Hi Chris,
I don't think you're getting what Brian is talking about here. I haven't actually tried his method yet -- frankly, it never occurred to me -- but boy does it ever look like a time-saver!
Anyhow, what he is doing is making one copy of the score for printing purposes, and then one additional copy of the score *for each instrument.* For instance, let's say he's working on a big band arrangement of, oh I don't know, Public Enemy's "Fight The Power." When he's done laying out the score for printing, that gets saved as something like "Fight The Power - score.mus" Nothing unusual so far.
But now, where you or I would normally extract parts, Brian makes a copy of the score called "Fight The Power - Alto 1.mus". Then he turns on Special Part Extraction for Alto 1, switches to Page View, and completes the layout for Alto 1. When he's done that, he then saves *this* file as "Fight The Power - Alto 2.mus" and turns on Special Part Extraction for Alto 2. This way, Alto 2 inherits all the layout choices made for Alto 1, but without having to step through the minefield of copying from one Finale document to another. When he's done, he will still have *separate Finale files for each instrument, plus the score* -- same as if he had used the Express Music method.
Like he said, his files will be much larger (since they are copies of the entire score), and be confusing if you need to give the Finale files to others, but that's pretty much the only drawback I can see.
On 05 Jun 2004, at 10:22 PM, Christopher BJ Smith wrote:
"Normal" part extraction, obviously, doesn't allow automatic updates. However, the "Express" method (I actually use a streamlined version myself, unless I really need the other benefits) allows you to update the score once, then copy and paste from the score to each part, and you only have to change layout if you need to (as opposed to extracting again from scratch.)
In Brian's method, there is no need to start again from scratch. If you make changes to the score, you can copy and paste them into the parts, same as if you used the Express Music method or "normal" part extraction.
You might want the score layout saved if you are going to print the score.
In Brian's method, you have a separate file for the score, same as any other method.
The only time this makes a difference in your method is if you make note changes to the score. The parts won't inherit the changes, and you will either have to do it manually (editing directly or copying from file to file) or redo the Special method as you described.
This is the same in all cases, which is why a linked score and parts would be good.
And the Express method, though admittedly more tedious than yours the FIRST time, allows you to keep all formatting, if you want, for successive revisions.
Brian's method is not nearly as tedious (or potentially risky) as the Express Music method and also allows you to keep all the formatting, because each part is a separate file.
I see more clearly now that this Relational Database idea would be fabulous for Finale part extraction. Imagine having all the benefits of Special-Part-Extraction-in-separate-files with the linking that you would get as if you had NEVER separated the files! Each staff could inherit layout and positioning, or not, as you like, without affecting the score.
Yes, that would be good, and "Extra-Special Part Extraction" would probably be more doable than any other method of linking the score with a set of parts.
- Darcy
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