Multi movement work

[db322014]

Hello fellas!

It's been a while I don't post in here, I hope you're all doing great!
I'm still searching solutions for my engraving issues on Finale, and today I ask you, guys, if you know how to engrave a multi-movement work. Is there any specific solution on Finale or we just have to save different files, one for each movement? If we can make it all in one single file, can we start a new movement from measure 1 again?

Thanks!

Danilo

[David Ward]

I think that everything you want can be done in Finale. However, you might be better to ask for detailed help on https://www.finaleforum.com/

[Fred G. Unn]

Measure / Edit Measure Number Regions will let you reset the bar numbering if you want to keep it all in one file. Honestly though, I wouldn't do a multi-movement work in obsolete software if I could at all avoid it. Multi-movement works are one thing that Dorico really excels at, as you can use a different Flow for each movement, and easily keep everything all in one file. If you were looking for a reason to take the MakeMusic crossgrade offer to get Dorico before the offer ends, this is as good of a reason as any. (I have no idea if/when the cross grade offer will end, but MakeMusic is ending all Finale support in less than a month on August 26th 2025, so I would make sure to get it before then.)

[db322014]

Good morning,

Thanks, guys! Fred, yes, I have heard that most of other programs work perfectly better than Finale and I don't doubt that. There are many basic issues I face working on Finale that are basic and it should not be doing any, and yet they happen. Well, the thing is engraving a multimovement work in one single file is not something new or impossible to do, right? If it was, I think many music publishers wouldn't be able to publish large works... What I need to know is, if all movements are really engraved in one single file, so that when one movement is finished and the next one starts on the same page, how can I do that? Or are the movements saved in separate files?

[John Ruggero]

When movements begin and end on the same page, you can put all the movements in one file. You just end one movement with a final bar line, and start the next movement with its own tempo marking, key signature etc and new bar numbers on the next line.

Or, you can as I do, divide the movements so the next file begins on the first full page of the next movement. That does split the movement between two files, but it is what it is.

As Fred G. Unn said, in Dorico each file can be made up of many complete sections called "flows", and the flows can begin and end on the same page. Each movement can be a flow.

Unless you have special requirements that keep you using Finale, you might consider moving to Dorico.

[RMK]

It is definitely possible. I have done it many times.

As David Ward suggested, you probably will receive more guidance in one of the Finale forums.

John R. is mistaken if he thinks you cannot set up the file to start a new movement on the same page as the end of a previous movement. It's not as automatic as it is in Dorico, but it is possible, and not all that difficult.

[John Ruggero]

Hi RMK.

But I started my post by saying that you can start and end movements on the same page in Finale and even explained how to do it. Or at least I thought I did! But perhaps you mean setting up a new file to start on the same page as another file. Yes, I don't know how to do that in Finale.

[Fred G. Unn]

Both programs can do it, it's just Dorico is really designed to do this type of work so it will automate many tasks that you'll have to do manually in Finale. In Finale, if you want to keep it in one file, you can set up Measure #s for each movement as below:

fin.png (178.37 KiB) Viewed 174 times

You can also simply duplicate your rehearsal letter Expression as many times as you have movements, and use a different one for each movement, so the rehearsal lettering will be correct in each movement. You'll have a lot of manual messing around with the Page Layout and Text Tools getting all the part headers and movement labels correct. It can be done, it's just Dorico will do all that stuff automatically so you don't have to mess with it. You'll have quite a bit of proofreading time in Finale making sure this sort of stuff was configured correctly too.

You didn't mention what the orchestration is? Is this for orchestra? Dorico's Condensing feature works great for orchestral stuff and is way better IMO than Finale's method of sharing a staff and then specifying the Voicing. And of course Finale does basically no automatic vertical positioning and collision avoidance, where all that is automatic in Dorico. (Elbsound's Perfect Layout plug-in can help with this in Finale, but isn't cheap as it's more than the cost of the Dorico crossgrade for Finale users.) Finale has the Smart Cue plug-in but it's not implemented nearly as well as Dorico's Cue feature when you go to add the entrance cues in the parts.

I've done multi movement orchestral jobs in both Finale and Dorico, and there's no way you could get me to willingly do it in Finale if Dorico was an option. If the publisher requires Finale that's one thing, but if you can choose Dorico you'll likely save yourself hours of work and lots of headaches.