The Text Tool
The Text Tool is used to enter text onto
a single page or multiple pages. Titles, subtitles, composer credits,
page numbers, copyright notices, and dates are good examples.
For best results, don’t use the Text Tool
for musical text like Adagio and rehearsal marks. Use the Expression
Tool for these purposes (see Tutorial 3).
If you create a document using the Document
Setup Wizard, you will be prompted for a title. For this tutorial document,
we have provided you with a dummy title, “Title.” The word “Title” has
brackets around it, to tell you it’s special, a text insert. We’ll talk
more about text inserts later in this tutorial.
Now, you’ll add a subtitle to “Auld Lang
Syne.”
- Press
the Home key on your computer keyboard. In Page View, Home Position
shifts the view to the upper-left corner of the page you’re working on.
(In Scroll View, it returns you to measure 1.)
- Click
the Text Tool . The Text menu appears, and the title, “Auld Lang
Syne,” sprouts a small square handle.
- Double-click
the title’s handle. An editing frame appears around the text, and
a blinking cursor appears within the frame. “Auld Lang Syne” is enclosed
in a gray box which indicates this is a “Text Insert.” In other words,
this text is defined elsewhere so it can be replicated easily. This would
be the case if this score were created with the Setup Wizard.
- From
the File menu, choose File Info. If you wanted to change the Title Text
(or the Composer or Copyright), you would do it here.
- Enter
“Times Gone By” in the Subtitle text box.
- Click
OK. The File Info dialog box disappears and the blinking cursor
is still to the left of our title.
- Press
the right arrow key. The cursor moves to the right of the title
text insert.
- Press
Return. The cursor moves to the next line. Now set the font size.
- From
the Text menu, choose Size, and then choose the desired font size.
For a subtitle, a 10- or 12-point size should work well. You can also
set the typeface by selecting the text and choosing a typeface from the
Font dialog box or submenu of the Text menu.
- From
the Text menu, choose Inserts, then Subtitle. “Times Gone By” appears
beneath the title. If you want to change the typeface, highlight the new
text and choose a new typeface from the Font submenu of the Text menu.
(The title is in Arial 18-point bold). If you want to change the size
or style (e.g., bold) of the text, you can make your selection from the
appropriate submenu of the Text menu. Now, change the justification so
the subtitle is centered beneath the title.
- From
the Text menu, choose Justification and then Center. The commands
in this submenu allow you to specify how you want your text aligned in
the text box.
- Select
Center Horizontally. Finale has centered your subtitle on the page.
You can also manually adjust the position of any text block by dragging
its handle.
(If the text block shows an editing frame,
click anywhere on the page to see its handle.) You might want to adjust
the vertical position of your subtitle. To delete a text block, click
its handle and press Delete.
In addition to entering titles and special
instructions to players, the Text Tool can also be used to place page
numbers into your score, as well as the document name, current date, and
current time (important features if you plan to update and reprint your
score at some future time). Finale provides several useful keyboard shortcuts
for many of these features; let’s explore some of them here.
Note that page numbers are already assigned
(starting on page 2) when you start a new score using the Setup Wizard
or a template.
- Double-click
in the bottom right corner of the page. An editing frame appears.
-click (Mac:
- Type
“Page”, type a space, then press -p (Mac: )--P. This keyboard shortcut
instructs Finale to place a page number insert at the current cursor position.
(You could also select Page Number from the Inserts submenu of the Text
menu.) The number 1 appears, surrounded by a box. The box indicates that
this number is not ordinary text, but a dynamic insert, meaning that if
you created this insert on the second page of your score, it would display
the number 2 instead of the number 1. See Text Tool in the User Manual
for a further discussion of inserts.
- Press
--] (Mac: -]) (right bracket).
This keyboard shortcut instructs Finale to align the text block with the
right margin of the page. (You could also select Right from the Placement
submenu of the Text menu.) You have now successfully entered a page number
for your score. We can quickly instruct Finale to display your page number
on every subsequent page, without having to manually enter a different
page number every time.
- From
the Text menu, choose Frame Attributes. In the Frame Attributes
box, you can determine many aspects of how to display your text block.
You could display the page number on the outer corner of left and right
pages. We’ll leave the position where it is, but attach the page number
to every page in the score.
- In
the Attach to area, click on the word Single Page to drop down a list
of choices. Select All Pages, then click OK. Scroll through the
pages to see that the correct page number appears on each page.
For a further discussion of keyboard shortcuts
and the Text Tool in general, see the User Manual topics relating to the
Text Tool.
If you’re satisfied with your work, save it
by choosing Save from the File menu.
- From
the File menu, choose Print, and click OK in the dialog box that appears.
In a moment, your printer should begin to print your score. Read the last
section of this tutorial for some hints on printing.
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