Music Information Lab: 253/CS 275A)
Finale Music Input Methods


Finale is a popular commercial music typesetting program for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. Finale has an interactive graphical user interface for editing music. There are three main ways of entering musical data manually in Finale:
  1. Simple Note Entry: notes are input by clicking on the staff with a mouse.
  2. Speedy Note Entry: notes are input by selecting a rhythm on the computer keyboard and then pressing a key on an attached MIDI keyboard.
  3. Hyperscribe Note Entry: notes are input by performing the music in real-time on an attached MIDI keyboard. Durations are calculated based on performance timing.

Finale 2004 is installed on all lab computers (Windows and Macintosh). To start Finale, usually you should be able to click on the forte icon in the taskbar on the bottom of the screen: . Read the Finale 2004 Tutorial #1 for more detailed information on the various methods of data input.

Simple Entry

    Data input into Finale with the simple entry mode involves selecting a rhythm and then clicking on a staff to add a note. This method is time-consuming, and not useful for inputting large amounts of music, but useful for short examples or when you do not have access to a MIDI keyboard.

    To start simple entry in Finale 2004, click on the button that looks like a stationary eighth-note:

    Next, you should choose a rhythm from the Simple Entry Palette which is displayed as a note in a menu at the side of the music as shown below:

    The other toolbars shown above are usually hidden and can be viewed by selecting them in the Window menu at the top of the screen.

    Now, click on the musical staff to add notes.

Speedy Note Entry

    Speedy Note Entry is an entry method which involves typing on two keyboards: (1) first choose a pitch on a MIDI keyboard attached to the computer, (2) then select the rhythm for the note according to the keypad keys on the computer keyboard. This method is often the fastest way to enter music manually into finale, particularly when you are moderately familiar with the piano keyboard layout and the rhythms in the music are fairly complex.

    To start speedy note entry in Finale 2004, click on the button that looks like a moving eighth-note:

    Next, click with the mouse into a measure in which you will start entering data.

    Press the pitch of the note to enter on the attached MIDI keyboard. Then, select a musical rhythm to apply to notes, by pressing a number on the keypad (5=quarter note) longer notes are higher (6=half note), and shorter notes are lower (4=eighth note). Full keyboard commands in Speedy Note Entry are given below:

    Each time you press a rhythm on the keypad, a note will be entered and it will be displayed on the screen in the current measure. When the current measure is full, the next measure will be highlighted automatically (by default) so you can enter music into that measure.

Real-Time Entry

    To start hyperscribe note entry in Finale 2004, click on the button that looks like a piano keyboard:

    First check to see that the Click and Countoff options are correct. Select the menu item Options->Click and Countoff.... By default, the computer will count off 2 measures of beats before it starts recording in Hyperscribe:

    Hyperscribe input method 1: Human provides a click track

      Go to the menu Hyperscribe->Beatsource... and make sure that Tap... is selected. If you click on the option, then you will get a configuration window: If you press the Listen button, then you can press a MIDI key which you want to use as the tap source, or you can tap with the sustain pedal. In the above configuration window, the C key two octaves below middle C is being used as the tap source and a tap represents one eighth note.

      Not click on a meausre and start tapping and playing the melody at the same time. After you finish each measure, you should see the music being you just entered begin to be displayed.

    Hyperscribe input method 2: Human follows a click track

      Go to the menu Hyperscribe->Beat Source... and make sure that Playback and/or Click... is selected. If you click on the option, you will get a configuration window: Choose the tempo and duration value of the click track as you see fit. The above configuration will play a click for every quarter note at a tempo of 96 beats per minute.

      Next, set the record mode by going to the menu HyperScribe->Record Mode and choose Record into One Staff.

      Finally click on a measure to start recording (or click on a measure and press a MIDI key to start recording depending on the countoff settings).

Exercises

  1. Input the following music into Finale using the three input methods described above.
  2. Describe the advantages/disadvantages to each input method.

  3. Speculate on how the speed of entry is related to experience with that particular input method. In other words, if it takes 1 minute to enter a line of music for someone who first uses the input system, then how long would you expect someone who has learned that system for one week, one month, and one year?

  4. Input a page of music of your choice into Finale using any of the three input methods described above.
    -- Craig Stuart Sapp