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Cross-staff notes

The following instructions explain how to create cross-staff notation manually with the Note Mover and Special Tools Tool. To create cross-staff notation automatically with a plug-in, see Cross Staff plug-in. See also Reverse stems.

A cross-staff note is one that “belongs” to one staff, but that, for notational efficiency (for example, to eliminate the need for ledger lines) is written in another staff, often with a different clef—its stem is stretched from the original staff to the “target” staff. You encounter cross-staff notes most often in keyboard music.

In Finale, you enter the music on the original (“source”) staff and use the Note Mover tool to move selected notes to other staves.

 

Creating cross-staff notation with the Cross-staff Plug-in

Creating cross-staff notation

Restoring cross-staff notes to their source staff

Restoring cross-staff notes to their source staff temporarily

 

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Finale 2014 for Windows

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