Dynamics

If you started your document from the Document Setup Wizard, a template, or by choosing File > New > Default Document, all of the most common dynamic markings are defined for you already. You only need to go through the following steps if you want to create your own dynamic marking.

1. Choose the Expression tool . Double-click any note or measure. The Expression Selection dialog box appears.
2. Choose the Dynamics category on the left and click Create. The Expression Designer dialog box appears.
3. Choose Font > Music Font.
4. Type the letter that corresponds to the dynamic marking you want to create. For example, lower-case f is the marking, capital F is the marking, and so on (in the default music font, Maestro).

   The size and positioning characteristics are applied automatically as specified for Dynamics in the Category Designer dialog box.

5. Click OK and then Assign to enter the expression.

1. Choose the Expression tool .
2. Double-click on, above, or below the note or measure to which you want to attach the marking. The Expression Selection dialog box appears.
3. Click the Dynamics category on the left. Finale displays the dynamic expressions in the preview window.

   Note the number or letter to the upper right of each expression. This is the expression's Metatool assignment. You can hold down this keystroke and click the score to instantly add this expression. To change the Metatool assignment, select the expression, hold down SHIFT, and type the desired Metatool key.

4. Double-click the desired dynamic marking. Finale adds the marking to the score based on the positioning settings for dynamics specified in the Category Designer dialog box.
5. To enter a dynamic without entering the Expression Selection dialog box, hold down the Metatool key and click the score.
6. While holding down a Metatool key, click and drag over multiple staves to add the expression multiple times.

1. Choose the Expression tool .
2. Drag the handle to move the marking; select it and press DELETE to remove it. Alternatively, right-click the expression and choose Delete.

The dynamics preloaded into the Maestro Font Default file (as well as those in the Text Expression Library) have already been defined for playback. You can use these steps, however, to alter such definitions (to make a forte louder, for example).

1. Choose the Expression tool . If the marking hasn’t yet been placed in the score and you simply want to edit its definition from within the Selection palette, double-click any measure or note; when the palette appears, click the marking in question, click Edit, and skip the next two steps.
2. Double-click the marking’s handle. The Expression Selection dialog box appears.
3. Click Create. The Expression Designer dialog box appears.
4. Click the Playback tab.
5. Choose Type > Key Velocity. Enter a velocity value in the Set To Value box.

   The value you enter here is the MIDI key velocity value that Finale applies to all the music, beginning at the point where it first encounters the dynamic marking and ending only when it encounters another marking. MIDI velocity is measured on a scale from 0 (silent) to 127 (very loud). If you’re editing a dynamic that came with Finale, you’ll notice that a velocity value has already been defined; feel free to change it. The changes you make apply throughout this document only, although you can store this document’s set of modified dynamic marks in a Text Expressions Library, ready for use in other documents, by choosing File > Save Library. Then you can “borrow” the modified markings for use in other documents.

6. Click OK (or press ENTER).