- Click the Selection tool
.
- Select the music you want to respace.
In general, you’ll want to select all the staves in a system. If you
select only one staff, for example, you could get unexpected results,
because the respacing command sets the measure widths for all staves according
to the spacing of the selected region. Thus, if you select and respace
measure 1 in the flute staff, which contains only a whole note, the running
eighth notes in another staff’s measure 1 will be compressed and overlapping.
- Choose Utilities > Music Spacing > Apply Beat Spacing or Apply Note Spacing. If
you use Beat Spacing, Finale calculates where each beat should be positioned
in the measure; any notes within the beat are spaced linearly (where an
eighth note gets half as much space as a quarter note, and so on). If
you use Note Spacing, Finale uses the table of values to determine the
exact position of each note or rest in a measure. Thus, the Note Spacing
command provides more exact spacing than does the Beat Spacing command.
Either command takes time. But when done processing, you’ll find that
your music has been carefully respaced according to the Music Spacing
Library’s specifications. Note: For a more complete discussion of Finale’s
spacing feature, see Document Options-Music Spacing.
The final step is extremely important:
- Choose Utilities > Update Layout.
The Music Spacing commands are responsible for laying out the notes within
each measure. In doing so, Finale adjusts the widths of the selected measures,
and they may no longer fit neatly into one line of music across the page.
The Update Layout command is responsible for laying out the measures across
the page; it justifies the measures with the page margins.
If you don’t choose Update Layout after
respacing your music, you may find measures at the ends of systems in
Page View that seem much too wide or too narrow. (Choosing Update Layout
will solve the problem immediately.)
Note: When Finale
spaces the notes of your document, it widens the selected measures as
necessary to make room for lyrics, if any. If you choose Music Spacing
in the Document Options dialog box, you’ll discover that there are other
elements you can take into consideration when spacing measures: chord
symbols, and accidentals, for example. Select the appropriate check boxes,
and click OK.
