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Setting clefs and staff names

If you use the Setup Wizard, you’ll have all of the clefs and staff names set up for you. If you decide you don’t like what the Wizard chose, you can always edit them using the techniques below. We’ll edit the new staves to match the appropriate clefs and names for a string quartet.

  1. Click the top staff. When you click anywhere on the staff to the right of the time signature, you select the staff. You can also use the Staff Tool to select measures, such as for applying a Staff Style. We’ll cover Staff Styles later in this tutorial.
  2. From the Staff menu, select Edit Staff Attributes. The Staff Attributes dialog box appears. (You can also double-click the staff.)

The full name of the instrument will appear next to the staff in the first system (line) of the piece. The abbreviated name will appear next to subsequent systems.

  1. Click the Edit button across from Full Name. The Edit Text window appears.

  1. Type “Violin I”; click OK.
  2. Click the Edit button across from Abbr. Name.
  3. Type “Vln. I”; click OK.

Incidentally, you establish the default font for staff names using the Select Default Fonts command in the Options menu (this will affect all staff names for newly created staves; it will not change existing staff names).global position of staff names using the commands in the Set Default Name Positions submenu of the Staff menu, and you establish the default font for staff names using the Fonts section of the Document Options dialog box (under the Document menu). This will affect all staff names which have not yet been created; it will not change existing staff names. Once you’ve created a staff name, you can edit its font by using the Font command in the Text menu, which appears in the Edit Text window. The global positioning setting can be overridden by clicking the Position buttons in the Staff Attributes dialog box. For example, by clicking the Position checkbox and button right now, you can nudge the abbreviated name, Vln. I, closer to the staff.

Note: Don’t use Enter to exit the Edit Text dialog box. Finale will think you want to add a new line. You could click OK at this point; you’d return to the score, where the first staff’s name would now appear. However, as long as you’re at it, you may as well set up the other staves:

  1. From the staff drop-down list at the top of the Staff Attributes dialog box, choose [Staff 2]. The contents of the dialog box change to reflect the staff attributes of the second staff in the score.
  2. Name this staff Violin II, and enter Vln. II as its abbreviated name. Once again, you can move directly to the attributes box for the next staff without having to go back to the score.
  3. From the staff drop-down list, choose [Staff 3]. You’re now looking at the attributes for the third, or viola, staff.
  4. Type Viola as the full staff name, and Vla. as the abbreviation.  
  5. Near the clef display, click Select. The Clef Selection dialog box appears. Finale allows you to use up to sixteen different clefs in a particular document. You can even design your own clefs in the Clef Designer. For now, we want the alto clef.
  6. Double-click the alto clef (the second clef in the top row).  

  1. From the staff drop-down list, choose [Staff 4]. Enter the full name, Cello, and the abbreviation, Vc.  
  2. Click OK. To the left of the clef display, click Select and double-click on the bass clef (the fourth clef in the top row).
  3. Click OK. If you want to adjust the overall positioning of the new instrument names, choose Full Staff Names or Abbreviated Staff Names from the Set Default Name Positions submenu of the Staff menu. You’ll see a dialog box that lets you drag the staff name wherever you want relative to the staff itself.
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