To create invisible syllables when typing lyrics

1. Click the Lyrics Tool  . The Lyrics menu appears.
2. From the Lyrics menu, choose Edit Lyrics. The Edit Text window appears. Type the lyrics in the usual way, up to the melisma.
3. Type the syllable to be sustained, followed by the usual space or hyphen. For each subsequent note of the melisma, type option-space, space. Finale considers each option-space (press the Space bar while pressing option) a syllable. Therefore, you need to separate it as you would any syllable—with a space or a hyphen. Thus you type an option-space followed by a regular space (or a hyphen) for each subsequent note of the melisma. Complete the remaining lyrics.
4. Click OK. When you enter these lyrics using the Option–Click Assignment method (see Lyrics), Finale distributes the invisible melismatic syllables you just created to the corresponding notes of the melody.

Note that you can add slurs to melismas automatically using the Auto Slur Melismas plug-in.

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