At 2:02 AM -0600 12/19/10, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
Finale has you specify the size of the systems, and trusts you to choose parameters (e.g., system margines, staff sizes, and inter-stave spacing) such that five systems will fit.
May I simply put in a word here for those of us who have to READ the music that's produced?
It has always been so easy to shrink the music in Finale that engravers have been sorely tempted to do so to get more on each page. That should NOT be your goal! Your goal should be to make your music readable. Hal Leonard publication are often printed too small for those of us with older eyes to read readily, as are those of one of the composers in our Community Band. And don't forget that string players normally read 2 to a stand, so the MOLA standards ask for good sized staves.
When I was using Mosaic, I knew exactly what my point sizes were, and sticking to them gave me good results. And when I use Sibelius I find that the default sizes are intelligently chosen and almost always work. Finale has always invited layout problems by making some things TOO easy to change.
John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
