Classic Eighth Beams Plug-in

How to get there

Choose Plug-ins > Note, Beam, and Rest Editing > Classic Eighth Beams. If there is no selection when you invoke the Classic Eighth Beams command, it will ask you if you want to process the entire document.

What it does

The Classic Eighth Beams plug-in modifies the beaming of eighth notes in time. Eighth notes will be beamed as if the Time Signature were .

In most music, it is conventional in time to beam eighth notes in groups of four, while beaming smaller note values to the quarter note. Previous versions of Finale only supported beaming to the beat, with the result that sixteenth notes would be properly beamed (in groups of four) but eighth notes would be grouped in pairs.

The Beam Eighth Notes in Groups of Four in Common Time option solves this problem. (See Document Options - Beams for new documents.) It automatically beams eighths in groups of four while beaming smaller note values to the quarter note. However, it does not modify the beaming in documents created without the option. The Classic Eighth Beams plug-in was designed to fill this need by modifying the beaming of eighth notes in time.

Using the Classic Eighth Beams Plug-in

Use the Selection tool to select a region in which you wish to modify the beaming of eighth notes.

After invoking the Classic Eighth Beams plug-in, eighth notes in all 4/4 measures will be beamed in groups of four. Other note combinations remain unmodified. In the example, the eighth note groups in measure one and the second half of measure two are beamed in groups of four. The eighth-sixteenth-sixteenth rhythm in measure 2 are unchanged, in accordance with common practice. The groups of eighth notes and rests in measure 3 are beamed together.

Notes:

The Classic Beams plug-in functions similarly to the Selection tool Rebeam command when Classic Eighth Beams has been selected in Document Options - Beams (under the Document menu). The plug-in, however, will only modify the beaming of groups of four eighth notes, any custom beaming of other rhythmic groups remains unchanged. the Selection Tool Rebeam command will reset all beaming to the values determined by the time signature and document options. Note also that the plug-in’s behavior is independent of the option setting; the Classic Eighth Beams option may be turned off and you can still use the Classic Eighth Beams plug-in.

Voice 2 eighth note Entries will be beamed in groups of four only if the all four Voice 2 entries are launched from a single Voice 1 Entry. This is a general principle of Voice 2 beaming (only Voice 2 Entries launched from a single Voice 1 Entry can be beamed together).