Entering
music with the Simple Entry Tool
Finale offers many different entry methods.
The simple entry tool itself can be used to click notes onto a staff,
or enter notes with your computer keyboard or with a MIDI keyboard. Here,
you’ll learn how to enter notes using each of these methods.
- Click the
Simple Entry Tool .
The Simple Entry Palette becomes active. From the Window menu, choose
Simple Entry Rests Palette to show the Simple Entry Rests Palette. These
palettes are shown on the next page. Also, another menu has appeared on
the menu bar: the Simple menu. This menu contains commands, a list of
keyboard shortcuts, and other options that allow you to customize the
way Simple Entry works.
In addition to this tutorial, you can
also open the file "EntryExercise” in the Finale/Documentation/Tutorials
folder for hands-on training.
- From
the Simple menu, choose Simple Entry Options. The Simple Entry
Options dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can customize the
behavior of Simple Entry.
- Uncheck
Create New Measures and then click OK. For this tutorial, all measures
are already in place. In the future, you can recheck this option if you
want to tell Finale to automatically add new measures when the final measure
has been filled. We’ll talk more about this and other Simple Entry Options
later in this chapter.
Now, notice the two Simple Entry Palettes.
You can click tools in the Simple Entry
Palette to specify the rhythmic duration, and other attributes, prior
to entering a note. The tools are divided into different groups. There
are duration tools, like quarters, eighth notes, etc., accidental tools,
like a sharp or flat, a tie tool, tuplet tool, and grace note tool. Click
a duration tool to select it, then click an accidental, dot, or tie to
modify the note. Notice your mouse cursor displays the tools selected
in the Simple Entry palette. Click a modifier tool again to de-select
it if you don’t want to use it anymore. To select any tool and clear all
the other tools, double-click on it, or press the keystroke twice.
You can mix and match the tools to build exactly the note you want to add, whether it’s a quarter note or a sharped, tied, dotted note that starts a triplet! Simply click in the staff to enter the note displayed on the mouse cursor. You can always select the note and edit it later using different, modifier keystrokes, which we’ll talk about soon.
To see a list of Simple Entry keyboard
shortcuts from the Simple menu, choose Simple Edit Commands and Simple
Navigation commands.
You can always select the note and edit
it later using different, modifier keystrokes, which we’ll talk about
soon. The fastest way to enter notes in Simple Entry involves using keystrokes
to select tools in the Simple Entry Palette, and then enter the notes
using keystrokes on your computer keyboard, which we’ll do now.
- Click
the Eighth Note Tool
on the Simple Entry Palette. The Simple Entry Palette contains
an icon for each note duration. Notice the note with a vertical line at
the beginning of the first measure. This line is called the Simple Entry
Caret. The caret is much like a cursor in a word processing program. You’ll
learn how to quickly type in music using the caret soon.
For now, move the mouse cursor above and below
the staff. Notice Finale draws temporary ledger lines to help you place
new notes. The cursor also changes to show you where you are and what will happen if you click the mouse. Currently, a ghostly quarter note
should be floating above your music, waiting for your click to place it
into the score.
- Position
the mouse cursor over the D just below the staff and click. Finale
places an eighth note where you clicked.
- Click
just to the right of the existing note to enter the second eighth note.
Finale beams the eighth notes together and spaces out the pickup measure
accordingly. The next note is a quarter note, so we’ll need to change
the duration.
- Click
the Quarter Note Tool in the Simple Entry Palette. The cursor changes
to a quarter note.
- Position
the cursor over the second line G in the top staff of measure 1 and click.
A quarter note appears on the second line G. You could click the Simple
Entry Palette to choose each new duration as you enter, but it’s much
faster to use the numeric keypad. Each key in the numeric keypad corresponds
to a different note duration. 3 for a sixteenth note, 4 for an eighth
note, 5 for a quarter note, and so on.
- Press
4 in the numeric keypad. This is the same as clicking the Eighth
Note Tool. You are now ready to continue.
- Position
your cursor on the second beat of measure one and click in the next 6
notes. Use the image below as a guide. If you miss and click the
wrong line or space, use the up and down arrows to move the note to the
correct staff position. Notice you can use the left and right arrows to
move the selection from left to right. Remember to use you numeric keypad to change the duration of the note you will be entering.
- Finish
entering measures 3 through 5 shown below. If you enter the wrong
note duration, simply hold down the Alt key (Option key on Mac), and press
the correct duration key in the numeric keypad to edit the note you just
entered. (Remember, 4=eighth note and 5=quarter note).
- If
you ever make a mistake, you can also use the Eraser in the Simple Entry Palette to remove items in the score.
Click the Eraser Tool, and then click a notehead to remove the note. Click
above or below a chord to remove the whole chord. Click on an accidental,
tuplet, tie, or dot to remove it.
Now, although it would be fast to simply click
in measure 6, let’s use the Selection Tool to copy and paste measure 5
to a couple of other measures that require identical notation.
- Click
the Selection Tool .
- Click
measure 5 in the top staff. The measure is now highlighted. You’ve
just selected it, or told Finale that this is the measure you intend to
manipulate.
To see a list of Simple Entry keyboard
shortcuts from the Simple menu, choose Simple Edit Commands and Simple
Navigation commands.
- Drag
the measure so it is superimposed on measure 6 (the first measure in the
second system). A dotted outline of the selected measure moves
with the cursor, showing exactly where Finale will copy the music.
- Release
the mouse button. Voila! Ysou’ve just copied the music from measure
5 into measure 6. Alternatively, you could have highlighted measure 5,
pressed (Win) -C, or (Mac) -C, then highlighted measure
6 and pressed (Win) -V, or (Mac) -V.
- Click
measure 6 so it is highlighted. Instead of dragging, you can also
use a keyboard shortcut to copy and paste this measure anywhere in your
score.
- Windows users
hold down the
key, Mac users,
, and click
measure 13, top staff. The quarter notes appear in measure 13. Now, let’s
use the Simple Entry Caret to type in some notes.
- Click the
Simple Entry Tool again.
- Hold
down the key (Mac users, the key), and
click the second quarter note in measure 6. The note changes color
indicating it is now selected.
- Press
the right arrow key to invoke the Caret on beat 1 of measure 7.
The same principles used for clicking also apply to typing. First select
the duration using the numeric keypad, then specify the pitch, this time
using the arrow and letter keys.
- Press
the 4 key in the numeric keypad. The note on the caret changes
to indicate the duration just like the mouse cursor. You should now see
an eighth note on the second space A, beat 1 of measure 7. If it is not on A, use the up and down arrow keys to move it to the second space A.
- Press
Enter . Finale enters an eighth note on the pitch specified.
The caret moves to the ‘and’ of beat 1. The Enter key enters the note
displayed on the caret.
- Press
the Up arrow. The note on the caret moves up to middle line B.
- Press
Enter again.
Another eighth note appears. You could continue to enter the remaining
notes using the arrow keys to specify the pitch, but there is a faster
way—just type the note letter.
- Type
A, F, and then D. Finale enters the next three notes. We need to
change the D to a quarter note, so we’ll do that next.
- Windows
users, hold down , Mac users, , and press
5 in the numeric keypad. The D at the beginning of measure 8 changes
to a quarter note. Notice the duration of the caret remains the same,
so you can easily continue entering eighth notes.
- Complete
entering measures 8, 9, and 10. Use the letter keys to enter the
G, F, G, A, and B. Then, change the B to a quarter note by holding down
Alt/Option and pressing 5. Then enter the two As. When you are done the
last note of measure 10 should be selected. Now, let’s explore some other
Simple Entry functions—say we want to enter an eighth rest.
- Press
0 (zero). Finale adds an eighth rest. The 0 key adds a rest of
the duration currently chosen in the Simple Palette. You can also press
the R key to change a selected note to a rest.
- Press
Delete. The rest disappears and the previous note is selected.
Now, let’s add an articulation to this note.
- Press
the * key in the numeric keypad. A dialog box appears that notes
you are now in articulation mode. The Articulation Selection dialog box
appears.
- Type
A. An accent appears on the note.
In articulation mode, the A key is assigned
to the accent marking. (These keystrokes are called Metatools which you’ll
learn more about in chapter 3). You could also click Select to choose
from a list of articulations. Choose the accent marking (>) and click
Select. An accent appears on the note. You can add expressions the same
way. Simply press the X key instead of *.
- Hold
down (Mac: ) and type Z to undo. The
articulation disappears.
Now, notice the 10th measure of “Simple Gifts”
has the same rhythm as the 11th and 12th measure. This is a good opportunity
to demonstrate how copying music and repitching a melody can save time.
(You’ll learn more about how to enter articulations, and edit them, in
chapter 3.)
For the following we’ll use the Selection Tool
again. Note that you can also use any tool that permits regional selection
for copying, moving, and erasing music.
- Click
the Selection Tool .
- Click
measure 10 of the top staff. The measure is now highlighted.
- Windows
users, press -C, Mac users, -C. You
have just placed this measure on the clipboard and can now paste it anywhere
you wish.
- Click
measure 11 and Windows users, press -V, Mac users, -V. The music appears in measure 11. This method is
particularly useful for copying music to measures on a different page.
Now, say instead of just one copy off the source material, we want to
paste multiple copies...
- Click
the Edit menu and choose Undo Mass Paste. The music in measure
11 disappears. The music in measure 10 is still in the clipboard and measure
11 is still highlighted.
- Windows
users, press --V, Mac users, --V. The Paste Multiple dialog box appears.
- Enter
2 in the “Paste Horizontally” text box and click the OK button.
Instead of clicking OK, you could press the key; in Finale, pressing is the same as clicking the OK button. Finale pastes
the music to both measures 11 and 12.
- Click
the Simple Entry Tool . Now that
we’ve got the right rhythms, let’s repitch measures 11 and 12 accordingly.
- Click
the Repitch Tool in the Simple Entry Palette. The
Repitch Tool allows you to quickly change pitches of existing notes.
- Click
the first note in measure 11. The middle line B is now selected.
- Type
the pitches (B, B, C, D, C, B) to complete measures 11 and 12.
If you are using a MIDI keyboard, note that you can also simply play the
pitches. You will learn more about MIDI input soon.
- Windows
users, hold down , Mac users, , and press
. Selection moves to the bottom staff. Hold down / and press again to select the
lowest note of the chord.
- Windows
users hold down
, Mac users,
and click
the second quarter note in measure 13. Then, press 5 in the numeric keypad,
and then press
. The caret appears on the first beat of measure
14.
If you have a MIDI device, such as a MIDI keyboard,
you can use it to easily specify pitches in Simple Entry. (If you do not
have a MIDI device, skip to the step marked [Non-MIDI users]). First,
ensure your MIDI device is properly configured with your computer (See
earlier chapters Installation for
Windows or Installation for
Mac (depending on the platform you are using) for information on setting
up a MIDI device). Then continue with the following steps.
- From
the Simple menu, ensure Use MIDI Device for Input is checked. If
it is not, select it from the menu.
- On
your MIDI device, play B4 (B above middle C). Finale adds a B to
the measure and the caret advances to the right. A note played on the
MIDI device is the same as pressing Enter or a note letter on your computer
keyboard. Simply choose the duration on the numeric keypad and then play
the pitch to continue entering.
- Press
4 in the numeric keypad and then play B and A. Then press 5, and play
G twice. Then press 6 and play G once more to complete the phrase.
In the future, note that you can play multiple notes simultaneously to
specify a chord. Also note that Finale adds any accidentals accordingly.
Feel free to use a MIDI keyboard to specify pitches in place of your computer
keyboard or mouse for the remainder of this tutorial. If you just used
your MIDI device to complete the phrase, skip the next step.
- [Non-MIDI
users] Type B, 4, B, and A. Then type 5, G, G, 6, G to complete the phrase.
Remember to use the numeric keypad for the duration numbers.
Congratulations! You’ve completed your first Finale melody.
You can use additional Simple Entry keyboard
shortcuts to add ties, grace notes, articulations, and even clef, key,
and time signature changes. See Simple Entry in the User Manual for detailed
info. Also, while using Simple Entry, right-click (Mac -click) a note or rest to invoke a context menu which
allows you to hide the note, change it to a rest, and make other changes.
Or, from the Simple menu, choose Simple Edit Commands to see a list of
options. Each of these commands can also be applied with a keyboard shortcut.
In addition to using the list of keyboard shortcuts under the Simple menu,
you can also refer to your Quick Reference Guide.
As we mentioned earlier, you can adjust
the behavior of Simple Entry by changing items available under the Simple
menu such as: Check for Extra Notes, Fill with Rests, Select Notes on
Entry at End of Measure, and Playback Notes on Entry. To view these settings
from the Simple menu, choose Simple Entry Options. The Simple Entry Options
dialog box appears as pictured here. When Check for Extra Notes is selected
(this command is selected by default), Finale will consult the time signature
and not allow you to inadvertently enter extra notes in a given measure.
Fill with Rests will add enough rests to fill the measure if you leave
the measure and start entering notes in another measure. When Select Notes
on Mouse Entry is checked, you can immediately use keyboard shortcuts
to change the note you just entered after click. For more info regarding
these options, see Simple Entry Options
dialog box.
Previous
|
Next |