Each song will have a number. Playoffs, transitions, scene changes etc. will have the previous number followed by a letter.  

Here is a link to the score to The Music Man. You'll see how the numbers are laid out on page 4. 

https://www.docdroid.net/g26g/the-music-man-score.pdf.html#page=4

Thanks for your post!  Good stuff, but in the book (not the score), for the music that might happen between scenes, that's what I'm seeking.  It must be marked or called for in the book.  I'm not sure which scene has ownership of the music between scenes.  Maybe it doesn't matter.

Same answer. Transitions belong to the scene before — if you note them at all which is not normal. 

Google the books of musicals and libretti of operas. There are tons of them online. You will see that transitions are rarely noted—same with overtures, exit music etc. Sometimes dance numbers are noted: This direction rom "Salome": She dances the Dance of the Seven Veils comes to mind since the dance is integral to the plot of the opera—the same direction comes from Oscar Wilde's original play. That is the entire direction, however. The score and production notes are far more detailed—as they should be.

No one should tell you what to write, of course, as that's your artistic choice. Formatting is different. Paying attention to conventional forms makes you appear professional. Fortunately, it's easy to find similar examples on the internet. Read some and follow their example. If writing your show book like a play, formatting software exists with multiple template options. I use Final Draft which, though slanted towards screen and tele plays, also has stage play templates. There's also freeware, cheapware and books on how to do this.

Thanks Mike for your thoughts!

The book has been done in Word following whatever play formatting I found at the time.  I do call out all the musical elements - else I'd forget them myself :-)  Is there a link to you?  Make Music's new blog system here doesn't seem to carry any of our past profiles forward...

-rich

Hi Rich,

Well, keep a work in progress but, when you submit, make a copy that follows the format rules of whatever genre you're writing in.  You don't want to distract a reader by pointing out that you don't understand the form—ever.

Many of us were doing this by hand long before formatting or notation software existed. It's a convenience and I am thankful for it. I used to think that's all it was but I became handicapped a number of years ago and nowadays, this is how I get things done.

I'm not the only Mike Halloran in the music industry but I'm not the DJ in San Diego. I can be messaged through the other Finale board, finaleforum.com. 

I will seek you out..   But TOTALLY confused on the forums and all.  I've just poked around a bit and it's a mess it seems.  The MakeMusic website led me here.  But it is not like it used to be for sure.  Why did they mess with a good thing?  OMG.

-rich

An error many entities make is to assume their user base is as up to their happenings as they are.  We're not and only seek them out when there's trouble :-)  Hence following their website guidance.  I now see this was not the best of moves to post here.

Rich Rinehart,

You wrote:

“Thanks Mike … Is there a link to you? Make Music's new blog system here doesn't seem to carry any of our past profiles forward …”

You can still see a forum user’s profile - by clicking on the user name.

Mike Halloran has a quite extensive user profile.

Really?  Log out as superuser:-)  I see nothing of value for him and when I try to edit my profile (here) it says:

"The name, profile photo, phone, and email are set automatically. You can't change them here."   Here's what I see attached.  I am logged in, that was my first thought.

You can fill in the box at the bottom of your profile screen. The info appears just below your profile name when someone clicks on you name in a message header.

I wish more Forum contributors would list their version of Finale and computer OS there.

Oh yes. Anything that eliminates guesswork is a good thing.

Well, forgive me but IMHO it's a major step backwards.  First, it's not obvious.  Second, no editing capability including links and such.  But Microsoft thinks they know best too hence Win10 (sorry, can't resist:-)) .  So I swallow and move forward.

Rich,

If you are talking about the idiosyncrasies of this forum software, okay; I admit it is not what I would have chosen. Still, the question is: will you work with it to help those of us who are willing to try to help you when you encounter difficulties?

Yes, just the idiosyncrasies of this forum software :-)  Love the forums!  I'm usually on the "please help me" end:-).

For the record, I tried (again) to seek here and via google a way to contact MIKE HALLORAN .  No such luck.  Darn these computers:-)

If you join the forum I mentioned earlier and send me a message, I should get it.

Am a member and sent a contact days ago:-)  Sorry to take up forum bandwidth:  -

Not a good idea to put personal info (e-mail, Finale serial number, phone number, etc.) on this web site. Moderators discourage it, for good reasons of privacy protection.

I assume that is same logic as to why I can't upload an avatar or update any bio info here:-)  I did consider your thought though.  But really my contact info is all over the place if anyone cared to look.  And attempts to contact Mr Halloran have failed thus far.

-rich

Hi Rich,

Thanks for posting.

I am glad to see that you are working with some colleagues here to get in contact with them This community venue is not quite setup for private contact yet, so using Mike's suggestion (as you have already) is the way to go to contact him.

Just a head's up that I removed some personal information from your post. This is our policy for your security!

Best,

Lawson Dutton || Notation/Garritan Product Specialist for MakeMusic Customer Success.