Be wise, resize
Lesson 1 (basic): The Resize Tool and the Basics of Scaling
Resizing things in Finale can be done in two ways: first, you can simply change the font size of pretty much anything in your file; but, Finale also provides a way to rescale (by percentage) either noteheads, notes, staves, systems, or pages. This video will explore the basics of rescaling in this manner using the Resize Tool and a couple of other tools available for noteheads and notes specifically.
JW Plug-ins at Notation Central
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:22 Resizing with Font Sizes
- 2:45 Rescaling with the Resize Tool
- 5:05 Resizing Noteheads and Notes
- 9:02 Resizing Staves
- 11:19 Resizing Systems
- 13:03 Resizing Pages
- 14:54 Final Thoughts
Lesson 2 (intermediate): What Gets Scaled When
When you use the Resize Tool (or other methods) to resize noteheads, notes, staves, systems, or pages, there are items that get attached to those things that also get resized. Knowing what items get resized when you resize at any of those levels will go a long way in understanding sizing and scaling in Finale.
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:47 Items Attached to Noteheads
- 1:24 Items Attached to Notes
- 2:51 Special Circumstances for Expressions
- 7:03 Items Attached to Staves
- 9:43 Items Attached to Systems
- 11:01 Items Attached to Pages
- 13:15 Summary
Lesson 3 (intermediate): Other Things That Can Be Resized
There are a few things in Finale that can be resized in unique ways. In this video, I’ll look at how you could deal with resizing Accidentals (0:16), Mid-Measure Clefs (2:42), Grace Notes (4:11), Lyrics (5:24), and Chords and Fretboards (9:04). Chords are particularly tricky due to a flaw in how Finale rescales them from the Document Options, so I’ll explain what’s going on and then show you the unfortunately long way around the problem.
JW Plug-ins at Notation Central
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:16 Resizing Accidentals
- 2:42 Mid-Measure Clefs
- 4:11 Grace Notes
- 5:24 Lyrics
- 9:04 Chords and Fretboards
- 18:30 Summary
Lesson 4 (advanced): Fixed Sized Text
(Lesson 6 from Tackling the text tool series)
The confusion about when to use non-fixed-sized text or fixed-sized text can be easily cleared up once you understand how text scaling interacts with everything else (Page, System, Staff, Notes, Noteheads) that can be scaled in Finale. So this video provides some valuable information about this relationship as well as some practical applications for fixed and non-fixed sized texts.
Listen to the podcast episode
On the Scoring Notes podcast, David MacDonald and Philip Rothman talk with Jason Loffredo about preparing music for the world of musical theatre and his Conquering Finale video tutorial series, which can help you better master that sophisticated software, whether you’re a new or long-time user. Listen now:
