Finale NotePad

reviewed by Daphne Kalfon

FinaleNotepad has Intel-based Macintosh support, and is fully compatible with Finale 2007.

The website has links to a notation product comparison chart to help you decide which Finale notation software product you should go with based on your needs. The site also lists the system requirements, has a download library so that you can access previous versions of NotePad, and a very interesting and fun-looking feature called Finale Showcase, where users of the Finale family of products can post their music for shared viewing, playback and printing:

http://www.finalemusic.com/showcase/fs_home.asp

Also, NotePad doesn’t seem to want to play through my FireWire audio device (MOTU 828 mkII), only through my internal speakers, which really is not helpful. I tried doing a search on this topic to find out what may be the problem, but as mentioned above, finding the answer to one’s question can be quite a daunting task. Other than that, one has the option of going to the MakeMusic customer support page, where you must first create an account and then you may submit your question using the form on that page. There is also a phone number, but I didn’t try it.

The download process was very straightforward. A password was auto-generated which one must use in order to be able to download the software. The installer then asks for authentication of ID, and I mistakenly entered the auto-generated password, and of course it wouldn’t accept it. I’ve been through this process before and did it correctly, but I was nodding off when I tried to do this - not a great idea. A quick “help” email to product specialist Scott Yoho at MakeMusic Inc. resulted in an equally prompt response and all was well again.

First, I went through all the items I received when I downloaded Finale Notepad. I started off by clicking on the icon “Notepad Entry Exercise” to learn how to use the program. On each page of the tutorial there are two staves, one with notes on it, and one below it, with nothing on it. Following the instructions on the same page, the user is shown how to enter the notes that appear on the upper stave onto the lower stave by using the simple entry palette and mouse. Simple entry of rests, ties, accidentals and tuplets is also covered.

You are then guided through how to enter notes by a much quicker method - keyboard entry. Using the letters on the computer keyboard corresponding to the letters of the musical alphabet along with the keys of your numerical keypad, it doesn’t take long to discover just how much more efficient this method of entry can be. I did run into a little snag with accidentals, in that the key on the numerical keypad that is supposed to give me a flat accidental didn’t seem to work, and neither did the sign to obtain the sharp accidental nor the “N” key to obtain the natural sign. I tried to use the same keys on the main keyboard, and the ones for sharp and flat worked, but still not the one for the accidental sign.

The literature states that computer keyboard entry is much faster now than was possible with previous versions of Notepad.

The tutorial goes on to show the user how to quickly enter chords again using the computer’s keyboard, which can be accomplished by typing in the number that corresponds to the interval between the two notes. And similarly for entering rests.

As one goes along, other tips and shortcuts are explained in order to make entry and corrections as quick and easy as possible.

One also learns how to implement Notepad’s ability to notate music in multiple simultaneous rhythms within one staff which it does by way of a system of layers. Four layers are available for this purpose for each staff, each having its own stem default, as well as its own colour to make it easier to work with.

Those were the main points covered in the Notepad Entry tutorial.

I also checked out the NotePad QuickHelp guide to view its contents. Chapters listed are:

Tutorials; What’s New to NotePad 2007; File Menu; Edit Menu; View Menu; Document Menu; Window Menu; Key Signature Tool; Measure Tool; Simple Entry Tool; Tuplet Tool; Smart Shape Tool; Articulation Tool; Repeat Tool; Lyrics Tool; Text Tool; Mass Edit Tool; Printing; Playback; Keyboard Shortcuts; and Maestro Font Character Set.

If at anytime you need to refine your search for something, you can go to the top of the page and click on “Help Topics”. A new little window will come up which enables you to try to find exactly what you are looking for.

I went through the steps in Tutorial 1, which shows you the basics of simple entry and how to create a new document using the Document Setup Wizard, and it was really straightforward and easy to get a score set up and ready for entering notes. The setup tutorial included screen shots of each step being explained, which made the process that much easier.

Also covered was the Mass Edit tool, how to activate and use the Simple Entry Caret along with the computer keyboard and number keypad for quicker entry, accidentals, chords, tuplets, adding or deleting measures, playback, setting tempo, and saving your work.

From reading through and doing this tutorial, I learned that NotePad has an Automatic Music Spacing feature, which widens or narrows a measure to professional publishing standards. This is a very handy feature that can save a lot of time as it takes care of the layout for you.

I also found out that choosing any tool from the simple entry palette creates a new menu with items such as “Check for extra notes on mouse entry”, “Fill with rests at end of measure”, and “Playback notes on entry”, among others. The first three mentioned are already selected by default. These features are really handy and can save a lot of time when entering your music. The first item will not let you add in more notes than allowed by your selected time signature, the second item will automatically finish your bar with rests if your note entry hasn’t used up the available beats and the third item will allow you to hear the notes as you enter them.

The next tutorial covers things like Changing the Key, using the Text Tool, entering lyrics, The Repeat Tool, Chord Symbols, Working with Layers, Basic Articulations and Text Expressions, Slurs and Printing Your Music. Another feature of NotePad is that articulations, such as staccatos and other dynamic markings, will actually be implemented when you playback your music - they aren’t just there for show. Well, I did try it and noticed that some but not all articulations and dynamics seemed to sound on playback.

Finale NotePad allows you to create up to 8 staves. If your score requires more staves than that, then the next step up in the Finale family of products would be PrintMusic, which allows for up to 24 staves, or even better, Finale, which allows you to create an unlimited number.

In conclusion I’d say that NotePad is a great little starter program for those who only need something very basic when it comes to notation software.