When I hear the word “worksheet,” my initial reaction is not the giddy anticipation of fun.  Perhaps I’m not alone in this.

That said, I think students will have fun with the jazz improvisation worksheets included with Finale 2011. These worksheets offer tips to beginning improvisers AND provide students with excellent accompaniment for their explorations.

To find these worksheets, go to:

My Documents > Finale Files > Worksheets > Jazz Improvisation

Here’s how you might use them:

1. Select a worksheet, based on instrument transposition, clef, and level of difficulty, and email it to your student.
2. Using the free, downloadable Finale Reader, your student prints the worksheet, then presses "Play" in the Reader to provide accompaniment as they play the concepts presented.

In the excerpt below, the notation seen on the staves does not play back. Instead, a swinging jazz trio plays an accompaniment using Reader’s built-in sounds.

Even if you don’t have an interest in teaching jazz improvisation (or improvising yourself), the construction of these files is clever and provides a few examples of Finale’s flexibility.

Can you figure out how the accompaniment music was hidden? Can you determine why the visible notation doesn’t play back?

The first person who can answers both questions correctly gets a free Finale T-shirt.

Send in your answer, or anything else, by clicking on “Comments” below.

Photo credit: Genevieve Glick

I recently spoke with Andrew J. Glick, a longtime Finale user in South Riding, Virginia. Like so many musicians, it’s tough to describe Andrew’s musical outlets with a simple title. He’s a music educator, flautist, singer, composer, and arranger — among many other things. It was a discussion of one of those other things that particularly caught my interest. 

Andrew described to me a Finale project he’d done using Finale’s scanning capabilities to recreate a piano reduction and instrumental parts for a Mozart opera that had been out of print for many years. I was so intrigued I asked him to share it with you here:

“In early 2003 I got a call from Louisa Panou-Takahashi, then director of the University of Virginia Opera Workshop.

The Opera Workshop was planning to produce Mozart’s first opera, “Apollo et Hyacinthus,” but they couldn’t access the music. Bärenreiter was no longer printing the music and all Dr. Panou-Takahashi had access to was a copy of the full score in the University’s Rare Works collection. Since it was the school’s only copy, they wouldn’t even let her check it out.

They did allow her to make photocopies, however. She spent the better part of a day doing so. The score is 100 pages, double-sided and oversized, so she had to copy it onto 11 x 17-inch paper. Although this was fine for the orchestra conductor, the instrumentalists needed their parts extracted and the singers needed vocal scores.

Louisa had worked with me as a Ph.D. student in composition and knew that I had some fairly sophisticated gear for scanning scores. Could I help?

I was glad to try!

The first thing I discovered was that although the photocopies were readable by the human eye, they were not at all good enough for SmartScore to scan them. Mainly, what appeared to be solid note heads were actually poorly dithered approximations, leading SmartScore to error out from too many rhythmic discontinuities or being unable to read the notes at all. Also, because the pages were so large, I had to scan half a page at a time.

Thankfully, I had been a CGI systems guru in my “previous life,” including teaching a grad course in image processing. So I took the scanned pages into PaintShop Pro where I found the right combination of adjustments to fix the resolution and contrast problems in the scanned photocopies. I created a macro in PaintShop to apply those fixes to all the scanned pages in a batch process.

Music Character Recognition software being what it was in 2003/04, I still had to manually correct about 20% of the manuscript in Finale. However, once that was done, I was able to extract the instrument parts.

For the last step I put on my composer/arranger’s hat to create the piano-vocal score. Although tools like “implode music” were very helpful, I had to decide which parts to implode to make a playable and stylistically appropriate keyboard reduction.

The whole project took a few months; the opera was performed in the fall of 2004. Sadly it was the last project I did with Dr. Panou-Takahashi, as she passed away in 2006.

Looking back today I realize that this had been a really gratifying experience. My hat’s off to everyone at MakeMusic and Musitek for making it possible.”

My hat’s off to Andrew for sharing this story with us. Learn more about Andrew, and see examples from this score at his website.

Share your music scanning experiences by clicking on the “Comments” below.

While Finale 2011 includes a pre-made handbell template, some customization is often required to adapt the template to your specific ensemble, such as the range of your bells. If this is the case you may prefer to use a plug-in, included with Finale, to automatically create your list of bells used.

To do so, enter the notes of your handbell piece first, then select all and invoke the plug-in from here:

Plug-ins > TG Tools > Create Handbells Used Chart

This is what the plug-in looks like:

Select or adjust any options needed, then press Go. The plug-in will automatically create a handbells used chart at the top of the score, parenthesize any accidentals, resize the staff and notes, and reset the measure numbering.

Want your handbell piece to sound as great as it looks? I'd suggest using the Garritan handbell sounds included with Finale.

Have any questions about how to do that, or anything else? Please let us know by hitting the “Comments” button below.

Last week my wife, a director of nursing at a major medical institution, came home jazzed about new technologies in health care. She had just seen a demonstration of voice recognition technology that allows nurses to literally “talk to the walls” rather than hand-charting their patient evaluations and updates.

As she described the demonstration, I was transported back nearly twenty years ago when voice recognition technology began to first reach home computer users. The dream was to control your computer by voice command, ala Start Trek. (I am reminded of Scotty’s scene in “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” where he picks up the mouse and begins talking into a Mac SE30. When he realizes he has to still TYPE in his commands, he says, “Oh, how quaint!”)

In the early 1990s, the leader in voice recognition was Articulate Systems. At this time Finale and Articulate Systems did many events together where their voice recognition software was demonstrated in use with Finale. Among the venues were MacWorlds, Gand Music Tech Expos, and NAMM conventions.

I recall one specific NAMM show meeting where this combination was demonstrated to great effect by my friend, Christopher Yavelow, a gifted composer and author widely known for his keen insight on the future of music and computers.

Chris got up in front of a large group of music dealers and said; “Open Finale,” and it opened!

“Under STAFF go to Add Staves. Type 3.” Sure enough, Finale added 3 staves! In fact, Finale did whatever he told it to do. (As is sometimes the case with new technology, the trick in demonstrating it was to focus on what it did rather than what it didn’t do.)

At the end of his demo, Chris shouted; “ERASE HARD DRIVE,” then quickly added “Stop!”

This got a big laugh.

Well, here it is 2010, and most of us aren’t using voice recognition with our music applications. I don’t know if this is because the technology simply didn’t advance as quickly as we would have liked, or if voice recognition simply isn’t all that practical for mainstream use. 

Kids of my generation were promised all kinds of technology that similarly never materialized as we imagined, and this is a subject of Daniel Wilson’s book “Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived.”

I recall hearing a piece about the book on NPR, but have yet to read it. Have you? Let me know what you think of the book, voice recognition software, or anything else tangentially related to Finale by clicking on “Comments” below.

In the meantime I’m still dreaming of the day when I can tell Finale to “Compose music in the style of Igor Stravinsky — his early period.”

Ah well, a guy can dream.

Expanding upon the improved percussion notation features introduced in Finale 2010, Finale 2011 now allows for quick percussion doubling or instrument changing on the same staff.

A new playback effect was added to the Expression Tool which allows users to change the Percussion MIDI Map, changing the way Finale handles the playback of the percussion staff.

Need to switch from drumset to an orchestral percussion instrument on the same staff?

No problem.

First, create an expression that assigns the Percussion MIDI Map to playback your desired library:

Then create a Staff Style to adjust Staff Attributes (like the number of staff lines) and your Percussion Layout (which controls playback as well as which notes appear as options when you enter notes).

Let us know how this is working for you by clicking on “Comments” below!

The Finale 1.0 box (which held three manuals and more) and the Finale 2011 Quick Reference Guide

Finale has had many different user manuals in the course of the last 22 years. As I’m looking at the new Finale 2011 Quick Reference Guides (Mac and Windows in a small back-to-back booklet), I am amazed at how far Finale has come, not only in its maturity and depth, but also in its ease of use.

Back in 1988 Finale 1.0 included three books that rivaled the Manhattan Yellow Pages in size and weight. Like the program, they were a bit dense and complex: Their bulk certainly didn’t create an impression of being easy to use. They did, however, contain a lot of helpful information. The “Tutorial” volume walked you though sample projects to get you started. The “Reference” volume let you look up any item you encountered in a menu or a dialog box and learn exactly what it did. The “Encyclopedia” volume was my favorite – it listed musical terms alphabetically (so you’d find “crescendos under “C”) and explained how to achieve them.

A new set of manuals was created for Finale 3.0, and these were written by David Pogue, who has since become a technology columnist for The New York Times, a tech correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning and CNBC, and the author of many For Dummies books. (Finale trivia: Some say characters in his novel Hard Drive resembled members of the Finale team…)

The 3.0 manuals were, in my opinion, much better written and organized than their predecessors, but they still came in three large volumes which must have represented a significant percentage of the worldwide paper industry output in those years.  Further complicating matters was that we continued to update the software faster than we could update the manuals, so we would create additional printed “addendums” for our users to lug around.

The next phase occurred with the release of Finale 97, when the User Manual became electronic and integrated within the program, so even when you were on your laptop at the coffee shop, you had access to the entire user manual. The electronic version was also searchable AND easily updated. At the same time the printed materials were reduced to one slim Installation and Tutorial Guide.

Finale 97 clearly represented several steps in the right direction (especially from the perspective of trees), and over the years the electronic component has become more and more refined and augmented by our web-based Knowledge Base, QuickStart Videos,  and a world of support offered on-line. I like the fact that when I invoke the user manual from within Finale today, Finale looks to the web (to access the latest version) but if web access is not available it will automatically reference a locally installed version without any action on my part. This seems like a great implementation, allowing users to be connected to, but not dependant on, the web. Updated Tutorial, Reference, and Encyclopedia information can all be found electronically these days – they can be searched individually or all at once – and they are always up to date.

Finale 2011 represents the next sea change in documentation in the form of the new Finale 2011 Quick Reference Guide. Different than a tutorial, it offers quick answers for how to complete common tasks, and as such is more likely to be referenced again and again, instead of just in the first few weeks of use. The information is presented in a graphic format so you can see at a glance how to do things without reading a lengthy text description, and everything is presented in an amazingly easy-to-understand manner.

If you haven’t seen the Quick Reference Guide you can get a quick peek here, or you can order Finale 2011 or a Finale 2011 upgrade today; both the upgrade and the full version include this handy guide. I think it’s a great way to learn to use software, but then I’m not holding any paper industry stock.

Let us know what you think of the new Quick Reference Guide – or anything else – by clicking on “Comments” below.

Want to add a coda system to your score? It’s quick and easy using the Create Coda System plug-in. Here’s how:

1. With the Selection Tool, specify the measure where you want the coda system to start.
2. Navigate to Plug-ins Menu > Measures > Create Coda System.
3. Indicate any desired options (you can even add a ‘To Coda’ marking in another measure) and press OK.

Finale will now create the coda system and set the document to play the coda correctly.

Let us know how this – or anything else in Finale – is working for you by clicking on “Comments” below!

For many years I have traveled to Frankfurt, Germany in the cold of winter to attend Musicmesse, the largest music convention in the world. It is an international meeting place. As I do at every show, I have made many great friends there over the years and look forward to seeing them again on each visit.

I remember meeting one such friend many years ago: Walter Ratzek, a fantastic pianist and conductor. I met Walter though our mutual friend Karl-Heinz Klemm, proprietor of Klemm Music Technology, which distributes Finale in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

I can recall Walter describing to me his dream of a Finale that included linked parts: He wanted to be able to make an edit in the score and have the same edit occur in the parts, and vice versa. I agreed it sounded like a fantastic time-saver and a great idea.

A few years later in 2006, Walter calls, explains that he and his entire family are touring America, and asks if we could have dinner together when they visit Minneapolis. Of course! We decide to meet at a restaurant at the Mall of America (North America’s largest shopping mall) because the Mall is already on their itinerary.

We were a little late the night we raced off to meet Walter and his family. We parked in a hurry and raced through the mall to get to the appointed restaurant on time, where we were greeted by Walter, his wife, and their kids.

Our two large families were seated at one banquet-sized table, and we had a great, great night. I’ve always delighted in opportunities for my daughters to interact with folks from different cultures, and I’ve come to love Germany so much that it all sort of came together for me that night.

We were intrigued to learn that Walter and his family were not fully prepared for how large America really was once they began to drive around it. They had thought that four weeks would be enough time to do a circle trip from coast to coast and in the end they had to hurry a bit to make it all happen.

For my part I had big news to share: Finale 2007 had just been released and it included Walter’s dream of linked parts. Of course we made a toast and Finale 2007 was duly christened.

When dinner was done we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. As my family walked back to our minivan, I began to search for my keys and was startled to not find them. As I continued to pat down my pockets, my daughters ran ahead and were dismayed to find it was not locked. A quick inspection confirmed that nothing was missing, however. In fact, we found the keys in the ignition. Think that’s embarrassing? It gets worse—the van was still running! I’d left it running, unlocked, during our entire meal!

I suspect no one stole it because they couldn’t believe anyone could be that stupid: It had to be some kind of car theft sting operation, right?

What does this have to do with Finale? Not much really. But for me the whole dinner was a great example of the kind of links that Finale has made possible for me – the linking of score and parts, sure, but also the linking of two cultures in laughter and camaraderie.

I’ll end with one final link. Since this dinner our friend Walter has steadily moved up in the ranks of the German military band – check out an impressive YouTube video of Walter conducting in Moscow by clicking here!

Have a Finale linking story? Share it by clicking on “Comments” below!

eighth blackbird photograph by Luke Ratray

In partnership with the Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird and the American Composers Forum, MakeMusic is proud to sponsor the first-ever Finale National Composition Contest.

The focus of the competition will be chamber music: Applicants are asked to submit current scores and recordings (by 9/15/2010) that demonstrate their ability to write successfully for eighth blackbird.

Three composers will be chosen as finalists. They will receive a cash prize and be asked to write a piece for eighth blackbird, which will be workshopped and performed in the ensemble's Chicago studio.

One of these three pieces will be chosen to receive the final prize, which includes an additional cash award and a future public performance by eighth blackbird.

Interested? For complete guidelines and application information visit the contest website. Learn more about eighth blackbird at their site and experience them in action at their YouTube channel.

Photo credit: J A French Photography, Keene, NH. Photo source: Keene and Cheshire County (NH) Historical Photos' photostream

As marching band season approaches, our Technical Support department begins to hear from band directors looking to create parts correctly sized for a flip folder.

If you create your new arrangement from the Marching Band Template, your parts will be automatically created in the correct size. To do so, go to the File menu and choose New > Document from Template > Band > Marching Band.

If you’ve already created your score with a different template, you can manually set up the parts following these steps:

1. Navigate to Document Menu > Page Format > Parts. Set the Page Size to Octavo (6.75 X 10.5); then set the Orientation to Landscape. Press OK.
2. Navigate to Document Menu > Manage Parts. Click Generate Parts. You may get a warning that states generating parts will replace the existing parts in your document. Press OK on that warning to replace any existing parts with new parts configured for flip folder size.

Want to print the parts with two pages on each sheet of paper? This Knowledge Base article will walk you through the steps.

Let us know how Marching Band preparations are going for you by clicking on “Comments” below.