Finale Notepad
I have talked a lot about Finale in my assignments and other posts, so I’m going to take a moment to talk about what it is and how it can be used effectively in class.
Finale is one of the leading music notation softwares available today. When I say “music notation”, I mean music score writing tools. So, if I want to compose a song and write out the sheet music for it, Finale is the software I want to use. Finale works mainly in templates and the wizard will walk you through time signatures, instrument lists, key signatures, and the like. When you have your music page set up, all you have to do is enter the notes. Click on the note you want to use (quarter, half, whole, etc) and place it on the staff. Like any program, Finale takes some practice and may require some digging to find information on how to do exactly what you want it to do.
The benefit to the classroom that Finale has is the Notepad version of its software. Even though it is limited in what it can do, the Notepad has the best advantage of them all. It is free. With it, students can learn about music notation and placement of notes. Finale is great in that it will play back whatever you write, so you get to see right away if the music you meant to write really is what it is supposed to be.
Finale is a great tool to have handy for students who are curious about composition.
