1) Please check the following:

a. When you play back the original piano lead sheet, do both the melody and the chords play back in the correct octave level?

b. When you play back the Big Band chart, do both the melody and the chords play back an octave lower than the piano lead sheet?

2) The tempo at the beginning of the document is an expression.

You can edit the tempo expression with the Expression Tool, and change both the expression’s layout and its playback.

Hey Peter,

Thanks so much for responding here! Regarding my issue of the piano part playing back an octave lower than I've notated in the score - this problem occurs in both the melody and the chords. They both play an octave lower.

… Regarding my issue of the piano part playing back an octave lower than I've notated in the score - this problem occurs in both the melody and the chords. They both play an octave lower …

And what about the Finale document with the original piano lead sheet?

When you play back the original lead sheet Finale document, do both the melody and the chords play back in the correct octave level?

Or do they play back as in the Big Band chart (= an octave lower)?

It's weird, because when I wrote the tune, and put it into finale, the original lead sheet played both melody and chords in the correct octave. When I copied this lead sheet, so I could paste it into my big band score, it suddenly played the part an octave lower - this effected both the piano lead sheet and the way it plays back in the big band score. I don't know what I would have done to make this happen - but I can't seem to correct it.

Thanks again. Peter.

Have you checked clefs, staff transpositions, and the settings of your Aria Player to make sure none of them (especially non-Aria VST Player) introduce transpositions?

(Also, there are a few rare instruments that automatically play an octave lower.)

Thank you! All fixed!