See also Beam angles; Beaming across barlines; Beaming: feathered beaming; Beaming over rests; Beaming: Secondary beams; and Beam thickness.
Beaming of eighth notes (and notes of smaller value) is automatic in Finale, although you can override Finale’s beaming decisions, either on a global, regional, or case-by-case basis.
Note: To automatically modify the appearance of all beams at once, use the Patterson Beams plug-in.
When you first enter music into Finale,
the time signature determines how eighth notes (and smaller notes) are
beamed together. In , Finale groups beamed notes in quarter
note groupings with the exception of eighth notes which are beamed in
groups of 4. See Document Options-Beams to change this setting. In
, Finale groups beamed notes in half note groupings.
If you change the time signature after you’ve entered music, the beaming patterns changes unless you have deselected the Rebar music checkbox in the Time Signature dialog box. In such a case, it’s easy to rebeam the music to match the new time signature: Select the region (using the Selection Tool) and choose Rebeam Music (from the Rebeam submenu of the Utilities Menu).
However, if you want to give a region a
beaming pattern that’s completely unrelated to the time signature—for
example, to beam eighth notes in groups of 3, 3, and 2 in a meter, follow these steps:
Note: If you want an asymmetrical beaming pattern (such as three, three, and two eighth notes in common time), click the Composite button and enter the desired groupings into the text boxes.
You specify the new beaming pattern for the selected music much as you would create a time signature. See below.
To create custom beaming patterns
Normally, Finale beams 16th notes (and
notes of smaller value) according to the time signature. In , they’re grouped in quarter-note units; in
, they’re grouped in half-note units. Eighth notes are beamed
in groups of 4. See Document Options-Beams to change this setting for eighth notes.
Occasionally, you may find it useful to
break this rule. You may want to create a section of music in time, but whose eighth notes are grouped (for example) in
patterns of 3, 3, and 2.
To prevent Finale from beaming automatically (Speedy Entry)
Finale normally beams notes together according
to the denominator of the time signature (quarter note groupings in , half note groupings in
, and so on) when
you’re entering notes in step time using the Speedy Entry Tool. You can,
if you wish, turn off this feature.
To beam eighth notes in quarter note groups