MusicXML - Enabling Finale Notepad to do the stuff you want

[PetrifiedLasagna]

Well as my first post to these forums, I will do something simple, but all the more important.

I am sure everyone here knows that Finale Notepad does not have working repeats and dozens of other things that can not be implemented through the editor itself. Well if you have some sheet music with repeats, all you have to do to make them work is export the MusicXML and then import it and the repeats will work. I have the freeware installation of Finale Notepad 2012 so I can confirm that it works with at least that iteration.

By exporting the XML and modifying it you can also do cool stuff like

• Tempo Changes
• Clef Changes
• measures with less than four beats (or whatever time sig is)
• > WORKING REPEATS <

And so much more

I have tried several tries to find leads on how to make working repeats and that's when I discovered this new way of enhancing Finale's capabilities. Once I have more time I will add some basic instructions on editing the XML to add certain things to your sheet music.

Now I am hoping that this page is indexed by Google so that people like me will find this instead of 'Upgrade to whatever it is'  .



General

Spoiler

Before trying to modify you sheet, try to finish as much as possible that does not require more advanced notation that notepad does not let you implement. Also, if you are using Musescore than you just have to export the XML and import it into notepad to save it as a .mus

MusicXML is exactly what the name says, it is an XML document containing many declarations that have your sheet music's information. If you have coded in HTML than you do not need to read any further, because XML is similar in style and markup.

an XML tag looks like this, with a starting tag and an ending tag.
<tag>
  data
</tag>

tags can also be singular, in which there is no closing tag. you define it like so.
<tag />

Finally, tags can have attributes that can specify exactly how they behave. Both singular and tags with closing tags can have attributes
<tag attribute1="5" attribute2="no"/>

While learning to modify the XML file, you might make mistakes, but that is okay since notepad will give information about certain errors in your file so you can find them.

In order to find where you want to insert something, you must find the part, which for a sheet with only one instrument is simply <part id="P1>. Then you just have to find the measure that you want to change and that's it.

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Repeats

Spoiler

In order to get working repeats in Notepad, all you have to do is export the XML and then import it back in. It does not matter if the XML is generated by Notepad or some other software, it will work. Just make sure that you have actually added in the repeats before exporting.

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Preventing Objects From Being Displayed

Spoiler

This is another simple change that you can add to your sheet music.A good modification to start with if you are a beginner. For those of you who are not familiar with the NSM formatting guidelines, sheets for solo play are not to have the instrument abbreviation after in subsequent staff lines. To get rid of this you need to find the <part-list> tag in your sheets exported XML. Then Just <part-abbreviation></part-abbreviation> tags and it will no longer be in your sheet.

This is what a typical 1 part sheet with a piano would look like. You can find the <part-list> block right after all of the <credit> tags.

• <part-list>
•   <score-part id="P1">
•     <part-name>Piano</part-name>
•     <part-abbreviation>Pno.</part-abbreviation>   <- Delete this line
•     ...
•   </score-part>
• </part-list>

What about when you are using multiple layers for your sheet, and you don't want the extra rests to show up in the measures? We will have to use the "print-object" attribute to remove them. First open up your sheet in Finale and get the measure number(s) where you have other layers with rests. Then go to that measure in the XML (e.g. <measure number="1">).

The layers in an XML file are separated by <backup> tags. In a measure where you use the upper and lower staff, you will only see one <backup> tag, but if you used a second layer only on the upper or lower staff, you will see two <backup> tags.

So to remove rest notes from the second layer on the first staff you would go to the notes in between the first and second <backup> tags. Then you add a "print-object="no" attribute to the notes that have <rest /> or <rest>...</rest> in them.

# is whatever the value happens to be for your note tags

• <backup>...</backup>
• <note default-x="#" print-object="no">   <- This note is a rest so we added print-object="no" to it
•   <rest />
•   ...
• </note>
• <note default-x="#">
•   <pitch>
•     ...
•   </pitch>
•   ...
• </note>
• <backup>...</backup>

Once you import the XML, those rests will be removed from the sheet.

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Initial Tempo and Tempo Changes

Spoiler

If you are going to be learning to use MusicXML for modifying your compositions for Notepad, then you definitely need to know this. Notepad automattically saves the tempo with your sheet's XML, but it does not display it. If you go into the first measure of the XML you will find a line that looks like this.

# is the tempo of the sheet
<sound tempo="#"/>

If you want to be able to display the tempo, you will need to add a <directive> block. This makes use of the <metronome> tag.

• <direction directive="yes" placement="above">
•   <direction-type>
•     <metronome font-family="EngraverTextT" font-size="10.2" halign="left">
•       <beat-unit>note_type(quarter, half, etc.)</beat-unit>
•       <per-minute>#<per-minute>
•     </metronome>
•   <sound tempo="#"/>
• </direction>

Once you have saved your modified XML, you can import it and use the expression tool to position it where you want it. You can also add this into different measures and have the tempo change as needed.

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Clef Change

Spoiler

You can add clef changes after you have finished your sheet, because it is notepad that will decide how to display the note accordingly.

The two most common Clefs, the Treble and Bass can be represented with the following code. they must be inside of an attribute tag in order to properly function <attribute></attribute>

Treble

• <clef>
•   <sign>G</sign>
•   <line>2</line>
• </clef>

Bass

• <clef>
•   <sign>F</sign>
•   <line>4</line>
• </clef>

If the instrument you are modifying has multiple staffs, you can specify which one with the number attribute. This is what it looks like for the first staff.
<clef number="1">

Finally, if your cleff change shows up on a new staff line, or new page you should also specify the after-barline attribute so that it does not leak onto the previous measure.
<clef after-barline="yes">

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[Pianist Da Sootopolis]

I think most all of the finale notepad users on the site know this by necessity, due to the fact that most people use musescore and then transport it into finale to satisfy the .mus requirement.
On the subject of which, I'm curious how many non NSM members actually download the .mus files...

[Altissimo]

On the subject of which, I'm curious how many non NSM members actually download the .mus files...

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THIS TOO. it is important

[PetrifiedLasagna]

Well, I download it to learn the songs on piano so yeah. The thing is though is that I have only been composing with notepad and would prefer not to waste space on my PC so I found out that there is no need for alternative software (For everything I have tested so far).

[Yug_Guy]

Gonna be real here, this or something similar needs to be stickied. There are too many people that come here asking if they can submit (usually) Musescore arrangements. This'll let them know that yes they can, with one additional step in between.

On the subject of which, I'm curious how many non NSM members actually download the .mus files...

Me? Almost never. I usually just go .midi/.pdf, because I can copy pdf's straight into a Chrome tab.

[Zunawe]

On the subject of which, I'm curious how many non NSM members actually download the .mus files...

It's probably relatively few with the exceptions being regulars of the site. There isn't a huge benefit to a .mus if you can both read and listen to a piece using files that your computer already supports.

[Latios212]

True, but even before I started arranging I found Notepad's scrolling playback pretty helpful.

[PetrifiedLasagna]

It's probably relatively few with the exceptions being regulars of the site. There isn't a huge benefit to a .mus if you can both read and listen to a piece using files that your computer already supports.

That's true. I find it helpful with getting the note timings correct, because I am able to see the cursor move from note to note as well as hear it.

[PetrifiedLasagna]

There are a lot of new additions to this post which will help with following the formatting guidelines for NSM, as well as things that will enhance the general readability of your sheets.

EDIT:

If someone could send me XML with an 8vb and 8va so I can see the difference, that would be great. For some reason, Notepad does not seem to preserve the state of 8vb/8va when exporting and they all turn into 8va. Please make sure that it imports into Notepad correctly. Thanks.