Note size

You can change the size of the music in your documents in a number of ways, both globally and locally. For specific instructions regarding cue notes, see Cue notes. For information on reducing or enlarging the entire score or part at once (for printing purposes), see Reducing/Enlarging. See also Resize Noteheads Plug-in.

To reduce or enlarge the notes (but retain staff size)

Using this technique, you can create large-note music for beginning readers, or reduce all the notes slightly (with respect to the staff) for a sparser, finer look.

1. From the Document Menu, choose Document Options and select Fonts. The Select Default Fonts dialog box appears.
2. From the Notation popup menu, choose Noteheads.   
3. Next to the Notation popup menu, click Set Font. The Font dialog box appears.
4. Enter a new value in the Point Size text box. The standard size for Finale’s music font (Maestro) is 24 point.
5. Click OK. If you chose a size that’s not a multiple of 12, the notes may have slightly jagged edges if you print on a non-PostScript printer (unless you use Adobe Type Manager or the TrueType Maestro font; both are described under Fonts). On a PostScript printer, however, the notes will be crisp and smooth.

If you discover that the stems of stems-up notes no longer attach correctly to the newly-sized noteheads, you can adjust their horizontal positions using the Stem Connections dialog box. For full instructions, see Stems—To change the position of the stem relative to its notehead.

To reduce or enlarge selected notes (or noteheads)

These instructions show you how to resize one notehead or one beamed group of notes. If you want to create cue notes (by resizing a longer region of notes), however, see Cue notes. See also See also Resize Noteheads Plug-in.

1. Enter the music at normal size.
2. Click the Resize Tool  .
3. To change the size of a notehead, click it. To change the size of the entire entry group—the note or chord, stem, flag, lyric, articulations, and any notes beamed to it—click the stem (of the first note in the group). The Resize dialog box appears.
4. Enter the desired reduction or enlargement value. The number you enter here is a percentage of the full-size notes, so 200 (%) would result in a double-size note.
5. Click OK (or press return). The note (or entry group) is now resized. To restore the notes to normal size, repeat the process, but change the number to 100% in the Resize dialog box and click OK.

To restore a region of modified notes to their original size

1. Click the Selection Tool  .
2. Select the measures containing the resized notes.
3. Choose Clear Items from the Edit Menu. Proceeding through the dialog boxes, click as follows: Only Selected Items; Entries. A dialog box appears, listing various elements you can erase.
4. Click Notehead, Accidental and Tablature String Alterations. Click OK (or press return) twice.