You’re
not limited to a shape found in a font; you can combine font characters,
draw free-hand or mix-and-match shapes. Each document you create can have
eighteen clefs; in order to create your own, therefore, you’ll have to
replace one of the eighteen default clefs.
- Choose Document > Document Options > Clefs, then click the
Clef Designer button. The Clef Designer dialog box appears.
- Click on the clef whose characteristics
you want to alter.
- Set
the middle-C line for this clef by typing a number into the Middle C Position
text box. A value of zero places middle C on the top line of the
staff; this number indicates the number of lines or spaces that middle
C is to be positioned away from this top line. For example, the treble
clef, which places middle C one ledger line below the staff, has a Middle
C Position value of –10, because one ledger line below the staff is ten
lines and spaces down from the top line of the staff (whose number is
zero).
- Set
the vertical positioning of the clef symbol by typing a number into the
Clef Position text box. This value, measured in lines and spaces,
determines where the new clef will sit on the staff. A value of zero places
the baseline of the clef on the top line of the staff. Note that the baseline
of a clef is based on its musical meaning, and isn’t quite the same as
the baseline for regular text. For example, the baseline of the treble
clef isn’t the bottom of the character—it’s the “curl” that sits on the
G line of the staff; the baseline of the bass clef is centered between
the two dots (the F line), and so on. Thus the Clef Position for the treble
clef is –6, six lines and spaces lower than the top line of the staff.
- Select
Musical Baseline Offset and type a value into the text box. This
number sets the distance, in lines and spaces, between the normal baseline
for the clef (as defined in the previous step) and its vertical position
when it occurs as a clef change in the middle of the score, and hence
at a reduced size.
- Click on Shape, then Select, then Create. The Shape Designer appears. Finale provides a template
of the staff lines, to give you an idea of size and position when your
clef appears in the score. A small origin circle marks where Finale will
begin the clef horizontally and the Clef Position vertically. You’ll probably
want to draw your shape close to the origin circle, unless you want extra
space before this clef. If you want to create extra space after this clef,
insert a blank character to the right of the clef. (For extra space before
or after all clefs, see Document Options-Clefs.)
To change the line of the origin circle, see the Clef Position earlier
in this text. To insert a text character, click on the Shape Designer
menu and choose Set Font. Select a font, then return to the Shape Designer.
You can now click on the Text tool, then click on the window to type a
character in the selected font. For more details about using the Shape
Designer, see See Shape
Designer.
- Press ENTER twice. You
return to the Clef Designer dialog box.
- Click OK twice. You
return to the document. From now on in this document, any time you access
the palette of clefs, you’ll see the new clef represented as one of the
eighteen available. Any music that follows it will be notated according
to the definition of middle C (and the “stem-flipper” value) you’ve created.
If you want to use this clef in other documents, see Save
Library dialog box.
