Accidentals (Speedy Entry)

Accidentals (such as sharps, flats, and naturals) appear automatically if you’ve entered the music from a MIDI keyboard.

To change an accidental to its enharmonic equivalent

See Enharmonics.

To hide (or show) an accidental

1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool . Click the measure containing the accidental. The editing frame appears.
2. Position the insertion bar and crossbar on the note in question. Use the arrow keys or the mouse.
3. Press the asterisk (*) key. The accidental disappears (or, if there was no accidental, one now appears). The note’s pitch, however, doesn’t change; Finale still plays it back as though the accidental were visible. If you press the asterisk again, the accidental reappears.

To add or change an accidental

1. Click the Speedy Entry Tool . Click the measure containing the accidental.
2. Position the insertion bar and crossbar on the notehead in question. Use the arrow keys or the mouse.
3. Press the plus (+) key to raise the note’s pitch, and the minus (–) key to lower it, by half steps. If you press these keys repeatedly, you can add up to seven sharps or flats to a note. If you press the option key as you do so, all subsequent notes on the same line or space in the measure also change. See Speedy Entry Tool for more accidental shortcuts.

To correct accidentals on tied notes

After entering music in step time (using the Simple or Speedy Entry Tools), you may discover that Finale hasn’t correctly notated notes that are tied across a barline—and the notes that follow them in the second measure. Using the Check Accidentals command, you can quickly update all accidentals so that they follow the usual musical rules: a note tied from a previous measure doesn’t show the accidental, but any notes of the same pitch in the second measure do repeat the accidental, as shown below.

1. Click the Selection Tool , and select the region whose tied-accidental notes you want to correct. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts.
2. From the Utilities Menu, choose Check Notation, then Check Accidentals. Finale takes a moment to update and correct all ties and accidentals.

To move an accidental

1. Click the Special Tools Tool . The Special Tools Palette appears.
2. Click the measure you wish to edit.
3. Click the Accidental Tool . Handles appear on any accidentals in the measure. Deselect Show Handles from the Special Tools Menu if the handles are obscuring the accidentals you want to move.
4. Drag any handle. If you’ve made the handles invisible (by deselecting Show Handles), drag the accidental itself. If you want to undo any accidental repositioning you’ve done, click the accidental’s handle and press delete. To drag the handle vertically, double-click on the handle and check Allow Vertical Positioning.