How to Write Sheet Music in Finale
Finale is a popular music notation software program. It allows you to create professional-looking sheet music for the songs you've written without hiring someone to do it for you. This saves money, and once you learn how to use Finale it doesn't take long to write a song. If publishers are rejecting your music, you can bypass them completely--just print and self-publish your own songs.
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Instructions
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Getting Started and Entering Notes via Computer Keyboard and MicNotator
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Visit the Finale website and check out the features of the various versions (see Resources below). Make sure that you purchase the software version that has the features you need, then install Finale on your computer. Open Finale on your computer and check out its many features.
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Decide how you would like to enter notes on a page to create sheet music. You can enter notes solely using the computer keyboard, playing a brass or woodwind instrument into a microphone or playing a MIDI keyboard (a special electronic piano keyboard that hooks up to your computer).
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Learn how to enter notes using a computer keyboard. Open Finale, then select Help, Finale Tutorials and Simple Entry or Speedy Entry. Read and follow the instructions in this tutorial, and practice entering a simple melody line. Simple and Speedy Entry are two different ways to enter music using your computer keyboard; Simple Entry lets you click on a staff to enter notes, and Speedy Entry lets you enter music more quickly with one hand on the numeric keypad of your computer keyboard and the other hand on a MIDI keyboard.
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Discover how to enter notes using MicNotator, a feature in Finale that lets you input notes via brass or wind instrument using the Speedy Entry tool. Set up MicNotator for your particular instrument; read instructions by visiting Help, Table of Contents, Index, MicNotator. Click the Speedy Entry tool and click a measure on the staff. Press caps lock, press the number key on the computer keyboard that matches the value you want to enter and play the notes on your instrument.
Entering Notes via MIDI Keyboard
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Follow the directions for MIDI setup to enter notes using your MIDI keyboard; find these instructions at Help, Table of Contents, Index, MIDI Setup. Click the HyperScribe tool, and choose Beat Source, then Tap. Click the note value icon that you want represented with each tap of your sustain pedal-for instance, the dotted quarter note icon for a 6/8, 3/8 or 9/8 time signature. Click Standard Sustain Pedal, then click OK.
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Continue the process of entering notes via MIDI: from the MIDI menu, choose Quantization Settings. Under Smallest Note Value, click the eighth note, then click OK. You've told Finale that tap is represented by a dotted quarter note and that you'll be tapping the sustain pedal to keep time.
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Click the first measure of the upper staff, and play a melody on your MIDI keyboard. Play slowly, if you wish, but give the sustain pedal a little tap with every beat. When you're finished, click the mouse, and make sure the notes are entered properly. For more detailed instructions, read and follow the MIDI Setup instructions for entering notes with your MIDI keyboard, at Help, Finale Tutorials, Hyperscribe-Notate As You Play.
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