Multiple voices

Each staff in Finale has four transparent layers of music. Each layer can play back over a different MIDI channel and synthesizer patch, and each can have its own dynamics. You can view one layer at a time, or all simultaneously. When you’re placing expression marks, you can tell which layer is receiving the mark by the indicator in the lower-left corner of the screen, which identifies the current layer by number. Finally, each layer may be taught to flip its stems up or down automatically, to help distinguish the multiple voices.

Choose Document > Document Options > Layers. The Layer Options dialog box appears, letting you specify the characteristics of each layer.
Specify stem direction, tie direction, and rest placement for each layer.
In general, you’ll want the stems of Layer 1 to flip up, but only when Layer 2 is present, and the stems of Layer 2 to flip down, but only when Layer 1 is present, and so on. Furthermore, you’ll probably want ties to flip the “wrong way”—in other words, if there are notes in Layer 2, you’ll want ties in Layer 1 to flip upward, even though the Layer 1 stems are upward.

Therefore, you’ll probably want to select options as follows. For Layer 1, choose Up from the Freeze Stems popup menu; select Freeze Ties in the Same Direction as Stems; and select Apply Settings Only if Notes are in Other Layers. For Layer 2, choose Down from the Freeze Stems popup menu; select Freeze Ties in the Same Direction as Stems; and select Apply Settings Only if Notes are in Other Layers. The settings for Layers 3 and 4 are up to you, because their stem and tie directions probably depend on the piece you’re notating.

In addition, you may wish to specify that the placement of rests in one layer is such that they don’t “get in the way” of notes in another. You tell Finale how far out of the way you want these rests to appear by entering numbers into the Adjust Floating Rests By text box. This text box measures the distance, in lines and spaces, from the center line of the staff. In the usual situation, you’d enter a positive number for Layer 1 (such as 6), and a negative number for Layer 2 (such as -6). If you choose not to use the Adjust Floating Rests option, don’t worry—you can always drag rests vertically later.
Click OK (or press RETURN).
If you like, choose Document > Show Active Layer Only. When this option is selected, only the current layer (as indicated by the popup menu in the lower-left corner of the window) is visible; the other layers are hidden. You can switch to another layer by choosing it from the Layer pop-up menu.
Choose the layer you want to edit first, using the Layer pop-up menu in the lower left corner of the screen.
Choose the Speedy Entry tool and click a measure in which you want to enter music. The editing frame appears. Enter the music for the first layer in the usual way (see Speedy Entry).
Press SHIFT+DOWN ARROW. The editing frame flips to the next layer, and the first layer is dimmed; you can now enter and edit music in this layer.
SHIFT+DOWN ARROW moves you downward through the four layers—from Layer 1 to Layer 4—and SHIFT+UP ARROW moves back toward Layer 1.
To flip an individual stem, position the cursor on it and press the L key. Press L again to make it flip back.
If you need to adjust colliding noteheads, use Music Spacing. See Document Options - Music Spacing for more information.
To drag a rest, position the cursor on it and press the asterisk (*); then drag it up or down.
If you want the rest to snap back to its default position, position the cursor on it and press the asterisk (*) key again.
To hide a note or rest, position the cursor on it and press O. Press O again to restore the entry.
Use this feature to hide a Layer 2 half rest, for example, to give the appearance of a second voice entering on the third beat. See also Notes and Rests (Hide) Plug-in, Notes and Rests (Show) Plug-in.
Press zero (0) to exit the editing frame.
When you use the Selection tool to copy music, you’ll copy whichever layer or layers are showing. To copy Layer 1 only, for example, choose Document > Show Active Layer Only and choose Layer 1 from the Layer pop-up menu (lower-left corner of screen); copy in the usual way (see Copying music).

To move music from one layer to another

Choose the Selection tool and select a region of music. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts, but note that, for this procedure, you must select a region of complete measures.
Choose Edit > Move/Copy Layers. The Move/Copy Layers dialog box appears.
Specify how you want the layer contents moved. For example, to move the contents of Layer 2 into Layer 3, select Move Contents of Layer 2 into and choose Layer 3 from the popup menu.
Be careful how you use the elements of this dialog box. Finale warns you if music will be lost by overwriting an existing layer—for example, if you direct Finale to place the contents of one layer into a layer that already contains music.
Click OK (or press RETURN).

To enter multiple voices using V1/V2

You can also have two independent voices within each layer, called Voice 1 and Voice 2 (or V1/V2, as they’re called in the Speedy Entry editing frame).

Choose the Speedy Entry tool and click a measure in which you want to enter music.
Unlike the layer mechanism, in which it doesn’t matter which musical line you notate first, you must enter Voice 1 first when working with the V1/V2 mechanism. In general, it’s best to enter the longer note values first.
Enter the notes of the first voice (Voice 1).
“First” doesn’t necessarily mean upper. V1 and V2 may have their stems up or down at any point.
Press the arrow keys to move the insertion point to the Voice 1 note at which the first Voice 2 note is to appear.
A Voice 2 musical line may materialize at any point in the measure, as long as it’s been “launched” from an existing Voice 1 note. Indeed, you can have several “launches” within a measure (although you can’t beam together Voice 2 notes that have been launched from different Voice 1 notes).
To enter Voice 2, press the apostrophe (') key. The indicator now reads V2. The insertion bar is offset slightly from the Voice 1 note to remind you that you’re now editing a second voice.
Enter the notes of the second voice (Voice 2).
You may notice that the note stems don’t always flip in the proper directions.
To correct note stem directions, switch to the correct voice by pressing the apostrophe key. Move the cursor to the note in question by pressing the arrow keys. Press the L key to freeze the stem in the opposite direction.
When a stem is “frozen” up or down, it’s no longer free to change directions if it gets transposed. To restore a stem to its “floating” status, position the insertion bar on the note and press OPTION+L.

You can move rests up or down, too. If the rest is in Voice 1 or 2, you can simply drag it. If you later want the rest to snap back to its default position, position the cursor on it and press the asterisk (*) key.

To enter additional voices by superimposing staves

If your music requires more than the eight voices available through the use of layers and V1/V2, you can superimpose two or more staves on top of one another to accommodate the extra voices. Those who prefer to use layers might use this method whenever more than four independent voices are required in a staff.

Enter notes into one staff with the first four layers, and use the V1/V2 method to add an additional voice on each layer if desired.
In the Score Manager, add a new instrument with the same properties, such as transposition and clef, as the existing staff. See Score Manager for more details.
Enter the remaining voices in the new staff using layers and the V1/V2 method.
Choose the Staff tool and click the handle on the new staff and drag, or use the arrow keys to nudge it on top of the original staff. Use the Zoom tool to zoom in and ensure the new staff is positioned directly over the original staff. By superimposing two staves, you have twice the number of possible voices.