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Expression Designer-Main dialog box

How to get there

  1. Click the Expression tool , and double-click a note or measure.
  2. Click Create, or click an expression and then click Edit.

What it does

There are two kinds of Expressions: Text Expressions, composed of words or symbols you can type (Allegro, ritard, dynamic markings, and so on), and Shape Expressions, composed of shapes you’ve created in the Shape Designer. Either can be defined for playback.

In this dialog box, you can create a new Expression or edit an existing one. This dialog box is separated into three tabs, each responsible for different attributes of the expression. Use options under the Main tab to edit the spelling, font, or description, options under the Playback tab to edit how the expression affects playback, such as volume or tempo, and options under the Positioning tab to specify precise positioning of the expression relative to its corresponding note or measure.

Important note: Slurs, phrase markings, and hairpin crescendos should be entered with the Smart Shape tool.

If auto-sequenced rehearsal marks are already in the score and this option is unchecked, Finale will leave the existing rehearsal mark expressions intact, but remove each auto-sequenced number or letter, leaving empty placeholders. If you wish to remove auto-sequenced rehearsal mark expressions you can delete them individually in the score (see To erase expressions from a region), or delete the definition directly from the Expression Designer dialog box (by selecting the expression's box, clicking Delete, and choosing "Delete element from both selection palette and score").

 

Tip: Set an opaque enclosure to have the Text Expression cut away other items underneath it in the score.

 

To apply playback settings to the expression, click the Playback tab. See Expression Designer-Playback. To set the default positioning, click the Positioning tab. See Expression Designer-Positioning.

 

See also:

Expressions

Expression Selection

General MIDI Patch Table

Enclosure Designer

Playback Data Dump

Expression Tool

 

 

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