Playback

You’re about to discover that your folk song masterpiece, “Oh, Susannah,” not only looks good—it sounds good, too.

It doesn’t matter which tool is currently selected.

1. From the Window menu, choose Playback Controls (if they’re not already on the screen). The Playback Controls appear. On Windows, the Playback Controls are docked at the top of the screen.

On the Macintosh, the Playback Controls are a floating palette, shown below:

2. Click the Play button . If your MIDI system is hooked up properly, you’ll hear Finale play the song. To stop playback, click either Pause 0 or Stop 8.

If you don’t hear anything, consult Installation for Windows or Installation for Mac for information on setting up your MIDI system.

3. On Mac, hide the Playback Controls by clicking on the Window menu, then select Playback Controls so that the check mark disappears. This step is not required on Windows.

As you’re about to find out, you don’t have to use the Playback Controls to play back your score:

4. Windows Users: While pressing the spacebar, click any measure. Mac users: hold down Shift, press the Space bar and click any measure. Once again, Finale plays back your score, this time beginning with the measure you clicked. Click anywhere on the screen to pause. Of course, this is only the tip of the playback iceberg. Try this fun—but useful—feature:
5. While pressing (Mac: ) and the Space bar, drag the cursor back and forth across the notes in the score. This “scrubbing” playback feature lets you spot-check any part of the score—a useful feature when, for example, you’re entering lyrics and want to confirm your place in the music.

You can play any Finale document using either this “Space bar-click” method or the Playback Controls.

More playback features will be discussed in Tutorial 6: Playback.

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