Finale Notepad Help

[Bubbles]

I attempted putting what scraps of the song "Defend Globe Ending" from PMD Sky I had onto actual sheet music, but Finale notepad has little to work with. As much as I've tried, for some reason the first four measures are extremely fast, while the next 8 or so are so slow its painful. I put rit. and other speed adjusters where they are needed to change the speed but it didn't work. I also couldn't get the copyright on all the pages or the words to be in italics or bolded. I dont know how to make it a PDF on Notepad either :/. If someone with a better version of Finale could fix the mistakes in this, I'd be grateful.

MIDI
http://www.mediafire.com/?nxg3b0e0cg5r31h

MUS
http://www.mediafire.com/?u2rfblbp0t1ddtv

Is it even possible to do these things on Notepad?

[JDMEK5]

If possible, refer here.

[Bespinben]

I attempted putting what scraps of the song "Defend Globe Ending" from PMD Sky I had onto actual sheet music, but Finale notepad has little to work with. As much as I've tried, for some reason the first four measures are extremely fast, while the next 8 or so are so slow its painful. I put rit. and other speed adjusters where they are needed to change the speed but it didn't work. I also couldn't get the copyright on all the pages or the words to be in italics or bolded. I dont know how to make it a PDF on Notepad either :/. If someone with a better version of Finale could fix the mistakes in this, I'd be grateful.

MIDI
http://www.mediafire.com/?nxg3b0e0cg5r31h

MUS
http://www.mediafire.com/?u2rfblbp0t1ddtv

Is it even possible to do these things on Notepad?

I love that you do PMD arrangements. However, I'm already extremely busy trying to keep up with fulfilling requests, completing the PMD Blue Rescue Team OST, making replacements for Fixing the Sheets projects, and re-writing Dusk's PMD arrangements into Finale (he uses a German notation program).

For now, though it's only a quick fix and won't last, I suggest using the 30-day trial on full Finale 2012. Your problems with tempo changes will completely dissapate.

As for the arrangements themselves ("Defend Globe" and "A Fond Farewell"), you need to cut the tempo in half, and re-write all the rhythm values in half as well. The sheet will be much readable that way. If you don't want to do all that though, you could use cut time (2/2) and state the beat as a half note, but then your sheet will look like those Primer level piano books, no offense.

[Bubbles]

Oh man... I really hope there's a shortcut for that. Making that sheet took me at least two hours, and I had to put each note in without any copying or pasting. I had to rewrite it twice too.I wasn't really thinking about the tempo, i was just expecting people to recognize that tempo of the song and play with that.

[Bespinben]

Oh man... I really hope there's a shortcut for that. Making that sheet took me at least two hours, and I had to put each note in without any copying or pasting. I had to rewrite it twice too.I wasn't really thinking about the tempo, i was just expecting people to recognize that tempo of the song and play with that.

Unfortunately, there really is no shortcut for that kind of thing. Manual re-entry is the only way. Don't feel discouraged though, I ended up having to do the same to my PMD2 "I Don't Want to Say Goodbye" arrangement. It took a few hours, but it was worth it. See for yourself the quality difference:

Old version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35209091/PMD%202%20-%20I%20Don%27t%20Want%20to%20Say%20Goodbye%3B%20Farther%20Away.pdf
New version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35209091/PMD%202%20-%20I%20Don%27t%20Want%20to%20Say%20Goodbye.pdf

Besides, I figure if you give the 30-day trial a shot, this would be a great first thing to do.

[Bubbles]

But there's so many notes... :/ When you say manual re-entry, do you mean just with the mouse? I don't really know any keyboard shortcuts

[Bespinben]

But there's so many notes... :/ When you say manual re-entry, do you mean just with the mouse? I don't really know any keyboard shortcuts

I totally feel you. A 3 min 40 sec sound like mine definitely took awhile.

Yeah pretty much. I don't know many of the keyboard shortcuts myself, I mostly just do everything with the mouse (as tedious as that may sound). Dangit, I'm probably making arranging sound really boring XD

[Bubbles]

Ok I'll do that tomorrow then reupload it. One more thing and then I stop badgering you What would be a good tempo to start on so I don't mess up on a future piece?

[Bespinben]

I'd suggest common time (4/4), with 75 bpm. You may use what I've done so far of my draft of "Defend Globe" as a reference: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/35209091/PMD%202%20-%20Defend%20Globe.pdf

Also, I thought you might find this helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6c70mDUskQ&feature=relmfu

[Bubbles]

Haha I actually watched that video and the style of another YouTuber to get the feel of how I wanted to make the song. Thanks for the help

[Bubbles]

Ok I fixed the songs. Is this ok?

At the End of the Day/A Fond Farewell
MIDI
http://www.mediafire.com/?2nu49blknot6jxv

MUS
http://www.mediafire.com/?ku33el5ja483x6g

Defend Globe Ending
MIDI
http://www.mediafire.com/?1cyai5mytqhob2w

MUS
http://www.mediafire.com/?p32p1e5f4hmlh6t

[Bespinben]

Much improved! Thanks for taking the time to do that. Don't think it ends there though, we still have to spell those accidentals correctly.

On measure 7 of "Defend Globe", there is a chromatic ascension in the R.H. on the 4th beat. As such, you need to write A# then B, not Bb then B natural. As a rule of thumb, an accidental immediately followed by a natural is usually incorrect in Western tonal music. Try applying that principle elsewhere in the arrangement. Also, try experimenting with slurs and pedal markings.

As for "A Fond Farewell", there is the same issue as above at the end of L.H. measure 1. It's C, C#, D - not C, Db, D natural. Also, some of the rhythms are spelled incorrectly. Notice how you tend to use "dotted eighth, dotted eighth, eighth" alot? The rule of rhythms is you have to show each beat clearly. As such, you would instead spell that grouping of rhythms as "dotted eighth, 16th-tied-to-eighth, eighth".
Lastly (and I believe this is what is most important imo), I feel you left out ALOT of the original song. It's your arrangement, of course, but there are plenty of notes from the guitar and clarinet that you could have incorporated.

[Bubbles]

Woah that alot. I know what you mean by leaving things out. I couldn't figure out a way to get the higher parts while still keeping the main tune in. Particularly, I dont know hoe to make some notes of a chord are held while others are not. Like making the top and bottom notes of the chord half notes while the ones in the middle are quarter notes.

With the accidentals, it was late and I was frustrated. I never learned much about accidentals in my piano lessons, and I had to rewrite thing os much that I just I just overlooked it. If the note was on the wrong beat, I just shoved notes in there until it worked. Ill try to fix them, but I cant promise anything

[Bespinben]

Particularly, I dont know hoe to make some notes of a chord are held while others are not. Like making the top and bottom notes of the chord half notes while the ones in the middle are quarter notes.

Layers. Look it up in the user manual. They'll become your best friend.
(see the numbers at the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, 1, 2, 3, 4? When you open Finale, you are, by default, writing in layer "1". If you click the "2", you will be writing in a separate layer, which will allow you to have something like "chord half notes below melody quarters" in the same hand.)

With the accidentals, it was late and I was frustrated. I never learned much about accidentals in my piano lessons, and I had to rewrite thing os much that I just I just overlooked it. If the note was on the wrong beat, I just shoved notes in there until it worked. Ill try to fix them, but I cant promise anything

Completely understandable. The focus of piano lessons are primarily towards performance, not creation. I pretty much learned all my music theory here on NSM, haha (that's a shout-out to you pumpy_heart )

[Bubbles]

THERES LAYERS IN THIS!? Wow if I knew that before... haha Ill fix it now

EDIT:
Ok I added some of the guitar and the clarinet, but I didn't want to do too much or it would end up as an orchestra instead of piano

MUS
http://www.mediafire.com/?vmxzvsxj1h36cen

MIDI
http://www.mediafire.com/?wbepcubqayu7zf7