Transposing instruments

Any staff can be defined to have any instrument transposition; for example, a trumpet staff can be notated up a whole step. Finale can Transpose on Input or play the notes at concert pitch when entered. While you’re working on the document, you can be looking at the instrumental staves either in their transposed or concert-pitch forms. For steps to create two transpositions in the same staff, such as a saxophone switching to flute for a few bars, see Adding mid-score instrument changes.

To select a new transposition using the ScoreManager

  1. Choose Window > ScoreManager and click the icon next to the staff you want to change.

    For instruments using a grand staff, like a piano or harp, click the to the left of the staff name and click the icon next to the grand staff's top staff.

  2. Use the Transposition pop-up menu to specify the desired transposition.
  3. If you are transposing a grand staff instrument, click the icon next to the grand staff's bottom staff and repeat step 2.

To define a staff transposition

  1. Choose Window > ScoreManager and click the staff you want to change.
  2. Choose Transposition > Other. The Staff Transpositions dialog box appears.
  3. Specify the desired transposition.

  4. Click OK (or press RETURN). The document is updated and you return to the ScoreManager, which you can close if desired.

    If there’s another staff that requires a change in transposition, simply select it from the rows of instruments and repeat the previous two steps.

To transpose a staff chromatically

  1. Choose Window > ScoreManager and click the staff you want to change.
  2. Choose Transposition > Other. The Staff Transpositions dialog box appears.
  3. Click Chromatic and choose the desired transposition from the pop-up menu, or choose Other to create your own instrument transpositions for less common instruments.
  4. To choose a different clef for the transposed staff, select Set to Clef and click the desired clef.
  5. Click OK (or press RETURN). The document is updated and you return to the ScoreManager, which you can close if desired.

To display a score in concert pitch (or in transposed form)

Once you’ve established the transpositions for your instrumental staves as described above, you can tell Finale whether or not it should display the full score in its transposed form.

  • Choose Document > Display in Concert Pitch. When selected, all music appears in its non-transposed form (concert pitch) and a checkmark appears next to the menu item. When deselected, any staff you’ve defined as a transposing staff will appear in its transposed form, just as it will when the part is extracted.