You do not need to hit the asterisk key first to force the courtesy accidental w/parentheses to show on a note. With the cursor on the beat in question, just hit the "p" key in Speedy to make it appear. It has a toggle action, so another "p" stroke will hide it again. As has been mentioned earlier, on single pitch entries you can apply this on the beat without having the cursor on the specific pitch. It will also apply to all pitches in a chord if the cursor is not on any pitch. The same method of application also applies to true pitch alterations using the plus and minus keys.
Parenthesized accidentals should be used as a reminder that a pitch has returned to the key signature only after that pitch has been altered in a previous measure. If you don't use parentheses for pitches returning to the key signature, the players might assume they are in a different key. (Otherwise, why would there be an accidental there?) The number of measures between the occurrence of the altered pitch and the use of the courtesy accidental varies between publishers and the grade level of the music. Beginner level pieces might show courtesies up to four bars after the alteration while more advanced pieces might limit their use to the following measure. Regardless of the rules you use, consistency in notation is the performers friend. Mark Ralston Musical/Arts Consultants, Inc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
