Finale Not changing instruments

New post

STEVE VAI Posted February 02, 2020 19:35

Boy did I go mad trying to figure this one out, but I believe I did, with the help of some online discussions on the same topic.

If you have tried to programed an instrument change in Finale's Score manager but it just won't show or make the change, I have discovered that if you have programmed an instrument change over bars that you would like to change again, Finale won't do it.

For instance, if you programed a Flute for your whole staff, and then from bars 20-28 you programed a piccolo, If you are programing in "virgin" program changed bars, your piccolo should appear at bar 20-28. But if you then go in and program the flute to come back playing in bar 25, it won't change because Finale is not letting you over ride the programed instrument change you made for the piccolo that runs through and past bar 25.

It's important to look at the start measure of your instrument change in the score manager. It's the column that's 2nd to the last one on the right. If you don't see it, you need to right click on the top menu bar and activate it and bring it into view.

You need to unfold the name of the instrument to see the various instrument changes, and to the right you will see the start measure of those instrument changes, BUT you will not see the end measure of the instrument change you programed and this is important information if you are interested in making another instrument change in an area that you already made an instrument change in. As mentioned, Finale will not create a second instrument change to bars that already have a change programed in them. Would be nice if it did.

So what you need to do is go back to the previous instrument change measure and delete it by clicking the "x" in the furthest column to the right in the score manager, and then re-program your first instrument change again, but this time only up to the specific bar where you want to make the next instrument change. So you can only change instruments in a "virgin" instrument change area.

For instance, with the example above with the flute and pic, you would need to go back and delete the program change to the piccolo you made to bars 20-28, then re program that same change for bar 20-24, and then at bar 25 you should be able to enter another program change back to the flute.

I hope this makes sense. It was so hard to find how to fix this. I'm on a mac by the way so not sure of the PC keys or terminology in Finale if they are different here.

6 comments

Date Votes

PETER THOMSEN Posted February 02, 2020 20:42

Steve Vai,

From your description it sounds like you have tried to change instrument via the ScoreManager.

You can also use the Utility:

Select the desired region, and go to

Utilities menu > Change Instrument…

You have not tried changing instrument via the Utility?

By The Way:

In the ScoreManager you can customize the View, and have the Start Measure displayed.

STEVE VAI Posted February 03, 2020 00:12

Thanks you for your comment. Yes, the go to conventional way to change an instrument is by using the "Change Instruments" in the Utilities menu. It's much easier than using the Score Manager to change instruments. My post is referring to those times when you use the Change Instruments in the Utilities menu, but Finale does not change the instrument. I discovered it was because, when I used "Change Instruments" in the Utilities menu and programed an instrument change for let's say, bars 20-28, and then try to use the "Change Instruments" in the Utilities menu to make another change in the same instrument, let's say from bars 24-28, Finale does NOT make the change because it does not seem to be able to write over an existing instrument change. That's when I discovered that I needed to go to the Score Manager and sort it all out, as written above.

And yes, in order to do this in the ScoreManager, you need to customize your display of the ScoreManager so you can see the start measure of each instrument change. And that can be done by right clicking (mac) on the menu in the score change and putting a check next to "Start Measure" so that the Score Manager will display it.

PETER THOMSEN Edited February 03, 2020 08:58

Instead of using a context menu on the ScoreManager you can also customize view (to show Start Measure) via a pop up menu in the ScoreManager:

Dan Cavanagh Posted July 19, 2020 12:28

Thank you thank you. Was struggling with this for 30 minutes. This is not working as expected, obviously!

Dennis Willen Posted May 27, 2021 00:12

Thanks for the explanation, Steve. I was ripping my hair out when Utility - Change Instrument wasn't doing what I expected it to do. It feels like it should "change the instrument now and for all remaining measures", but clearly it only does that under some conditions.

Mark Filip Edited March 31, 2025 05:56

My workarounds are:
1. Create a new line on the score at concert pitch.
2. Cut and paste the desired parts from the score.
3. Transpose the key for the desired measures. Then create text expressions to label the horn switches.
OR
1. Create a new default document in concert pitch.
2. Transpose the key for the desired instruments for a measure range.
3. Enter the music.
4. Create text expressions to label the horn switches.
5. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Currently, I am doing the second process to transcribe a flute sonata for Eb clarinet. For me, it's much simpler than trying to coax the score manager to do what I want.
☺

Please sign in to leave a comment.