In these pages, you’ll learn how to start
putting Finale to work right away. From installing the software, to entering
music, to printing the score, and everything in between, we’ll cover all
the basics you need to know to get up and running fast. The Windows and
Macintosh versions of Finale are similar enough that we have incorporated
instructions for both into this one book. You will notice, however, that
there are two separate versions of the Installation instructions—one for
Windows users and one for Macintosh users. These chapters provide platform-specific
installation and setup instructions. Beyond these initial chapters, the
book applies to both platforms; any differences will be indicated by separate
instructions for each platform, given in parentheses. (The majority of
these differences will involve keystrokes—e.g., 
for Windows, 
or 
for Macintosh).
Throughout this manual, you’ll find tip boxes; one is shown at right. These tip boxes contain helpful hints and tips that relate to the text where they’re found.
Thank you for your purchase of Finale 2010. If you’d like to see, print, and play something right now, sample files are available in the Finale 2010/Sample Files folder.
Learning Finale won’t be difficult. Though the program offers hundreds of features and options, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with ignoring the ones you’ll never use. Don’t have a MIDI instrument? Then skip those sections of the book. Don’t plan to use guitar fretboards? Then don’t bother learning that feature. You may need some of the other options another day—or never, depending on the kind of music you want to create; that’s perfectly OK. To help you get a jump start, we’ve divided Tutorial 1 into separate entry methods. If you don’t have a MIDI keyboard, you can skip Tutorial 1b and 1c. After reading chapter 1a, if you feel comfortable using Simple Entry as your primary entry method, skip tutorial 1b.
Be sure to look at the Read Me file, which the Finale Installer copies to your hard disk and installs in the Finale 2010 folder. This document contains important information about Finale that wasn’t available when this book went to press.
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