3-staff piano

A 3-staff piano includes three staves with a single bracket on each system. Finale does not include a 3-staff piano in its instrument database, but you can create one easily by following a few simple steps.

To create a 3-staff piano

  1. With either the Setup Wizard or ScoreManager, add both a Piano instrument and a Blank Staff.

    Be sure not to choose the Piano (No Staff Name) instrument, as it does not set up the group and bracket.

  2. In the ScoreManager, click the Piano's expand arrow in the Name column to display the three staves.

    expanded piano staff list in the scoremanager
  3. Choose a First Clef for each of the three staves.
  4. Choose the Staff tool icon.
  5. Choose Staff > Group and Bracket > Edit.
  6. From the pop-up menu at the top, ensure Piano is selected (the one you intend to change to 3-staff).
  7. From the Bottom Staff pop-up menu, choose [Staff 3] (or the name of the blank staff you added beneath the piano).
  8. Click OK. Although the ScoreManager has two instruments, three staves are now bracketed with barlines extending through them, accurately representing a 3-staff piano throughout the document.

To create a 3-staff piano linked part

  1. After you have followed the above steps to create a 3-staff piano, choose Document > Manage Parts.
  2. Under Linked Parts, choose the Piano part and click Delete. If it exists, do the same for the Part # staff.
  3. Click New Part. The dialog box expands.
  4. To name the part, click Edit Part Name, type the name of the part, and click OK.
  5. Under Available Instruments, choose Piano.

    You can click the + icon to the left to see that the three staves are included.

  6. Click Add to Part, and click OK. The 3-staff piano linked part is now available in the Edit Part submenu.