Staff Attributes

How to get there

Click the Staff Tool $image\Staff_Tool.gif$ . Choose Edit Staff Attributes from the Staff Menu. Or, double-click a staff handle, or a staff name handle.

What it does

In the Staff Attributes dialog box, you can specify dozens of staff-specific traits for the staff whose handle you clicked, including its name, transposition, and clef. You can also tell Finale whether or not certain musical elements should appear in this staff—measure numbers, default whole rests, time signatures, and repeat ending brackets, to name a few.

You can create and edit full and abbreviated staff names mixing fonts and styles. You can also allow or prevent optimization of the current staff.

Staff Attributes for: Arrow controls. These arrows appear to the right of the staff name drop-down list, making it easy for you to move consecutively through the staves to select staff attributes. Click the arrows to change staves instead of choosing a new staff name from the popup list.
Full Name • Edit; Abbr. Name • Edit. The full or abbreviated names you enter for the staff appear in a regular text font. Click the Edit button to display the Edit Text window, where you can enter or edit the full or abbreviated staff name and set fonts and text styles. See Edit Text window.
Full Name • Position. It’s important to understand that you establish the position for staff names globally using the Set Default Name Position command in the Staff Menu. Use the Position button here only to override the global position for this particular staff. To do so, click the Position checkbox, then click Position, to display the Position Full Staff Name dialog box (see Position dialog box.)
Abbr. Name • Position. Here, too, you should realize that you set the global position for staff-name abbreviations using the Set Default Name Position command. Use the Position checkbox and button here only to override the global position for this particular staff.
First Clef • Select. This display identifies the clef that will appear at the beginning of the staff. To change this clef, click Select. The Clef Selection dialog box appears, displaying Finale’s eighteen default clefs. Double-click the one you want; you return to the Staff Attributes dialog box, where Finale displays the clef you clicked.
Alternate Notation • Select. Use this checkbox and select button to set alternate notation for the entire staff. See Alternate Notation dialog box.
Transposition • Select. If the instrument whose staff you’re establishing is a transposing instrument (such as a trumpet or clarinet), select Transposition, then click the Select button. The Staff Transpositions dialog box appears, in which you can specify the interval by which you want the music on the staff to be automatically transposed. See Staff Transpositions dialog box. To make the staff non-transposing again, click the checkbox again to deselect it.

Once you’ve established the transposing instruments’ staves, you can tell Finale to display the full score either in its transposed form or in its untransposed (concert pitch) form. Choose Display in Concert Pitch from the Document Menu to show the score untransposed.

The staves in the full score always print out exactly as they appear on the screen (whether transposed or in concert pitch); when you extract parts, however, the resultant parts are always printed in their transposed form. (The exception is the Special Part Extraction method of extracting parts, which will print staves transposed or not according to your Display score in concert pitch setting.)

Staff: Standard 5-line • 1-line with Full Barline • 1-line with Short Barline• 0-line with Full Barline • Other. Choose from four commonly-used staves, or choose Other to display the Staff Setup dialog box, in which you can specify a custom staff. See Staff Setup dialog box.
Allow Optimization. Use this option to control whether Finale will remove the staff during the optimization process. (When you optimize a score using the Page Layout Tool, Finale hides resting instruments on each staff system.) Click to select this checkbox if you want to allow Finale to hide this staff (if it contains no music) in optimized staff systems. Deselect the checkbox to prevent Finale from hiding the staff; the staff will appear, even if it contains no music. For example, select this option for the Treble and Bass staves of piano staves, since scores usually display both staves of piano parts, even when other parts drop out.
Break barlines between staves • Break repeat barlines between staves. Normally, when you group some staves together, the barlines are drawn continuously through them (including the blank spaces between them). Select "Break Barlines Between Staves" if you want barlines—both normal and repeat barlines—not to continue through to the next staff above this one. (If this staff isn’t part of a staff group, you won’t notice any difference. You group staves by selecting their handles with the Staff Tool and double-clicking one of the selected handles.)

Select "Break Repeat Barlines Between Staves" if you want to break repeat barlines that would normally continue through to the next staff above this one. This option doesn’t affect normal barlines.

Display rests in empty measures. To save you time, Finale normally draws a default whole rest in every blank measure. Deselect this checkbox if you don’t want Finale to draw these "false" whole rests for this staff. You might wish to suppress them if, for example, you simply want to print out blank score paper.
Flat Beams. Select this option to force all the beams in the staff to draw flat instead of at an angle.
Hide Staff. Select this option to hide the current staff. Use this control when you want to hide a staff used for ossia measure source staves, or if you’ve created a staff that contains playback effects such as written out trills or tremolos. The word "(hidden)" appears in Staff Lists next to the staff name for any staves that are hidden.
Ignore Key Signatures. Finale retains this setting for compatibility with older version files. Select this option if you want Finale to transpose all the notes in the staff to the key of C for the entire piece, regardless of any key changes that occur.
Independent Elements: Key Signature • Time Signature • Notehead Font; Select. "Independent" means that these elements are allowed to vary from staff to staff. These options let you specify key signatures, time signatures, music font, or notehead shapes for each staff independently.

For example, click Key Signature or Time Signature if you want this staff to be in a different key or meter than the other staves in the piece. When you click the Key Signature or Time Signature Tool, a handle appears on every barline of each staff for which you’ve selected Key Signature or Time Signature. Click the handle to access the Key Signature or Time Signature dialog box for that staff alone.

You can choose any font for your noteheads without affecting flags, rests, and accidentals on the notes in the staff. When the Notehead Font checkbox is selected, Finale uses the font you select for the current staff. When this checkbox is not selected, Finale uses the font specified in the Select Default Fonts dialog box. Click Select to display the Font dialog box. The Maestro Percussion font included with Finale contains noteheads for use on percussion staves, as well as noteheads to use for hymnals requiring shape notes.

Items to Display: Augmentation Dots • Barlines • Clefs • Endings and Text Repeats • Key Signatures • Expressions • Measure Numbers • Repeat Bars • Rests • Staff These checkboxes specify which musical elements will appear in this staff. For example, you probably wouldn’t want measure numbers to appear in both staves of a piano part; to omit them from the bass-clef staff, you’d deselect the Measure Name in Score • Staff Name in Part • Stems;Select • Time Signatures.Numbers checkbox. Click the Select button to the right of the Stem check box to customize your stem settings. See Staff Stem Settings.

Tip: If you don’t want barlines to appear in a particular measure in all the staves in your piece, select the "Invisible" barline in the Measure Tool. Or, if you don’t want barlines to appear in your entire score, deselect Display All Barlines in Document Options-Barlines.

Notation Style: Standard • Percussion • Note Shapes • Tablature; Select. Choose a notation style, then click the Select button to display the dialog box for that style. See Percussion Map Designer for detailed information about setting up a percussion staff. Refer to Document Options-Notes and Rests and Tablature Staff Attributes if you selected either of those options.
Color Noteheads • Define. Check this box to use color noteheads in the staff. Finale's colored noteheads were designed for use with Boomwhacker® methods. Click Define to open Document Options-Notes and Rests where you can customize the color of each pitch.
OK • Cancel. Click OK to confirm, or Cancel to discard, the settings you’ve made in this dialog box and return to the score.