When you first enter music into Finale, the time signature determines how eighth notes (and smaller notes) are beamed together. In , Finale groups beamed notes in quarter note groupings with the exception of eighth notes which are beamed in groups of 4. See Document Options-Beams to change this setting. In , Finale groups beamed notes in half note groupings.

If you change the time signature after you’ve entered music, the beaming patterns changes unless you have deselected the Rebar music check box in the Time Signature dialog box. In such a case, it’s easy to rebeam the music to match the new time signature: Select the region (using the Selection tool) and choose Rebeam Music (from the Rebeam submenu of the Utilities menu).

However, if you want to give a region a beaming pattern that’s completely unrelated to the time signature—for example, to beam eighth notes in groups of 3, 3, and 2 in a meter, follow these steps:

To rebeam a selected region

1. Click the Selection tool , and select a region. See Selecting musicor some region-selecting shortcuts.
2. From the Utilities menu, choose Rebeam, then Rebeam to Time Signature. The Rebeam dialog box appears.
3. Using the upper and lower scroll bars, adjust the upper and lower numbers of the “beaming signature” until you see the desired beaming patterns. In other words, if you want eighth notes in common time beamed in groups of four (rhythmic value equals a half note), adjust the display until it shows two half notes (two groups of four eighth notes). If you’re in and you want all six eighth notes beamed together in each measure, adjust the display until it shows a dotted half note (one group of six eighth notes).

Note: If you want an asymmetrical beaming pattern (such as three, three, and two eighth notes in common time), click the Composite button and enter the desired groupings into the text boxes.You specify the new beaming pattern for the selected music much as you would create a time signature. See To create custom beaming patterns.

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