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Melismas

See also Slurs; Vocal music—To beam according to lyric syllables. 

A melisma is a series of notes sung on the same lyric syllable. When Finale assigns lyric syllables to a melody, it has no way of knowing which melody notes are melismatic. Therefore, when you’re creating lyrics (if you plan to have Finale assign them to notes automatically), you can anticipate the melismatic passages by creating an invisible syllable for each note of the melisma.

 

Creating invisible syllables when typing lyrics

Shifting lyrics to the right or left

 

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