Document Options-Notes and Rests

How to get there

From the Document Menu, choose Document Options and select Notes and Rests.

What it does

This dialog box contains options for choosing specific characters for note and rest durations. Also specify rest positioning and the amount of space before and after each barline in your document.

Use Note Shapes. This checkbox is the switch for the settings you make in this section. When it’s selected, the score displays your selected notehead shapes; deselect this checkbox to restore normal noteheads (until you re-select it). The Special Tools Tool lets you change normal noteheads to X noteheads, diamond noteheads, and so on, on a case-by-case basis. There may be times, however, when you need every occurrence of a certain pitch to have a certain shape. "Shape-note" gospel music uses such a system, for example, as do many drum parts. This section not only lets you specify a different note shape for every note of the scale, but even a different note shape for every rhythmic value for every note of the scale. You can also use this feature for creating rhythm part slashes by using the slash mark instead of a notehead.
Replace: Double Whole • Half • Quarter. Using this drop-down list, select the traditional notehead shape you want to change.
Noteheads on Scale Degree ___ • [Arrow controls]. Either type, or click the arrow controls to select, the scale degree number for which you want to change the selected notehead shapes. For example, to change every occurrence of G to an X-notehead in the key of C, enter 5 in this text box, since G is the fifth note of the scale.
With This Symbol: ___ • Select. The character displayed in this text box is the alphabetic equivalent of the particular notehead shape you’re specifying; it appears in the system font, regardless of what it looks like in the music font. For example, even if you’ve selected an X notehead in the Maestro music font, you’ll see an upside-down question mark in this text box. Instead of having to look up the alphabetic equivalent for the music symbol you want, simply click Select. Finale displays a palette containing every symbol in the music font; double-click the shape you want to use as the replacement notehead. When you return to the dialog box, Finale enters the symbol’s alphabetic system font equivalent in the text box automatically.
Rest Positioning: Eighth • 16th • 32nd • 64th • 128th. You can specify the exact vertical position of different rests. Enter a value in the text boxes and Finale will shift each rest type according to your setting. The default rest position values in EVPUs for the Maestro, Petrucci and Engraver fonts are:

Rests	Values
8th, 16th, 32nd	0
64th	-24
128th	-48

The default rest position values in EVPUs for the Sonata font are:

Rests	Values
8th	12
16th, 32nd	-12
64th	-36
128th	-60

Flag Positioning: First Upstem Flag • First Downstem Flag • Second Upstem Flag • Second • Spacing Before Music • Spacing After Music. These numbers determine the amount of space before and after the music in a measure. The first number is the distance between the end of the measure header (the clef, key and time signatures) and the first note or rest; the second number sets the distance between the last note or rest and the final barline.
ScaleManual Positioning of Notes. This option pertains to adjustments you make by dragging notes sideways (using the Speedy Entry Tool or the Special Tools Tool). This setting has the most relevance when you consider notes in different voices (or layers) that are an interval of a second apart—an F in the stems-down voice and a G in the stems-up voice, for example—which you must drag apart so that their noteheads don’t overlap. But even if you make such notes look perfect in Scroll View, they may look askew in Page View, because measures are slightly wider in Page View (Finale stretches them so that they’re fully justified with the page margins). As the measure gets stretched, so does the relative distance between notes. To eliminate this problem, deselect this checkbox. From now on, Finale will remember the specific amount you dragged a note—a quarter-inch, for example—instead of storing the note-heads’ positions relative to the measure width. Therefore, even when the measures change width, notes that you’ve carefully dragged into position in Scroll View will be exactly the same distance apart in Page View. Note: When you open documents created with versions earlier than 3.0, you’ll find that this checkbox is selected. Moreover, if you then deselect this checkbox, notes that you had positioned manually in the older file may shift positions, requiring you to re-adjust them.
Display Cross-Staff Notes in Original Staff. If this checkbox is selected, Finale draws all cross-staff notes on their original or "source" staves, to make editing and proofreading easier for you. To restore cross-staff notes to their cross-staff positions, deselect this checkbox. (Even when the option is selected, you can still create cross-staff notes with the Note Mover— you just won’t see the results until you deselect this checkbox.)
Notehead Characters, Select. The items in this drop-down list refer to the shapes used as the basis of Quarter notes and smaller values. Use the drop-down list to choose the type of notehead you want to change, then click Select to choose an alternate shape. The available characters will depend on the default font for noteheads and rests specified in Font options.
Rest Characters, Select. The items in this drop-down list govern the character to be used for rests of the indicated values: Double Whole and so on. Use this drop-down list to choose the type of rest you want to change, then click Select to choose an alternate shape. Choose Default Measure Rest to select the rest character to be used in measures without entries. If you choose a non-rest character, Finale will reset to the whole measure rest. The available characters will depend on the default font for noteheads and rests specified in Font options.
Colored Noteheads • Show Border Around Color Noteheads • Reset Colors • C • D#/Eb • ...B. These colors apply to noteheads in any staff designated to use color noteheads (in the Staff Attributes dialog box ). Choose Show Border Around Color Noteheads to display a black border surrounding the colored noteheads as shown below:

Finale's default colors are based on the Chroma-Notes™ Colored Music System for use with Boomwhackers® Tuned Percussion Tubes. (See Boomwhackers® Tuned Percussion Tubes / Chroma-Notes™ Instruments for details). To customize a pitch's color, click its corresponding button to open the Color dialog box where you can select a new color. Click Reset Colors to revert to Finale's default notehead color settings.