School Has Finale- Specific Question

Alright, my University has Finale in the tech lab, and I had a quick question. I have many ideas and themes for choral works and hope to start composing soon. I was wondering, with Finale, can you set a metronome tempo, and then play a vocal part on the piano and have it notate exactly what you're playing? I haven't really worked with Finale and feel that this compositional technique would work best with my styles and would be easiest. Is it possible?

Thanks So Much,

Ethan

It's possible, but it doesn't work very well in practice.

The problem is Finale is very finicky about how precisely you input the notes.

I think you'd be far better to carry around a small MIDI keyboard (you can buy one for VERY little money) and use Finale's Speedy Entry method with the MIDI keyboard.

You can attempt to use Hyperscribe, but unless you're a very accurate and precise pianist, you'll spend more time cleaning up the rhythm/notation than getting work done.

On a pedagogical note, easiest is not always best. You should be able to notate things correctly without mechanical help to do so...

Thanks for the tips guys. I have a keyboard and I know it has MIDI capabilities, but I am not familiar with MIDI at all.

But you all think it would just be easier if I used Finale by hand?

Yeah, I use Finale by hand. It's gotten to the point where I'm so used to the hotkeys that I can input notes at almost the same speed as if I was just playing them on a piano, but I have more accuracy.

~Christian

Yeah, I use Finale by hand. It's gotten to the point where I'm so used to the hotkeys that I can input notes at almost the same speed as if I was just playing them on a piano, but I have more accuracy.

~Christian

Alright, cool! Well thanks for letting me know. I'll have to give it a try in my spare time.