Project Description

Your choir director gives you the sheet music for a Bach chorale, and asks you to do the following:

1) Notate separate parts for each choral section (SATB)
2) Take the key down a whole step
3) Create an audio track of the piece played by piano
4) Create a similar track that accentuates the tenor part

Part 1: Open a Standard MIDI File In Finale

--FIND ASSIGNMENT FILES & CREATE A PROJECT FOLDER

•Open a browser and download the the file inalll.mid. When the file has downloaded, quit your browser.

Hold down the control key and click on the link, then select Dowload Linked File to download the file to your desktop. The .mid extension identifies the file as a Standard MIDI File (SMF).

•Make sure you are in the Finder. Go File>New Folder to create a new folder on your desktop. Rename the folder Bach Chorale Project.

--OPEN AND SAVE YOUR STANDARD MIDI FILE IN FINALE

•Find the Finale icon in the Dock, and drag your Standard MIDI File icon to the Finale icon to import it into Finale.

•In the Import MIDI File Options window, don't change anything. Hit OK. The file will open in Finale.

•Save the file.

--Name: InAll.Lastname.Firstname.mus
--Location: Bach Chorale Project folder
--Format: Coda Notation file

When you have opened a SMF, it doesn't exist as a Finale file until you save it.

Anytime you save a file, you need three pieces of information: 1) file name, 2) the location (folder) where the file will be stored, and 3) the file format.

The suffix .mus identifies a file as a Finale file.

For the file name, use your own last name and first name to name the file.

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Part 2: Set Up an Imported File In Finale

--SET UP TEXT AND CLEFS IN YOUR FINALE FILE

•With your Finale file open, go File>File Info, and enter a title (In All That I Am Doing) and composer (J. S. Bach). Hit OK. The title and composer have changed on the sheet music.

The Text Tool allows creating or editing text data on a Finale page. On this document, information from the File Info window have been "inserted" into text boxes, and will change when the data in the File Info window changes. This is handy for editing text that appears in multiple places in your document.

•Go Tools>Staff to select the Staff Tool. Double-click the top staff. In the resulting window, find the Edit button to the right of Full Name and click it. In the resulting window, type Soprano and hit OK, then OK again. The name of the top staff is changed to Soprano.

When opening a SMF, the staves are given names that corresond to the MIDI instrument they were assigned to.

•Still in Staff tool, double click the second staff to again open the Staff Attributes window. In the resulting window, find the Edit button to the right of Full Name and click it. In the resulting window, type Alto and hit OK.

•Now access the menu to the right of Staff Attributes for, and select the third staff from the top. Using the method previously described, change the staff Full Name to Tenor. Similarly, change the name of the bottom staff to Bass. Hit OK and notice that all four staves have correct staff names.

•The clefs on the top two staves are correct. However, the Tenor and Bass staves should start with bass clefs. Using the Staff tool, double click the Tenor staff. In the resulting window, click on the button labeled Select to the right of First Clef. In the resulting window, click on the Bass Clef and click OK. Click OK again to return to the sheet music. The Tenor is now in bass clef. Use a similar method to make the First Clef in the Bass part a bass clef.

Notice that the opening notes and the key signatures in the Tenor and Bass staves still represent the same pitches as before, though the clefs have changed. We will change the Tenor staff clef again later in the assignment.

•Now we want to group the four staves, and put a bracket on the left that joins them. Still in Staff tool, drag down over the selector boxes at the left of all four staves to select them. Access the Staff menu, and select Add Group and Bracket to open the Group Attributes window.

Notice that the group goes from Soprano to Bass, and that you are choosing to draw barlines through all staves.

•At the bottom left of the window, click on the second bracket from the right to select it. Hit OK, and notice that your bracket is in place at the left of the staves, and that barlines are drawn down through all four staves.

Notice that Finale uses colors to identify certain types of data in your file. For example, your new bracket and barlines are blue. These are only for identification--you will still print in black and white.

--MAKE THE OPENING MEASURE A PICKUP MEASURE

•Go Options>Pickup Measure to open the Pickup Measure Window. Click on the quarter note icon, and hit OK. Notice that the opening measure now contains only the opening pickup note.

Also notice that the measure numbers have changed. The first "official" measure is the first full measure of the piece.

•Take a moment and number the measures on your sheet music, with measure 1 being the first full measure of music.

When transcribing music into Finale, having accurate measure numbers marked on your source music is an important step.

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Part 3: Enter Notes In Finale

--USE SIMPLE ENTRY TO ENTER NOTES IN FINALE

•Go Window>Simple Entry Palette to open the Simple Entry Palette--if it's already checked, leave it alone. The palette should be visible at the top of your screen.

•Select a quarter note duration from the Simple Entry Palette, then locate to the first full measure in the Soprano staff. Click on the given location at the beginning of the bar to enter the first note.

•Continue through the Soprano part entering notes via Simple Entry. Change durations where necessary.

•If you make a mistake, hit Command-Z to undo, or you could use the Eraser Tool to remove note(s). You can change durations by selecting a different duration then clicking on the note. You can't drag notes left and right in Finale.

•The following tutorial file can be found in Applications>Finale 2005b>Tutorials on your computer:

--ABOUT PLAYBACK

•To hear your work, find the Playback Controls (if not visible, go Window>Playback Controls). Hit the play button to hear and watch a scrolling playback. Click on the small triange to the left of the window to show more controls, and to, for example, change tempo.

--PAGE VIEW/SCROLL VIEW

•You are looking at a document in what's called Page View. Go View>Scroll View (Command-Option-`) to change to Scroll View. This allows you to view music in one long strip as opposed to on individual pages.

--MEASURE NUMBERS, LOCATING

•To jump to a specific measure number in Scroll View, highlight the current measure number in the small box at the lower left of your file window, type in the target measure number, and hit Return. The target measure number will now be at the left of your file window.

--USE SPEEDY ENTRY TO ENTER DATA IN FINALE

•Go Tools>Speedy Entry. On the Alto staff, click in the second measure. The Speedy Entry selector appears around this measure.

•On your MIDI controller, find the specified alto part note, and hold it down. On your numeric keypad, hit the 4 key. Notice that you've entered an eighth note at the desired pitch.

If a note does not appear, make sure your controller keyboard is turned on and connected to the computer. Go Applications>Utilities>Audio MIDI Setup, then click on the MIDI Devices button, and make sure your interface shows up and is connected to your controller. If it is, in Finale, go MIDI>MIDI Setup, find the Input Device column, and make sure your controller is selected in the top menu. If this still doesn't work, go to the Speedy menu and make sure Use MIDI Device for Input is checked. If this STILL doesn't work, go to a different machine, or contact Jon Newton.

•Refer to the Speedy Entry Keys chart. Notice that different durations of notes are selected with the numeric keypad, similar to Simple Entry.

•Continue through measures, entering both eighth (4 key) and quarter notes (5 key). As the measure ends, notice that the selector automatically moves to the next measure when the note values in the current measure equal the required number of beats. Continue through the piece and finish inputting the Alto part.

When you select a tool, a menu specific to that tool appears at the right end of the menu bar. When using the Speedy tool, if you don't want to jump to the next measure automatically, deselect Jump to Next Measure in the Speedy menu.

Finale will occasionally enter a "wrong" note, actually a note that is enharmonically equivalent to the note you entered. In measure 8, when you enter B natural, you may get Cb. You could shift-drag the note down to the next space and hit the plus sign twice, but the quicker way is to hit the 9 key on the number pad to "flip" to the enharmonic equivalent. If you do this immediately following entry in Speedy entry, the previous note will flip to the proper note. In fact, several alterations are possible immediately after entry, including accidental alteration, courtesy accidentals, and ties.

To add an accidental alteration to a note, hit the + or - keys to go up or down 1/2 step. To add a courtesy accidental to the note, position the curson on the note and hit the * key on the number pad. If you want it in parentheses, hit the P key. To add (or remove) a tie, hit the = key.

--USING THE PDF HELP FILE

•Go Help>Index to open the index to the PDF help file.

--HYPERSCRIBE TO ENTER NOTES

•In the index for the PDF help file, locate Hyperscribe Tool, and click on the location. You will jump to the first page of the Syperscribe PDF file. Read enough to enable entry of the tenor part, then try to do it. If you have difficulty, return to the PDF file or ask for assistance.

--FINISH NOTE ENTRY

•Using the method that your prefer, enter the notes required in the Bass staff.

--CHECK AND EDIT THE ENTERED NOTES

--USING SMART SHAPES (SLURS, HAIRPINS) IN FINALE:

•Now enter the slurs. Go View>Smart Shape Palette. In the window that opens, click on the Slur shape. In the Alto staff, find the G in measure 3. Double-click on it. A slur appears connected dynamically to the next note. Add slurs as they appear in the sheet music.

To stretch a slur over more than one note, double-click on the first note, holding down the mouse on the second cick. Drag until the final notes is selected then let go.

•In the Smart Shape Palette, select the "expanding hairpin." In measure 7, double click under the Soprano staff, and drag the resulting shape to the right to enter a crescendo hairpin.

--USING LYRIC TOOL IN FINALE:

•Go Tools>Lyrics to open the Lyrics Tool. Go Lyrics>Edit Lyrics. In the resulting window, enter the piece's lyrics. Be sure to hypenate properly. When finished, hit OK.

•Go Lyrics>Click Assignment. Click on the first note in the Soprano staff. The first lyric will be entered.

•Option-click the next note. The rest of the lyrics will be entered. Note that the notes line up improperly after the syllable on the word I.

•Go Lyrics>Shift Lyrics. In the resulting window, at Shift Lyrics to the: select Right, and under options, select Shift Syllables by One Note, to the Next Open Note, and hit OK. Click on the first note that you want to move. All the syllables will shift to the right. Continue through the piece until all syllables are lined up properly.

--RE-SPACING, MEASURES:

Finale will often take care of respacing for you when you edit your piece. Sometimes, however, you must respace manually. Here's how...

•Go Tools>Mass Edit to select the Mass Edit Tool

•Go Edit>Select All to select your whole piece

You could also select only a section of your piece if you chose.

•Hit the 4 key on your numberpad. Finale respaces your measures.

•Go Edit>Update Layout to, well, update the layout.

--RE-SPACING, STAVES:

You may find that added lyrics collide with the staves below them. Here's how to add space between staves...

•Go Tools>Staff to select the staff tool.

•In the Staff menu, select Respace Staves.

•In the resulting window, set Distance Between Staves: to a value of -1.2.

You can always change this if you want more or less space between staves.

--USING MASS EDIT IN FINALE:

•Find the Measure Tool in the Main Tools palette. Click on it once, and notice that a measure has been added to the end of your piece.

•Option-click the measure tool and in the resulting window, enter 9 and hit OK to add 9 measures to the end of your piece.

•Select 2-3 measures of music by dragging over them. Locate to the end of your piece and drag the measures to a blank measure. Enter 1 in the resulting box and hit OK.

If the measures you want to copy are too far away from the target measures, locate to the target measure and option-shift-click in the target measure to copy the data.

•Select some music in the added measures. In the Mass Edit menu, select Transpose.

•In the resulting window, make some transpositions.

A diatonic transposition moves notes to notes within the scale of the current key. Chromatic transpositions move all notes an exact interval independent of key.

•When you have experimented with Mass Edit copying and transposing, select the measures you added and hit the delete key to remove them.

--USING MASS EDIT TOOL IN FINALE TO COPY LYRICS AND MEASURE SMART SHAPES TO OTHER STAVES:

•Using the Mass Edit tool, click to the left of the Soprano staff to select all measures in the Soprano part.

•Go Mass Edit>Copy Entry Items. In the resulting box, click the box next to Lyrics, then hit OK.

•Drag the first measure in the Soprano staff to the first measure of the Alto Staff. The lyrics are copied into the Alto part. Repeat the same steps to copy lyrics into the Tenor and Bass staves.

•Go Mass Edit>Copy Entry Items. In the resulting window, click None, then OK.

•Go Mass Edit>Copy Measure Items. In the resulting window, click Smart Shapes (Assigned to Measures), then OK.

•Select the measure 7 in the Soprano staff, drag it straight down to the Alto staff, and release. Notice that the hairpin is copied into the Alto part, leaving other aspects of the measure the same. Do the same to copy the hairpin to the Tenor and Bass parts.

•Go Mass Edit>Copy Everything to reset the Mass Edit copy function.

--USING ARTICULATION TOOL IN FINALE:

•Go Tools>Articulations. In the last measure, click on the first note in the Soprano part. In the resulting window, click on box 7 which contains the legato mark. Hit Select. The articulation is placed on the note. Do the same for all notes in all parts in the last measure.

--USING EXPRESSION TOOL IN FINALE:

•Go Tools>Expression. Double-click the first note of the Soprano part. In the resulting window, click on the mp mezzo piano mark. Hit Select to close the window. Drag the mp to the proper location. Do the same in each of the other parts.

--TRANSPOSING USING KEY SIGNATURE TOOL IN FINALE:

•Go Tools>Key Signature. Double click in the first measure of the Soprano staff to open the Key Signature Tool window. Use the arrows next to the key signature to navigate to the key of Db major. Make sure you have selected measure 1 to end of piece as a Measure Region, and for Transposition options, select Transpose Notes Up.

Notice that this transposes your entire piece to the new key, including all notes. Notice that items attached to notes move with the notes.

--TURN IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT:

•This completes this assignment. Please submit in the manner requested by your instructor.

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