1/4

Notating chant and other meterless music

Question

How do I enter music without a time signature like one would see in chant?

Answer

Finales ability to space notes and lyrics within measures can be used to great

advantage in creating measureless or non-mensural notation. All of the

rhythmic and spacing values that you will use to manage the creation of a

measureless score can be displayed and made available for reference until the

notation is finished. At that time note stems, barlines, time signatures, etc. can all

be hidden. This process can be applied to a recitative, a cadenza, a melismatic

phrase or any other episodic occurrence of free notation. Click through the

options below to get started.

Setting up the document

Create a map

Create a document

Before entering your music into Finale, the first step in creating a non-

mensural score is to create a map or scheme. Locate and mark the natural

divisions of the text and music (phrases, stanzas, melismatic extensions,

etc.). The text will be the primary factor in organizing and managing the

spacing and layout of the score. Some passages may need to be split into

two or more sections if they do not fit across a single system; some

systems may accommodate two phrases.

1. Open an appropriate Template or use the Setup Wizard to create adocument.

2. From the Utilities menu, click Fit Measures.

3. Set the score to 1 measure per system.

4. If a custom page size or different page orientation is required, go tothe Page Layout menu and click Page Size.

Notating chant and other meterless music

2/4

Adding music and details

Establish a common denominator for calculating values

Establish a time signature for a phrase

5. Adjust the page size settings as needed, and then click OK.

If the passage or score is to be displayed with stemless noteheads, the

simplest scheme is to use quarter-notes for closed noteheads and half-

notes for open noteheads (the common denominator will then be a quarter-

note). If standard rhythmic values will be used, the common denominator

will be the smallest value used. In either case, the first task is to calculate

the total number of rhythmic units in each phrase. If tuplets are used,

calculate accordingly. In the case of a held note which will contain multiple

syllables or words, assign a value for each of the words or syllables.

Assume, for the purpose of demonstration, that the rhythmic unit total for a

phrase is 19 eighth-notes.

1. Click the Time Signature Tool.

2. Double-click a measure.

3. Set the Number of Beats to 19.

4. Set the Beat Duration to 8.

5. Click OK.

Entering notes

If standard notation (notes with stems) is used:

Enter notes and, if necessary, use the forward slash key ( / ) to separate or

attach beams.

If note stems are to be removed, use the closed-notehead and open-

notehead rhythmic values that were used as the basis for calculating the

phrase.

If a single note carries multiple syllables:

1. Switch to Layer 4.

Notating chant and other meterless music

3/4

Hiding staves and measure items

Entering lyrics (text)

2. If necessary, fill the space previous to the multi-syllable note withrests.

3. Hide the rests by hitting the H key on your keyboard after entering therest.

4. Enter and hide the ghost notes of the multi-syllable phrase.

To hide the ghost notes in playback:

1. From Window menu, click Instrument List.

2. In the Instrument List dialog, click the triangle to the left of the staffname you wish to mute.

3. Click the column M next to Layer 4 to mute its playback.

Note: Text entered with the Lyrics tool will center under the note to which

it is attached. Therefore, note spacing can become awkward if the

number of characters on a single note becomes too large. However,

short words or syllables can be contained without resorting to ghost

notes.

If a single note carries two or three syllables and ghost notes are

not necessary:

1. Enter the first syllable or word.

2. Enter a hard space.

3. Enter the next word or syllable.

Mac: Press OPTION and press the SPACEBAR.

Windows: Press and hold ALT and type 0160 on thenumeric key pad and then release ALT.

To hide Time Signatures, Barlines or Stems for an entire Staff:

1. Click the Staff Tool.

2. Double-click the staff.

3. Uncheck Time Signatures, Barlines, and/or Stems under Items toDisplay.

4. Click OK.

Hiding measure numbers

Notating chant and other meterless music

4/4

Additional tips

Hiding individual barlines

1. Click the Measure Tool.

2. From the Edit menu, click Select All.

3. From the Measure menu, click Hide Numbers.

1. Click the Measure Tool.

2. Select a measure or group of measures.Note: The barline on the right side of a selected measure is the onethat will be hidden.

3. Double-click in the selected measure or region.

4. In the row of available Barline types, click Invisible.

5. Click OK.

Once the music is entered, you can use either the beat charts of themeasure tool or the note position special tool to precisely position thenotes within each "measure".

From the Document menu, click Document Options. Clickthe Stems category from the list of the left, and set the Normal andShortened Stem Lengths to zero if you do not want stems.

If you are transcribing early music, such as Gregorian square notation orItalian mixed notation, you may want to take a look at the Medieval Finaleplug-in fromKlemm Music Technology.