To create a percussion staff with a customized percussion layout 

1. Choose Window > ScoreManager, click Add Instrument, and choose the desired percussion instrument (or, Blank Staff to start from scratch).
2. Near the clef display, click Select. Click on one of the percussion clefs.      
3. Choose one of the three pre-defined staves from the Staff pop-up menu. Choose from Standard 5-line, 1-line with Full Barline, 1-line with Short Barline. Or, if you’re setting up a custom staff, choose Other to display the Staff Setup dialog box. After you create a custom staff, click OK to return to the ScoreManager. For details about setting up a custom staff, refer to Staff Setup dialog box.
4. Choose Notation Style > Percussion if it’s not already selected. (To change a staff back to standard notation, choose Notation Style > Standard.)
5. Click Settings (to the right of the Notation Style pop-up menu).
6. Click Create if you want to create a completely new percussion layout containing note definitions for a percussion staff. Most likely you’ll want to edit an existing layout that appears in the list box. If so, click the percussion layout, then click Edit. In either case, the Percussion Layout Designer dialog box appears.
7. Select the note you want to edit from the list on the left. Or, click the + button in the lower right to add a new note.
8. For Note Type, click the pop-up menu and choose the desired Note Type. Each Note Type represents a percussion instrument.
9. Enter a Staff Position, counted in steps from middle C, for your percussion notehead and press TAB. Or, you can click and drag the handle to choose the staff position.
10. Click the Select button next to Closed/Half/Whole/Double-Whole Notehead. Finale opens the Symbol selection dialog box in the Notehead font. For Closed Notehead, select the notehead you want to appear on quarter notes or smaller notes. Do the same for half, whole or double whole notes.
11. Continue selecting and editing notes in the list box until you've made all the changes that you want.

Tip. Occasionally you may wish to notate more than one percussion instrument on the same line or space on the staff. This is easy to do in the Percussion Layout Designer dialog box. Simply select different notes from the list box, then drag them so they share the same Staff Position.

12. Click Done. Finale returns you to the Percussion Layout Selection dialog box.
13. Click Select and OK. Any notes that appeared in the staff will be remapped. For percussion MIDI playback, see To setup playback for a percussion staff.

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