expanded range of noteheads

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Ryszard Pusz Posted May 18, 2021 05:08

MAC OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra), Finale 2014.5

I would like Finale to expand the range of noteheads. In particular:

1. To the reversed, filled-in flat sign (number 105) add another such sign with shorter stem, and yet another that has an arrow (as seen in number 106).

2. A half note with a dot in the middle

3. To the right-angle triangle signs (numbers 57 and 58) add an upward pointing arrow

4. Bolder outlines on the various hollow shapes (as with the x (no. 77) would make them stand out more clearly.

5. Filling in the square of the natural (110, 107, 75) would make a more useful notehead.

6. A moveable neutral clef would also be a useful addition.

7. The ability to add an extra staff line or 2 above or below the stave would also be helpful.

I am writing pieces for untuned percussion and the ability to use different noteheads would make the notation of nuanced sounds easier to read.

5 comments

Date Votes

PETER THOMSEN Edited May 18, 2021 12:51

… to expand the range of noteheads. In particular: …

It seems to me that this is a matter of fonts and font characters, not a matter of the Finale program itself.

I suppose that only your requests 1.–5. are about notehead characters - right?

I am not sure what font(s) you are referring to in 1.–5. (?)

Does not sound like the Maestro font.

There are many third party fonts, and Finale users are constantly developing new fonts.

I suspect that all the characters you request, are already available in some fonts.

Re. 1: Do you have the Toccata font?

Re. 2: I do not think that I have seen a such notehead.

I think that the staff-line should be broken behind the notehead, to make the notehead work well.

Also, I think that the dot should be rather big, to be clearly visible.

Re. 4: I am not sure what you mean. What is a “hollow shape”?

Then there are 6. and 7. which - I think - are not about notehead characters.

Re. 6: I am not sure what you mean by the word “moveable”. (?)

In a Finale document there are 18 customizable clefs.

You can change clef anywhere in a document, and as many times as needed.

Please explain why {having 18 customizable clefs} does not fulfil your “clef needs”.

Re. 7: To the best of my knowledge this is already possible in Finale.

Take a good look at the dialog box Staff Setup.

If I misunderstand you, then I apologize.

Ryszard Pusz Posted May 18, 2021 14:42

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your reply. Yes 1-5 are about notched characters. Maestro is the font I use, I have also just discovered I have Maestro Percussion. It is in wording I guess it’s in Finale also as the numbers equate to sone of the noteheads I see in the notehead box. I don’t have Toccata, so I will have to look for it. And here cones a dumb question. Do I simply search online and then download it? And how do I then import it into Finale?

No. 2 is in the notehead box. Now having said that, I’ve come across an anomaly. I have 2 computers. The desktop until recently ran on MACOS 9 something (Lion I think), and this year it was upgraded to High Sierra. I used Finale 2014 and now use 2014.5. It has the notehead. My laptop, which I bought last year and is also on High Sierra and 2014.5 does not.

I like your drawing How can I get this into Finale and can I use in a space as well as on the line?

Re hollow shapes, I’m sorry I should simply have open notes. Of late I’ve been talking to non-musicians and ‘translating’ for them. So the open triangles, square etc that would be for half- and whole notes I think would be clearer if they were bold.

Yes 6 & 7 are not about noteheads. I have been thinking a lot lately about trying to make the untuned percussion notation more flexible. I believe it should be possible for each instrument to have a 2-octave range so they can be placed anywhere on the stave as they occupy a different sonic position in different pieces. And I wondered whether one way to achieve it would be to have the neutral clef vertically movable (just like alto and tenor clefs)? I didn’t explain it too well in my original post.

Re the notehead questions I want to be able to confine the seven sounds of the drum to one space (for the drumhead sounds) and one line for the rim and rimshot sounds. But I want them all to be easy to read. The reason for confining the sounds to 1 space and 1 line is that that would allow a piece for, for example, four drums to be easily written for within the 5-line stave.

Re number 7 I’ll check out the Staff Setup box. Thank you again.

cheers

Ryszard

J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN Posted May 18, 2021 15:17

IIRC MakeMusic has said it plans to enable SMuFL fonts. If these are implemented in Finale v27, then you should have access to a font such as Bravura, which may have at least some of the symbols you seek.

http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1D100.pdf

PETER THOMSEN Edited May 18, 2021 17:39

… I don’t have Toccata, so I will have to look for it. And here comes a dumb question. Do I simply search online and then download it? And how do I then import it into Finale? …

I suggest that you get both the Fughetta font and the Toccata font.

They are available here:

https://www.slipsong.com/fullpackage.html

… I like your drawing How can I get this into Finale and can I use in a space as well as on the line? …

Unfortunately you can not break the staff-line by just changing the notehead.

I created the example as a shape articulation (not as a font character articulation).

In the Shape Designer I use the Text (sub-)Tool to add the notehead.

(extra info: You can add multiple text blocks, and position each text block where needed)

To break the staff-line behind the notehead I added a rectangle that covered the “hollow inside”.

Then, I Filled the rectangle with White, changed the rectangle’s Line Thickness to zero, and sent the rectangle to the Back so that it was behind the notehead.

… I wondered whether one way to achieve it would be to have the neutral clef vertically movable (just like alto and tenor clefs)? …

Now I understand.

By your word “clef” you mean the clef character.

This is a matter of “Finale-speak”.

When we are talking “Finale-speak”, the word “clef” means “the whole thingy”:

- the clef character,

- the clef character’s positioning in the staff,

- the clef’s “scale locking” (= where Middle C is positioned in the staff).

Finale can do what you need.

Go to the Clef Designer, and customize some of the 18 clefs.

In each customized clef you can have a different “scale locking” of the neutral clef.

… The reason for confining the sounds to 1 space and 1 line is that that would allow a piece for, for example, four drums to be easily written for within the 5-line stave …

Finale can do what you need.

Read in the manual about Percussion Layouts.

You can create your own, custom Percussion Layout.

NB:

Percussion Layouts are document specific; they are saved inside the Finale document.

You can save a document’s Percussion Layouts as a Library that you can load into other documents (look in the File menu).

If you load it into the template, you use when creating new documents, then all new documents will have your custom Percussion Layouts.

Ryszard Pusz Posted May 18, 2021 21:44

Thank you Peter and Adrian,

It seems I have to spend some time on mastering the program basics.

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