You don’t have to be a seasoned big band arranger to write for jazz combo. Just as the combo format can be less intimidating to student performers — providing great opportunities for interaction and improvisation — it’s also more welcoming to less experienced arrangers.
Finale includes dozens of plug-ins. I describe Finale’s plug-ins as “little applications that make complicated tasks easy.” One of the coolest plug-ins (and perhaps my favorite to demonstrate) is called “Band-in-a-Box Auto-Harmonizing.” This plug-in automatically harmonizes any melody, allowing you to choose from a wide variety of harmonization styles, ranging from two to six parts.