Lyrics

There are two ways to add lyrics to your score in Finale. You can type the lyrics directly into the score, so that you know at all times where you are in the music—a feature called Type Into Score. Or you may prefer the Click Assignment method—where you type the lyrics in Finale’s text processor (called the Lyrics window), and then paste them into the score. Regardless of the method you use, the Lyrics window is available for ease in entry and editing.

Finale defines a syllable as any letters separated by a space or a hyphen. When you put the lyrics into the score, Finale places the syllable in your score by the settings in the Lyrics Options dialog box, centers the hyphen between notes, and moves any syllable correspondingly if its notehead moves.

Lyrics are often written in distinct sections—verse and chorus, for example. For that reason, Finale provides three different lyric types—Verse, Chorus, and Section. These types are identical in every respect—you can write the verse of a song and define it as a Chorus, if you want to—except that you can set the default font and positioning for each type differently. You could specify, for example, that all Verses are to be set in boldface type, but that all Choruses are set in italic type. (You can have as many as 512 of each lyric type. You can also change the font and style within any lyric.)

Typing lyrics directly into the score

Preparing lyrics in a separate window

Placing lyrics into the score (click assignment)

Editing lyrics already in the score

Correcting misaligned lyrics

Correcting overlapping lyrics

Setting the font for lyrics globally

Changing fonts within a lyric

Preventing changing the type size for lyrics attached to cue notes

Setting the baseline (vertical position) for lyrics numerically

Setting the baseline (vertical position) for lyrics graphically

Moving or delete a syllable