Fonts
Noteman says: Many fonts included with Finale come with a Type 1 PostScript font and a TrueType font. While TrueType fonts suffice in almost every situation, some publishers require the use of the PostScript format. A custom installation of Finale gives you the option of installing either the PostScript or TrueType fonts on your system. You can identify font types by viewing the properties of an individual font in C:\Windows\Fonts.
Most items you see in Finale are created with font characters; not only text but also most musical symbols (such as noteheads, clefs, and expressions) are font characters as well. This means you can choose from different noteheads, different treble clefs, or whatever you'd like, to make your music look exactly the way you want it to. Furthermore, within lyrics, text blocks, chord symbols, and the Shape Designer, you are able to mix fonts freely: you could, for example, combine text characters with musical symbols, or have selected lyrics italicized.
For a more in-depth discussion of the fonts included with Finale, see Character sets. For information on third-party music fonts, see Alternative music fonts below.
To globally change a musical element’s font
With this technique you can change the font for a single element of the music, such as the clefs or the notes themselves. If you want to change all elements of the music to a different font, see To change music fonts below.
- Choose Document > Document Options > Fonts. The Document Options - Fonts dialog box appears, with buttons and drop-down menus for various elements of the file.
The Select Font button refers to the font used for the notes, rests, accidentals, and other musical symbols; if you use this button to substitute a music font not included with Finale, you’ll need to make some adjustments to music characters in the Document Options dialog box. Finale makes the necessary adjustments automatically if you specify Maestro, Engraver, Broadway Copyist, Jazz, or Petrucci as your default music font.
- From the drop-down menu on the left, choose the type of music character you want to change. Accidentals, Alternate Notation, Augmentation Dots, Flags, Chords, Key Signatures or Notes and Rests are all possible options.
- Click the drop-down menu to choose the specific music character. Click the Set Font button to display the Font dialog box, where you can choose the font name, type, and point size. You’ll see the sample text change in the display. You can choose any combination of style elements: bold, italic, and so on.
- Click OK to save your settings and return to your document.
To change music fonts
If you choose not to use one of Finale’s default fonts, Maestro or Broadway Copyist, you can substitute any other music font.
Noteman says: If you intend to use a third-party music font, you must add it to Finale's list of . To do so, see Configuring MacSymbolFonts.txt.
- Choose Document > Set Default Music Font. The Font dialog box appears.
- Choose the new font/style and click OK twice.
Depending on the music font you’ve selected, you may have to fine-tune the positions of individual elements, such as the eighth-note flags; select the element's corresponding category in the Document Options dialog box.
To change the chord font
- To change chords, choose Document > Document Options and select Fonts. The Document Options - Fonts dialog box appears.
- Choose Chord > Symbol. Click Set Font and choose JazzCord or the desired chord font.
- Click OK (or press ENTER) twice.
- Choose the Chord tool . The Chord menu appears.
- Choose Chord > Change Chord Suffix Fonts.
- To change the entire library of chord suffixes at once, click the Set Font button in the lower half of the screen. The Font dialog box appears, letting you specify new font, size, and style characteristics for the suffixes.
For best results, be sure that the Fix Chord Suffix Spacing check box is selected, so that Finale automatically adjusts the individual characters in each chord suffix to compensate for the new font and size.
- Select a type style, and then click OK. You return to the document, where Finale has changed the font for your chord suffixes.
Finale does not change any musical symbols within the suffix, such as the in F79.
To change every occurrence of one font to another
You can use Finale’s Data Check submenu to change every occurrence of one font and size to another, no matter where they occur — in symbol libraries, in text, in chord symbols, and so on. See also Change Fonts plug-in.
- Choose Document > Data Check> Font Utilities.
- Specify the font to be replaced and the font to replace it with, and click OK.
To change every occurrence of a font to a different size or style
With this technique, you can scale every occurrence of a certain font that’s used in your document to a larger or smaller font size, no matter what size was used in each occurrence. For example, you could tell Finale to scale every occurrence of New York 24-point down to 12-point. In so doing, Finale would also scale New York 36-point down to 18-point, and New York 10-point down to 5-point.
- Choose Document > Data Check > Font Utilities.
- Specify the font, style and size you want changed and click OK (or press ENTER).
- Specify the percentage you want the specified font to be scaled to. If you want text included as part of a shape expression scaled, make sure “Scale Fonts in Shapes” is checked.
- Click OK.
To change the music font of noteheads on a staff-by-staff basis
To use Tamburo, Maestro Perc, or Jazz Perc for your percussion notation, assign it as the notehead font in each staff or as the document’s default notehead font. Then, take advantage of Finale’s built-in percussion libraries or create one of your own, so that notes you enter on a percussion staff automatically assign themselves to appropriate lines or spaces with the correct noteheads.
- Choose the Staff tool . Double-click the staff. The Staff Attributes dialog box appears.
- Click the Notehead Font check box if it is not already selected.
- Click Select and choose the new font.
- Click OK twice. Your new font is now being used for noteheads while other elements such as flags and clefs are taken from the default music font(s).
To hide missing fonts from a document’s font lists
Finale stores a font list with each document you create. The list contains the fonts that were available to Finale when the document was created. If you notice that some font names are listed as missing in the font selection boxes of a certain document, it’s because those fonts were present when the document was created (or previously edited) but are no longer installed.
- Choose Document > Data Check > Font Utilities. The Font Utilities dialog box.
- Select Check Document Fonts Against System Fonts and click OK.
- Open a font selection dialog box. Finale has removed the names of the missing fonts.
Alternative music fonts
Documents created in Finale use default fonts assigned to various score elements, such as notes and rests, clefs, expressions, chords and fretboards, and text. You may wish to use different fonts than those preselected for you; for example, if you need to use the house style of a particular music publisher, you can substitute fonts in your Finale document. This can be done globally for all music symbols, globally for a particular element, globally for all instances of a particular font, or on a staff-by-staff basis for noteheads. The following chart lists some common third-party fonts that are available for use in Finale.
Font name |
Description |
Provider |
November 2.0 by Robert Piéchaud |
November is a rich set made up of more than 330 symbols, from basic shapes such as note heads, clefs and rests, up to rarer characters like microtonal accidentals, plain-song clefs or baroque ornaments. Based on the fractal concept, in which details are as important as the whole, even for very small symbols such as music characters, November has been crafted with total attention to details and a new coherence. November is inspired by the spirit of traditional music engraving art… but with a revolutionary graphic idea! |
Klemm Music Technology
|
Toccata and Fughetta by Blake Hodgetts |
Hundreds of additional musical symbols; available for Mac and Windows. The full package includes TrueType and PostScript fonts, custom Finale libraries, character charts, stem connection settings and full documentation. |
The Hodgetts Page
|
Vienna, Stockholm, and others by MuseGraph |
MuseGraph makes various sets of music fonts for use in notation programs such Finale or Sibelius. All typefaces are tested on and adjusted for Finale on both Windows and Mac OS X. All fonts include several types of sets (TrueType, OpenType, Suit, PostScript – for both platforms) and .fan files for Finale. |
MuseGraph
|
Sonata by Cleo Huggins for Adobe Systems |
The first music font, and a favorite among computer copyists. This font has fewer symbols than most other fonts but remains popular because of its “classic” look. Available for Mac and Windows. |
FontSpring (perpetual license)
|
Metronome and MetTimes by DVM Publications |
A music font that works like a text font. A collection of number sets, text characters and built-in music characters lets you mix text with markings and music symbols without changing fonts. MetTimes includes the largest collection of dynamics in any music font. Available for Mac and Windows. DVMarticulations is included free of charge. |
DVM Publications
|
Susato by Werner Eickhoff-Maschitzki |
The Susato PostScript Type 1 and TrueType character sets take the aesthetics of traditional note engraving into account and thus greatly enhance the printouts made with Finale. The standard character set is complemented by an accordion register font, a guitar tablature font, and a notehead font. Available for Mac and Windows. |
Notengrafik (German)
|
Figured Bass by Ansgar Krause |
This font allows you to write figured bass symbols of baroque music. It can be used with nearly any kind of software. Its special power is to give you direct entry of numbers, accidentals and brackets below each other at up to four different distances from the baseline without having to go into different entry layers (verses etc.). Of course, it also contains struck-through numbers in several designs. Moreover, the font can also be used to enter stacked fingerings - e.g. for piano chords. |
Final Font Solutions
|
See also:
Font annotation
Configuring MacSymbolFonts.txt