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To record a performance

  1. Create an empty score; establish the meter, key signature, and configuration of staves. You can transcribe onto one or two staves at a time.
  2. Click the HyperScribe tool  image\HyperScribe_Tool.gif and select Transcription Mode from the HyperScribe menu. Click the measure at which the transcription will begin. You enter the Transcription window.
  3. Click Wait Till. Finale is in “pause” mode. The recording begins with the first note you play (or any other MIDI signal—be careful not to use the sustain pedal until you’re ready to record).
  4. Play your piece. Click anywhere (except on a button) to stop recording. When you stop recording, you’ll see your music expressed as a sort of horizontal bar graph; the length of the bars indicate the notes’ durations, and their relationship to the piano keyboard indicates their pitch.

Tip. if your performance begins with a pickup measure, fill the first part of the measure with “dummy” beats; the Transcription window always transcribes on the assumption that the first note is beat 1.

  1. If you want to preserve your performance as a sequence, choose File > Save As. Note that as far as Finale is concerned, the Transcription window is a different program. The File menu’s commands (New, Open, Save As) no longer refer to the Finale document (notation) you currently have open. They refer instead to the performance, or sequence, you just recorded. If you choose File > New, for example, you’re specifying a new sequence; you’re not creating a new Finale (notation) document.

When you save your Transcription window performance, you create a special Finale file called a Note File. When you exit Finale and return to the desktop, you’ll notice that your note file has a different icon. You can open this file any time you’re in the Transcription window; you can, for example, record a piece today, save it, and transcribe it tomorrow.

  1. To play your performance back, choose Edit > Select All. The display area is highlighted.
  2. Under the word Keyboard, click Play; then click Start. Finale plays back your performance.

 

 

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