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Finale 2014 Tutorials

Finale is an incredibly flexible program for music transcription, notation, playback, and publishing. Incorporating elements of a word processor, a graphics designer, a sequencer, and a page-layout program, Finale has all the power you need to create beautiful-looking sheet music and a world-class audio performance. Easier than ever to learn and use, this program has the potential to help you produce more music—both printed and played—faster and better than ever before.

In the following chapters, you’ll learn how to start putting Finale to work right away. From starting the score, to entering music, to printing, and everything in between, we’ll cover all the basics you need to know to get up and running fast. These tutorials elaborate on the Finale 2014 Quick Reference Guide, which accompanied your Finale purchase. As you get acquainted with Finale, use both of these resources to reference the basics. Then, after you develop a general understanding of Finale's framework, expand your knowledge as needed by referencing the comprehensive Finale User Manual.

These tutorials guide you through the production of a single score from start-to-finish in the order we recommend for most projects. We have provided accompanying Finale "Tutorial" score documents that have been prepared for each chapter in case you would like to review at a specific point. To access one of these documents, choose File > Open and double-click the "Tutorials" shortcut. If you have navigated away from the default "Finale Files" folder, a different folder may appear when you choose File > Open. If this is the case, access the Tutorial documents by navigating to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Finale 2014\Music Files\Tutorials folder.

By the time you have completed these tutorials you will be prepared to tackle most simple projects and begin exploring Finale's vast collection of powerful features that make creating music fast, easy, and fun.

Thank you for choosing Finale, and best wishes with your music!

-Your friends at MakeMusic

 

Tutorial 1: Beginning a new project

Creating a score with the Setup Wizard

Finale screen view

Navigating your music

Tutorial 2: Entering notes

Option 1 - Simple Entry without a MIDI keyboard

Option 2 - Playing in music with HyperScribe

Making changes - editing with Simple Entry

Entering multiple voices with Layers

Tutorial 3: Auditioning your score

Tutorial 4: Editing your music

Working with instrument staves

The Selection tool

Key signatures, time signatures, and clefs

Tutorial 5: Lyrics, chords, and repeats

Adding lyrics

Adding chord symbols

Adding repeats and inserting music

Tutorial 6: Adding markings

Adding tempo markings and dynamics

Adding articulations

Adding slurs, hairpins, and other shapes

Shortcuts: Metatools and the Filter

Tutorial 7: Formatting your music

Music spacing and measure layout

Working with staves and systems

Parts

Printing

Tutorial 8: Playback

Human Playback

Playback devices and Sound Maps

Mixing

Tutorial 9: Percussion

Percussion basics

Percussion entry with MIDI

Using Percussion MIDI Maps

Tutorial 10: Guitar

Tablature

Guitar markings

Tutorial 11: Making the most of Finale

Order of entry

Document Styles

Macros

Links to the rest of the world

The next Finale

Garritan & Human Playback

VST playback vs. MIDI Playback

Garritan instrument setup

Manually assigning instrument sounds

Player variations

Keyswitches

Controllers

The Mixer and Studio View

Ambience reverb

Human Playback style

Human Playback preferences

Garritan Jazz and Big Band

Performance tips

Switching from Sibelius

 

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Finale 2014 for Windows

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