (indicating that the drummer should play time), with important ensemble figures cued above the staff.

Use the following steps to combine this slashes-with-cues drum notation with invisible notes used only for playback purposes, so that the drum part appears correctly in the score and also plays back correctly. (Note that these instructions assume you intend to reserve Layer 4 for cue notes.)

1. Enter the playback notes. You can enter these notes manually, or (if you are using one of the GM Drum Kits) using the Drum Groove plug-in to automatically generate a drum part. You can use Layers 1, 2, and 3 for the playback notes - we will use Layer 4 for the cues.

Note: If you use the Drum Groove plug-in, be sure to check the instrument list afterwards to ensure that it has not modified the Channel assignment for your Drum Kit staff. The Drum Groove plugin also creates a hidden expression - "HP off" - that disables Human Playback. You may want to delete this expression. Instead of turning Human Playback off completely, tell Human Playback to incorporate all User MIDI Data by choosing the appropriate settings in the MIDI Data pane of the Human Playback Preferences dialog box.

2. Once the playback notes have been entered, select the Staff Tool, then from the Staff Menu choose Define Staff Styles.
3. In the Staff Styles dialog box, click New. We are going to create a new staff style that displays slashes in the drum staff but also shows notes in layer 4 that we will use for cue notes.
4. Name the Staff Style so you can identify it later. "01a. Slash Notation: show notes" or something similar.
5. Click the Select button to the right of Alternate Notation.
6. In the Alternate Notation dialog box, ensure the following options are selected: Slash Notation, Show Items Attached to Notes, Show Notes in Other Layers, and Show Items Attached to Notes in Other Layers.
7. Click OK twice to save your new Staff Style.
8. Apply this newly created Staff Style to every measure in your drum part where you want slashes to appear.
9. From the Document Menu, choose Document Options and select layers.
10. Click the “Settings For” drop-down and choose Layer 4. Then configure the remaining options as follows:

11. Switch to Layer 4 and enter the cue notes in the Drum Set staff. Typically, these cue notes appear as regular noteheads on a single line or space above the staff, and match the rhythms of important ensemble figures (see the example at the beginning of this section).

To import a MIDI file with a standard percussion track

To create the MIDI file, follow your sequencer’s instructions. There’s no need to quantize the sequence; however, you’ll probably find Finale’s quantization powers to be more effective than your sequencer’s. Note: Finale uses the Maestro Default File as a template when importing MIDI files. If you don’t see all of your percussion maps, try loading the percussion map library into the Maestro Default File.

1. Choose Open from the File Menu. The Open dialog box appears. The file types are listed in the drop-down list at the bottom of the window.
2. Click MIDI File. The names of any available MIDI files appear in the list box.
3. Double-click the desired document name. The Import MIDI File Options dialog box appears, listing various transcription options. The Track/Channel Mapping to Staves dialog box allows you to specify some extremely sophisticated track and channel splitting, as well as clefs, distances between staves, split points and multiple percussion maps. See Track/Channel Mapping to Staves dialog box. Finale will choose a clef for each resultant staff based on the range of notes in the track. (If it discovers that the notes in a track have a very wide range, it will automatically notate its contents on two staves. See Import MIDI File Options dialog boxfor details.) For most files, the default Tracks become Staves option will work fine.
4. In the Create Percussion Staves area, click on the Select button near Percussion Map. The Percussion Map Selection dialog box appears. For most percussion staves, you’ll want to choose the General MIDI Entry and Playback. If you’re using a specific instrument, you may wish to select the percussion map with your instrument’s name, such as Triangle.
5. Click OK. You return to the Import MIDI File Options dialog box. In the Create Percussion Staves area, you can also select a different clef or playback channel for the percussion staves in the file. These settings will affect all percussion staves; for individual settings for more than one percussion staff, see Track/Channel Mapping to Staves dialog box.
6. Click Quant Settings. The Quantization Settings dialog box appears.
7. Click the icon representing your smallest note value.
8. Choose your quantization type. See Quantization Settings dialog box for more details.
9. Click More Settings. The More Quantization Settings dialog box appears.
10. Select the quantization settings you desire. You can select options for grace notes and voice 2, as well as retain key velocities and note durations. See More Quantization Settings dialog box for details.
11. Choose Key and Time Signature options. Most MIDI files contain key and time signature information already, so you usually won’t have to change the default selection (Use the File’s).
12. If you’ll want to hear the sequence played back with its original tempo fluctuations and continuous data (controllers and wheels) data, make sure Tempo Changes and Continuous Data are selected. These options capture some of the MIDI performance data from your sequence.  
13. Click OK (or press enter). Finale transcribes the MIDI File into standard notation. If you discover that your settings weren’t quite right, you can close the new Finale document and try again—the original MIDI file is unaffected by Finale’s transcription efforts. Or, for smaller sectional changes, use the Retranscribe function in the MIDI Tool. For more information about the elements of the Import MIDI File Options dialog box, see Import MIDI File Options dialog box and Retranscription.