Key signatures

1. Choose the Key Signature tool , and double-click the measure where the key will change. The Key Signature dialog box appears.
2. Click the up and down scroll-bar arrows until the desired new key signature appears. Scroll up for sharp keys, and down for flat keys. If you want to select or create a nonstandard key signatures (based on a quarter-tone or other nontraditional scale), choose Nonstandard from the popup menu.
3. Using the Measure ___ Through ___ (or Through End of Piece or To Next Key Change) text boxes, specify the range of measures you want to be affected by the key signature.
4. Specify the transposition effect. None of these choices affect sections of your document that are keyless.
   • Choose Transpose Notes to transpose any existing music to the new key. Choose either Up or Down from the popup menu to specify the direction in which you want to transpose the music. If the measure range you’ve specified contains keys whose relationships you want to preserve, select Transpose All Keys Proportionally. Subsequent key changes will be preserved, but will be affected by the same interval as the key change you’re now creating.
   • Choose Hold Notes to Original Pitches to hold each note at its original absolute pitch and adjust accidentals where necessary.
   • Choose Hold Notes to Same Staff Lines (Modally) to keep each existing note on its original line or space without adjusting accidentals.
5. Click OK (or press RETURN).

Finale defaults to a major key system, where the scale that begins on C has no sharps or flats. In such a key system, C is considered by Finale to be scale degree zero of the scale with no sharps or flats (C major). You can, however, tell Finale that you’re working in a minor key, where the scale that begins on C has three flats (for example), and in the scale with no sharps or flats (A minor), C is not the root.

If you follow the instructions below, you’ll notice two significant changes in Finale’s behavior. First, when you create chord symbols, their descriptions in the Chord Definition dialog box will be accurate (the root of an A minor chord in a scale with no sharps or flats will be labeled 1, not 6). Second, if you’re transcribing music using HyperScribe, you’ll discover that accidentals are transcribed with greater accuracy. In A minor, for example, the note between G and A will be notated as a G (instead of an A, as it would be called in C major).

1. Choose the Key Signature tool ; then double-click the measure where the minor key is to begin. The Key Signature dialog box appears.
2. From the popup menu next to the scroll bar, choose Minor Key.
3. Use the scroll bars at the top of the window to set the minor key signature you want. If you want to select A minor, leave the default key signature (no sharps or flats).
4. Specify the range of measures you want to be affected by the key change.
5. Specify the transposition effect.
   • Choose Transpose Notes to transpose any existing music to the new key. If you select Transpose Notes, choose either Up or Down from the popup menu to specify the direction in which you want the music transposed.
   • Choose Hold Notes to Original Pitches (Chromatically) to hold each note at its original absolute pitch, maintaining the original spelling of the note (for example, a G in the key of E will remain a G in the key of E).
   • Choose Hold Notes to Original Pitches (Enharmonically) to adjust the spelling of the accidentals where necessary (for example a G becomes an A in the key of E).
   • Choose Hold Notes to Same Staff Lines (Modally) to keep each existing note on its original line or space, but with no new accidentals.
6. Click OK (or press RETURN).

Under usual circumstances, the key signature for a staff appears only at the beginning of each line, or at a key change. If you want, however, you can force the key signature to be displayed in any measure.

1. Choose the Measure tool , and then double-click barline handle of the measure in which you want the key signature to appear. The Measure Attributes dialog box appears.
2. From the Key Signaturepopup menu, choose Always Show.
3. Click OK (or press RETURN). You can also hide a key signature in a measure where it would normally appear by choosing Always Hide.

It’s standard practice to display the key signature at the beginning of each system. You can, however, tell Finale not to display the key signature in a particular measure (in which the key signature would normally appear). If you want your score to actually lack a key signature, see Keyless scores.

1. Choose the Measure tool , and double-click the barline handle of the measure in which you want to hide the key signature. In general, this is the first measure on a line. Be sure to perform these steps just before printing, to ensure that the measures with hidden key signatures don’t move from their positions at the beginning of lines.
2. Choose Key Signature > Always Hide.

   You can also force a key signature to appear in a measure where it would not normally appear by choosing Always Show (see To force the display of the key signature in a measure above).

3. Click OK (or press RETURN).

Tip: You can also choose to display the key signature on the first staff system only in Document Options - Key Signatures.

You can create a score in which each staff has a different key signature. Note that the presence of multiple simultaneous key signatures isn’t the same thing as establishing staves for transposing instruments (trumpet and clarinet, for example), in which various staves are notated in different keys but, in fact, all sound in the same key. To handle transposing instruments—for which Finale correctly changes the key signature automatically—see Transposing instruments.

1. Choose the Staff tool and double-click the first staff whose key you want to make independent. The Staff Attributes dialog box for the selected staff appears.
2. Under Independent Elements, select Key Signature.
3. Repeat this process for each staff that will be in an independent key.

   If you have several staves to prepare this way, don’t close the Staff Attributes dialog box; simply choose the next staff from the popup menu at the top of the dialog box.

4. Click OK (or press RETURN). You return to the document. If you now click the Key Signature tool, a handle appears on every measure that you’ve “enabled” to have an independent key signature.

   To change the key signature for an “independent key signature” staff, choose the Key Signature tool and double-click a measure of the staff. The Key Signature dialog box appears so that you can set the key in the usual way.

1. Choose Document > Document Options > Key Signatures. The Key Signature Options dialog box appears.
2. Deselect Display Courtesy Key Signature at End of Staff System.
3. Click OK (or press RETURN).

In some cases, you may want to hide the key or time change only in one place; for the remainder of the piece, you do want Finale to provide this advance warning. For example, sometimes one movement (or piece) ends and another begins on the same page; if the new movement begins in a different key, you wouldn’t necessarily want the new key signature to appear in the last measure of the preceding movement. These instructions show you a special method of hiding only one end-of-line key or time change.

1. Choose the Measure tool , and double-click the barline handle of the blank measure. The Measure Attributes dialog box appears.
2. Click Hide Cautionary Clefs, Key and Time Signatures.
3. Click OK.

On rare occasions, such as a key change at the beginning of a coda, you may need the courtesy key signature to be different from the key signature at the beginning of the next line. To create a custom courtesy key signature, follow these steps:

1. Choose the Measure tool . Select the first measure of the next line.
2. Choose Edit > Insert Measure Stack. The Insert Measures dialog box appears. Click OK to select the default of 1 measure.
3. Choose the Selection tool ; then double-click the measure. The Key Signature dialog box appears.
4. Set the desired Key Signature for the courtesy key signature. For more details, see Key Signatures. Make sure the region is set to the current measure only and click OK.
5. Choose the Staff tool . The Staff menu appears.
6. Select the measure in all staves. See Selecting music for hints on selecting shortcuts.
7. Choose Staff > Apply Staff Style. You can also select Apply Staff Style from the contextual menu by right/CONTROL-clicking in the staff. The Apply Staff Style dialog box appears.
8. Select Blank Notation: All Layers from the popup menu and click OK. The default rest will disappear.
9. Choose the Measure tool and double-click the measure. The Measure Attributes dialog box appears.
10. Choose Barline > Invisible. Under Display, select Change Width and enter 0; select Hide Cautionary Clefs, Key and Time Signatures. Under Behavior, deselect Include in measure numbering.
11. Click OK.

Because this task is among Finale's most technical, this topic is presented as a step-by-step tutorial with a sample document. Steps for a sample key signature of G harmonic minor (B, E and F) have been provided.

1. Choose the Key Signature tool and double-click the measure in which the key will change. The Key Signature dialog box appears.
2. Choose Nonstandard from the popup menu next to the scroll bar. The Nonstandard Key Signature dialog box appears. In the center of this dialog box you’ll find a pair of buttons with which you tell Finale which kind of nonstandard key signature you want to create: Linear or Nonlinear.
3. Click Linear Key Format or Nonlinear Key Signature. Click Next or Prev to find an open Key Format. Click Next twice to advance to a key signature you can edit. The first two are the Major and minor formats (that cannot be changed).
   • A linear key format is one whose scale is composed of a repeating sequence of diatonic and chromatic steps. The standard diatonic major scale, for example, is a linear key format—in Finale, it’s called Linear Key Format 0. (Linear Key Format 1, which you can choose by clicking the Next button, is the standard minor scale format; a key signature with no sharps or flats that’s been set to this key format considers A, not C, to be the first note of the scale. Because these two formats have been predefined, you’ll find that only the ClefOrd and Attribute icons [two of the five icons whose associated dialog boxes define the key format] are operational. Once you’ve selected Key Format 2 or higher, all five icons are active.)
     
     The keys of a linear key format, however, need not proceed around the circle of fifths. You could create a system that proceeds around a circle of sixths, for example. As long as the scale in each of the key format’s related “keys” is formed by the same sequence of whole and half steps, and as long as the upper and lower halves of the scale are formed by the same sequences of whole and half steps (such as the tetrachords in a standard diatonic scale), the system of keys is considered a linear key format.
   • A nonlinear key signature is one for which there’s no “circle of fifths”; in fact, there’s no circle of anything. Whereas a linear key format is a system of related keys and key signatures, a nonlinear key signature is a key signature unto itself, unrelated to any other key signature. It can contain one sharp and one flat, for example, on any notes of the scale, and there need not be any logic to their positions.
4. Specify the number of diatonic and chromatic steps you want in the scale by clicking the KeyMap icon. The Key Step Map dialog box appears, in which you specify how many steps you want in an octave, and which steps are “diatonic” and which “chromatic.” It also determines the playback of your key signature. Choose the total steps in your signature. Using the buttons under Total Steps, set the key map so that the scale notes are white and accidentals are black. In our sample key signature of B, E and F, the Total Steps would be 12 and the key map as follows:

   Note	White/Black
   C (scale tone)	white
   C/D (accidental)	black
   D (scale tone)	white
   D/E (scale tone)	white
   E (accidental)	black
   F (accidental)	black
   F/G (scale tone)	white
   G (scale tone)	white
   G/A (accidental)	black
   A (scale tone)	white
   A/B (scale tone)	white
   B (accidental)	black

   
   See Key Step Map dialog box for details.
5. Specify the order in which accidentals appear in each sequential key signature by clicking the AOrdAmt icon. Click this icon to display the Accidental Order and Amount dialog box, in which you specify the new accidental you want to appear with each progression (if any) to a new key, and on what line or space it should appear. The Unit number is the order in which the accidentals appear in the staff display of the key signature. For example, in E major, B=Unit 1, E=Unit 2 and A=Unit3. The Step Level is the distance from middle C. For example, B=Step Level 6. The Amount is how far, in half steps, to alter that pitch. For example, flat=Amount -1, sharp=Amount +1, and unaltered=Amount 0. The Next and Previous buttons select the Unit. For Units that are not sharped or flatted, enter zero for the Amount. In our sample key signature of B, E and F:

   Unit	Step Level	Amount
   1: B	6	-1
   2: E	2	-1
   3: F	3	1
   4: C	0	0
   4: D	1	0
   4: G	4	0
   4: A	5	0

   
   See Accidental Order and Amount dialog box for more information.
6. Specify the tone center (root) of each key by clicking the ToneCnt icon. The Tone Center(s) dialog box appears, in which you specify the relationship of each new “key” (tone center) to the appearance of a new accidental. See Tone Center(s) dialog box for a more complete discussion.
7. Specify the octave in which each of the accidentals appears (on the staff) by clicking the ClefOrd icon. The Accidental Octave Placement dialog box appears, in which you can specify the octave in which you want each accidental to appear according to each clef. Click the Next and Previous buttons to select the accidental to edit. In our sample key signature of B, E and F:

   Unit	Octave (Clef 0 - treble)	Octave (Clef 3 - bass)
   1: B	0	-2
   2: E	1	-1
   3: F	1	-1

   
   See Accidental Octave Placement dialog box for details.
8. Choose the font and character to be used in place of the normal sharps and flats (if you want) by clicking the Attribute icon. The Special Key Signature Attributes dialog box appears, in which you can specify a number of miscellaneous attributes for the key format you’re creating. For example, you can specify nonstandard symbols to be used instead of the normal sharps and flats in the key signature. See Special Key Signature Attributes dialog box.
9. Click OK (or press RETURN). You return to the Key Signature dialog box.
10. Specify the transposition effect and measure range. See Key signatures for an explanation of these options.
11. Click OK.

After following these instructions, Finale displays quarter-tone symbols where appropriate as accidentals and in the key signature. If you need your score to playback with quarter tones, see Defining expressions for quarter tone playback.

1. Choose the Key Signature tool .
2. Double-click on a measure. The Key Signature dialog box appears.
3. Choose Nonstandard from the popup menu next to the scroll bar. The Nonstandard Key Signature dialog box appears.
4. Make sure Linear Key Format is select, then click the Next button until Linear Key Format 2 is listed. The first two Key Formats have been predefined for major and minor scales. When you select an open Key Format, the five icons will all become active.
5. Click the Attribute button. The Special Key Signature Attributes dialog box appears. From this dialog box, we will specify a different font and symbols for the quarter-tone sharps and flats.
6. Click the Symbol font button. Finale displays the Font dialog box, from which you can choose the new font. Choose Maestro Percussion or any font with the desired symbols.
7. Click OK. You return to the Special Key Signature Attributes box.
8. Click the Symbol List ID button. The Symbol List dialog box appears. This is where you tell Finale what symbols to use for your quarter-tone accidentals. To view your choices, Maestro Font Character Sets and look under Maestro Percussion Character Set The table below lists a common set of quarter-tone symbols which apply to the Maestro Percussion font. Obviously, you can substitute any symbol you like. Note that the characters will appear in the system font regardless of the actual font you’ve chosen. For example, if you’re using the Maestro Percussion font to create a symbol, you’ll see a capital L in this box. Characters will appear in the proper font when you return to the document.
   
   

   Alter Amount	Character to enter	Character in Maestro Percussion font
   3	l (lowercase l)
   2	m (lowercase m)
   1	L (SHIFT+L)
   0	n (lowercase n)
   -1	j (lowercase j)
   -2	b (lowercase b)
   -3	J (SHIFT+J)

9. Enter the Alter Amount and Character, then click Insert. Finale adds the information to its database. Repeat for each character.
10. Click OK twice. You return to the Non-Standard Key Signature box.
11. Click the up and down scroll-bar arrows until the desired new key signature appears. Scroll up for sharp keys, and down for flat keys. Note that quarter tone symbols will appear in the key signature.
12. Click OK (or press RETURN). You return to the Key Signature dialog box.
13. Specify the transposition effect and measure range. See Key signatures for an explanation of these options.
14. Click OK. You return to the document window. When you enter music with accidentals, quarter symbols will appear where appropriate. For example, a C with one plus added will display a C-quarter tone sharp.