OF NOTE

Finale and Sibelius tips and tutorials by music notation expert Robert Puff

Creating Aleatoric Temporal Boxed

Notation in Finale
Posted on 02/05/2012 by Robert Pu
Q: I would like to use Finale to notate the contemporary avant-garde works I am composing. In a
score with a number of instruments, How do I encapsulate a series within boxes or repeat bars
for only one instrument, while the others keep playing and counting normally, without the repeat
sign?
A: Finale is very flexible in this regard. Start by entering the notes for the series you would like
boxed. They can be quarter notes, or duplets or tuplets of any value. The note values you choose
will determine the initial series width within a bar of score, and the relative width within the part:

If you are using tuplets, it is common practice to hide their numbers. Select the tuplet tool.
Click the first note of the tuplet, and then double-click the little selection box that appears in the
center of the tuplet. When the dialog opens, change the appearance popup menu to none, and
do this optionally for the shape setting as well, then ok the dialog:

If you have multiple boxed notations on different instruments down the score which use
tuplets, use the Mass Edit tool to select all the affected staves in your selected region, then go to
Utilities > Change > Tuplets . . . where you can hide the tuplet numbers globally for the selected
area in one pass.
As of this writing, there are several systems for notating boxed notation. To keep it simple, I will
walk through one of the more common conventions . . .
First, lets hide the rests that make up the remainder of the bar. Select the Speedy Entry
tool, and click into the measure. Click the mouse or Arrow the cursor over each rest and type O

or H to hide them (this works in Finale 2011 or later). You can also leave them visible, and after
exiting Speedy Entry, use the Plugins > Note, Beam and Rest Editing > Notes and Rests
(Hide) plugin to hide the rests.
Next, advance Speedy Entry to the next frame (measure), and enter real rests, then hide
them in the same way. If you enter a rest that is for the duration of the bar, and the cursor jumps
into the next empty bar, you can still type O or H and it will hide your last rest entry in the
previous bar. Do this for the duration (number of bars) of the series. Or, enter real rests for the
duration, then drag select the region to highlight it, and use the Notes and Rests (Hide) plugin to
hide all of the rests at once. (If the series ends just before the last beat of a bar, leave a real, visible
rest there for now, or put in the actual note that should appear there.) At this point, youll have
something that looks similar to this:

If you need the series to play back, enter real notes in place of the hidden rests, select
everything following what will become the visible boxed notation, then use the Plugins > Note,
Beam and Rest Editing > Notes and Rests (Hide) plugin.

(As a sidebar, the plugin works like typing O in Speedy note rather than H which will also mute
the hidden notes. If you want playback of hidden notes, the plugin is the fastest solution).
So far, so good. Now we need to create a box (container), as well as the contains extender line.
The series box container is created in Finales Shape Designer. The extender line is created using
FInales Smart Lines. These two tools in Finale are extremely flexible and powerful, allowing to
create virtually any shape or line youll ever need.
Finale Libraries provide a great way to manage objects like shapes and lines for specific
tasks. With the series box and the line extender saved as individual library items, youll have
access to one or both of these elements any time you need them. To get you started, Ive created
two Finale files that you can download here, and save out the elements into your own library. One
contains a series box, and one contains three different variations of the box extender line.
Download the files to your desktop. Open them and follow the instructions in them to add the
box shape and the box line extenders to your own Finale Library. (Youll be able to modify them to
your personal taste once you are familiar with the technique.)
The new smart shapes and shape expressions will be accessible at any time now from your
Finale Library. Open them into your current score, remembering to assign a key shortcut to the
Boxed Shape Expression so that each box you create within the score can have a unique
dimension. After applying the Box and moving it into position, apply one of the smart shape box
extender lines. If all goes according to plan, you should end up with a mix of aleatoric and

standard notation staves in your score:

Thats it!
~robert
for Zoltan Paulinyi
Related:
Aleatoric Elements : From Boxed to Out of the Box Notation in Finale
Creating Tone Clusters in Finale

Related Posts:
1. Aleatoric Elements : From Boxed to Out of the Box Notation In Finale
2. Finales Managed Parts & Grace Note Spacing
3. Finale Page Layout Advancements & Plugins | JW Copy Part Layout
4. Displaying Dierent Octaves In Score and Parts in Finale Part 1
This entry was posted in Finale, Libraries, Plug-ins, Smart Shapes and tagged alternate
notation, graphics, page layout, parts, scores by Robert Pu. Bookmark the permalink
[http://www.rpmseattle.com/of_note/creating-aleatoric-temporal-boxed-notation-infinale-part-1/] .
6 THOUGHTS ON CREATING ALEATORIC TEMPORAL BOXED NOTATION IN FINALE

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Don Scott Carpenter

on 06/09/2015 at 9:52 am said:

Im trying to find the exact same answer but only in Sebelius; any suggestions?

Matthew James Briggs

on 10/02/2015 at 7:58 pm said:

Thank you for these helpful libraries and downloads. Once I assign a shortcut and add a
box to the score, how do I change the dimension of that box?

Robert Puff
on 10/03/2015 at 7:18 am said:

Hi Matthew when you apply a shape expression via a metatool, you are actually creating
a new iteration of the shape under the hood. So, you can simply click on it, and youll see
the move handles which will allow you to drag diagonally from one of the corners to
increase or decrease the size. And, this wont affect the other boxes you may have
already applied, or subsequent box shapes you may enter.
~robert

John Rommereim
on 04/05/2016 at 11:16 am said:

Dear Robert,
I really appreciate the material youve provided; what a generous thing youve done. Ive
hit a snag that has had me stumped for hours. Im unable to make glissando lines. It
seems like the new custom smart lines have been substituted for the glissando lines. If I
have horizontal checked in the dialog, the glissando lines appear, but if horizontal is
not checked only the handles appear, with no actual wavy glissando lines in the score.
Ive tried various ways of editing the lines Smart Lines Selection dialog box, but havent
found a solution. Many thanks for any ideas you might be able to share.
John Rommereim

Chris Unger
on 07/08/2016 at 9:00 am said:

I am also trying to find out this information for Sibelius. Do you have any suggestions?