Ossia

An ossia passage is an alternative phrase, often placed in a reduced-size measure above the primary measure in the score. (Ossia means “or else.”) An ossia measure often provides an explication of a trill, proposes a cadenza, or suggests an easier alternative to the real measure. In Finale, such an annotative measure can be created with the Ossia tool.

There are two kinds of ossia measures. A measure-assigned ossia measure remains attached to its measure in the score, even if that measure’s position in the score changes. A page-assigned ossia measure, which you create in Page View, remains fixed to a given spot on the page, regardless of any repositioning of the music around it.

Measure-attached ossia measures are recommended in documents with Linked Parts. If you are adding page-attached ossia measures to a document containing Linked Parts, see Ossia measures in linked parts.

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