8. Change Key

Press to display the Solo Instrument and Key Settings dialog box:

Instrument for Solo Part
The default value is Published Instrument. You can select one of 36 different instruments to use for the solo part. The Finale Viewer automatically changes the music to the appropriate clef and transposed key for the instrument you select. Changing the solo part updates the staff name for that instrument and this name appears on the screen and on your printout. The staff name is not changed if no staff name is visible to begin with.

This field cannot be changed if the music does not include a solo part. For example, there is no solo part on a piece for solo piano. Some publishers may choose to disable the ability to change instruments for a particular piece of music.

Octave for Solo Part
The default value is Published Octave. The other options are Up an Octave or Down an Octave. These octave changes are only applied to the solo instrument part.

This field cannot be changed if the music does not include a solo part. For example, there is no solo part on a piece for solo piano.

Key of Title
The default value is Published Key. You can transpose the entire piece by one of these values:

• Up a minor second
• Up a major second
• Up a minor third
• Up a major third
• Up a perfect fourth
• Up an augmented fourth
• Up a perfect fifth
• Down a minor second
• Down a major second
• Down a minor third
• Down a major third
• Down a perfect fourth
• Down an augmented fourth
• Down a perfect fifth

Some publishers may choose to disable the ability to change keys for a particular piece of music.

Reset
Press this button to set the three fields in this dialog box back to their default values of Published Instrument, Published Octave, and Published Key.

Range Checking
The Finale Viewer automatically checks the solo instrument part to make sure that all of the notes are inside the range for that instrument. Range checking is enabled when you change the solo instrument to any value except for Published Instrument. If you change the solo instrument, the octave, or the key settings, and this change puts the solo instrument part out of range, you get a range check warning message. The warning message tells you if the instrument, octave, or key you have selected results in notes that are too high or too low for your solo instrument. For example, if you select the value Up an Octave for the solo part, you could see this message:

Press “No” to return to the dialog box where you can change your settings.
Press “Yes” to ignore the range check warning and continue.

Settings Saved
Any changes you make to the settings in this dialog box are saved on your computer. If you change one or more of these values, you will still see the change the next time you open this piece of music in the Finale Viewer. The values are saved regardless of whether you have purchased the printing rights or not. This means you don’t need to worry about changing the solo instrument or key before you purchase the printing rights. You can change the values at any time.

These settings are saved in a cookie that is associated with the browser you are using. If you delete your cookies, the saved solo instrument and key settings will be lost.