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I’ve written a jazz big band piece which includes a short passage in the middle in E major. This puts the trumpets and tenors in F sharp. Jazz players generally don’t like six sharps but are reasonably happy in six flats. I would therefore like to change the key signature for the trumpets and tenors enharmonically to G flat without affecting the key signatures for the other instruments.

 

I have of course searched the manual thoroughly but all entries for Enharmonic seem to refer to enharmonic changes to individual notes or chords, not key signatures.

I use Finale v26 with MacOS Mojave.

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In the Score Manager, for the trumpets, chose Transposition -> Other -> Key Signature and enter Interval = 2, Key Alter = -10.

 

 

Tenor sax would be 9, -10

Uncheck Simplify Key.

First look at the figures used by a "regular" key signature transposition (not "Other"), then the method is as follows (I quote motet's table) :

More generally, to change a particular key signature for a transposing instrument enharmonically from 5, 6, or 7 sharps to flats instead: use Key Signature transposition, add 1 to Interval, subtract 12 from Key Alter, and uncheck Simplify Key. To change from 5, 6, or 7 flats to sharps instead: use Key Signature transposition, subtract 1 from Interval, add 12 to Key Alter, and uncheck Simplify Key. This may unwantedly alter other keys in the piece, however, in which case the aboveshould be applied via a staff style only to the section of the music that’s in the key to be changed.

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Hello Michel

 

Hello Michel

Thank you for your helpful reply.

I followed the procedure you describe and it worked. But it changes the key signature to G flat not just for the passage in F sharp but for the entire piece (the F sharp key signature applies only to a short passage in the middle). Selecting the bars where the change is to be applied does not change this.

 

Paul D-H

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Paul,

 

As Michel said in his post, you can create a staff style for this specific transposition and apply to just the selected measures.

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Got it now. Problem solved. Thank you both.

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I had this same problem with a wind ensemble piece in a sharp key  - here are the solutions:

uncheck 'simplify key' for all

Bb clarinet: Interval = 2, Key Alter = -10
Bass Clarinet: Interval = 9, Key Alter = -10 (set to treble clef)
Alto Sax: Interval =  6 , Key Alter = -9
Tenor Sax: Interval =  9 , Key Alter = -10  (set to treble clef)
Bari Sax: Interval =  13 , Key Alter = -9  (set to treble clef)

As mentioned above - create a staff style for this specific transposition and apply to just the selected measures.

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