To Mark D Lew and Finale list: This only goes back 3 months, but I wanted to thank Mark for excellent advice, and pass it along for anyone else who needs something similar.
> On Nov 8, 2011, at 8:19 PM, Raymond Horton wrote: >> What is the best way to indicate a time signature of 6/8 followed by >> 3/4 in parenthesis? Mark wrote: > My default plan would be: > > 1. Check "use a different time signature for display". > > 2. Pick "composite" for the display time sig, and set it up as 6/8 + 3/4. > > 3. Under Document Options > Time Signature change the plus character to a > fixed space. (I use opt-space on Mac, gives better spacing than an ordinary > space; it shows as 202 on Finale's character chart.) > > 4. Then set up the parentheses as a text expression. > > This work in most cases, though it can cause spacing difficulties if one > falls at the end of the system. It's also a problem if you need a real > composite time signature with a plus elsewhere in the piece. > > mdl Ray cautiously replied: > > Your method is better than what I was doing, but can I trust those two > > items will stay together in proper position? > Mark assured: > > The 6/8 and 3/4 will definitely stay the same distance away from each other. > What may or may not cause problems is the space after the 3/4 so that your > parentheses will look good. For any time signature that isn't at the end of > a system you can adjust for that in the measure tool. If the composite time > sig ends up at the far end of the system, I'm not sure there's an easy fix. > > I'm not sure I'm foreseeing every possibility, so I can't guarantee it. If > it were me, I'd give it a try and see how it works. It's not that hard. > > mdl > _______________________________________________ Hey Mark! Long story why I only now tried this. (I was helping my daughter - Minister of Music at a different church, with a piece she wrote, so I had forwarded your suggestion to her. Anyway, she's getting her new piece read at a local reading session Tuesday night, sent it to me to proof, and i see she still has the ugly makeshift combo time sig I had put on it earlier. The reason I was hesitant in accepting your advice was the term "text expression" threw my brain (still hooked to older Finale tools) off - I was thinking, until I started to actually apply it, that you meant actual text, and I knew of no way to attach text permanently to a time signature. But, of course, you meant to use the expression tool to make a text expression - several versions back it would have been called a note or measure expression, or something. Anyway, you advice works perfectly! And, it's quite easy to position an expression around a time signature. As you say - there could be a problem at the end of a system - I didn't need it in this file. Perhaps the "extra space at end of measure" command in the Measure Attributes could fix that? Also, for your other caveat: "It's also a problem if you need a real composite time signature with a plus elsewhere in the piece" - could be solved by a text expression putting back in the plus sign when needed! (How's that for ass-backward thinking?) Thanks! Raymond Horton Bass Trombonist, Louisville Orchestra Minister of Music, Edwardsville (IN) UMC Composer, Arranger VISIT US AT rayhortonmusic.com _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
