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Notating chant and other meterless music

Question
How do I enter music without a time signature like one would see in chant?
Answer
Finales ability to space notes and lyrics within measures can be used to great
advantage in creating measureless or non-mensural notation. All of the
rhythmic and spacing values that you will use to manage the creation of a
measureless score can be displayed and made available for reference until the
notation is finished. At that time note stems, barlines, time signatures, etc. can all
be hidden. This process can be applied to a recitative, a cadenza, a melismatic
phrase or any other episodic occurrence of free notation. Click through the
options below to get started.
Setting up the document
Create a map
Create a document
Before entering your music into Finale, the first step in creating a non-
mensural score is to create a map or scheme. Locate and mark the natural
divisions of the text and music (phrases, stanzas, melismatic extensions,
etc.). The text will be the primary factor in organizing and managing the
spacing and layout of the score. Some passages may need to be split into
two or more sections if they do not fit across a single system; some
systems may accommodate two phrases.
1. Open an appropriate Template or use the Setup Wizard to create a
document.
2. From the Utilities menu, click Fit Measures.
3. Set the score to 1 measure per system.
4. If a custom page size or different page orientation is required, go to
the Page Layout menu and click Page Size.
Notating chant and other meterless music
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Adding music and details
Establish a common denominator for calculating values
Establish a time signature for a phrase
5. Adjust the page size settings as needed, and then click OK.
If the passage or score is to be displayed with stemless noteheads, the
simplest scheme is to use quarter-notes for closed noteheads and half-
notes for open noteheads (the common denominator will then be a quarter-
note). If standard rhythmic values will be used, the common denominator
will be the smallest value used. In either case, the first task is to calculate
the total number of rhythmic units in each phrase. If tuplets are used,
calculate accordingly. In the case of a held note which will contain multiple
syllables or words, assign a value for each of the words or syllables.
Assume, for the purpose of demonstration, that the rhythmic unit total for a
phrase is 19 eighth-notes.
1. Click the Time Signature Tool.
2. Double-click a measure.
3. Set the Number of Beats to 19.
4. Set the Beat Duration to 8.
5. Click OK.
Entering notes
If standard notation (notes with stems) is used:
Enter notes and, if necessary, use the forward slash key ( / ) to separate or
attach beams.
If note stems are to be removed, use the closed-notehead and open-
notehead rhythmic values that were used as the basis for calculating the
phrase.
If a single note carries multiple syllables:
1. Switch to Layer 4.
Notating chant and other meterless music
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Hiding staves and measure items
Entering lyrics (text)
2. If necessary, fill the space previous to the multi-syllable note with
rests.
3. Hide the rests by hitting the H key on your keyboard after entering the
rest.
4. Enter and hide the ghost notes of the multi-syllable phrase.
To hide the ghost notes in playback:
1. From Window menu, click Instrument List.
2. In the Instrument List dialog, click the triangle to the left of the staff
name you wish to mute.
3. Click the column M next to Layer 4 to mute its playback.
Note: Text entered with the Lyrics tool will center under the note to which
it is attached. Therefore, note spacing can become awkward if the
number of characters on a single note becomes too large. However,
short words or syllables can be contained without resorting to ghost
notes.
If a single note carries two or three syllables and ghost notes are
not necessary:
1. Enter the first syllable or word.
2. Enter a hard space.
3. Enter the next word or syllable.
Mac: Press OPTION and press the SPACEBAR.
Windows: Press and hold ALT and type 0160 on the
numeric key pad and then release ALT.
To hide Time Signatures, Barlines or Stems for an entire Staff:
1. Click the Staff Tool.
2. Double-click the staff.
3. Uncheck Time Signatures, Barlines, and/or Stems under Items to
Display.
4. Click OK.
Hiding measure numbers
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Additional tips
Hiding individual barlines
1. Click the Measure Tool.
2. From the Edit menu, click Select All.
3. From the Measure menu, click Hide Numbers.
1. Click the Measure Tool.
2. Select a measure or group of measures.
Note: The barline on the right side of a selected measure is the one
that will be hidden.
3. Double-click in the selected measure or region.
4. In the row of available Barline types, click Invisible.
5. Click OK.
Once the music is entered, you can use either the beat charts of the
measure tool or the note position special tool to precisely position the
notes within each "measure".
From the Document menu, click Document Options. Click
the Stems category from the list of the left, and set the Normal and
Shortened Stem Lengths to zero if you do not want stems.
If you are transcribing early music, such as Gregorian square notation or
Italian mixed notation, you may want to take a look at the Medieval Finale
plug-in fromKlemm Music Technology.