Finale for Drummers #1: How to Write Drum Notation in Finale

MakeMusic has partnered with Tim Buell to bring Finale users high-quality tutorials and tips for drummers and percussionists writing their own drum notation.
Tim covers a number of topics including, setting up your first drum notation document, inputting notes using simple entry, and handy shortcuts to speed up your workflow.
For more on Tim and his process for how he uses Finale to transcribe and chart drums - you can download a FREE 4-part video course "How To Transcribe" here: www.timbuellmusic.com/howtotr...
Launch Window
Windows: Ctrl + Shift + N
Mac: Cmd + Shift + N
Save
Windows: Ctrl + S
Mac: Cmd + S
Score Manager
Windows: Ctrl + K
Mac: Cmd + K
Select All
Windows: Ctrl + A
Mac: Cmd + A
Fit Measures
Windows: Ctrl + M
Mac: Cmd + M
Document Options
Windows: Ctrl + Alt + A
Mac: Cmd + Opt + A
Break/Join Beam
Windows: /
Mac: /
Jump to a topic:
Intro - 00:00
Preview of Final Result - 00:43
Set Up Wizard Settings - 01:19
Tempo Settings - 02:20
Getting Rid of Instrument Label and Abbreviation - 03:47
Changing Document Margins - 04:25
Changing Number of Measures in a Line - 05:21
Inputting Notes in Simple Entry - 05:49
Freezing Stems Up for Percussion - 07:12
Un-beam Four 8th Notes - 08:27
Flatten Percussion Beams - 09:25
Copying a Measure - 09:50
Ghost Notes and Open Hi Hats - 010:30
Changing Open Hi Hat Notehead in Percussion Layout - 11:25
Changing Ride Bell Notehead in Percussion Layout - 12:34
Changing a Measure’s Barline - 15:07
Adding Stickings to Percussion Notation - 15:19
Adjusting Lyric Placement - 16:06
Adding Performance Notes Text Using Expression Tool - 17:41
Cleaning Up Lyric Word Extensions and Hyphens - 19:55
Cleaning Up The Final Measure - 20:29
How to Make a Drum Notation Legend - 21:24
Final Result and Exporting to PDF - 26:56

[@billtubehart]

I'm an arranger not a drummer. Good presentation, it flowed smoothly and logically. I learned a couple of things. Thanks

[@MikeGomeztheDMG]

This tutorial is incredible! As a new Finale user it didn't just save me time, it gave me a vision!

[@SteveGruver]

I've been using Finale for a long time. Your drum set notation video was one of the best I've seen! Can't wait to see more percussion notation videos.

[@TimBuell]

Hey Steve! Thanks for those kind words! If you have any suggestions on what you would want to see - let me know!

[@SteveGruver]

@@TimBuell It would be great to see your setup and workflows when you work on drum parts.

[@TimBuell]

@@SteveGruver The next video in the series is me working through a transcription start to finish so that should give you a pretty good "behind the scenes" look at the whole process.

[@michealmccoy9249]

Finally someone who can take us by the hand , man I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do this short tutorial series mate , greetings from Australia 🇦🇺

[@supermusicmakerman]

Thanks so much! This video and explanation were so clear and helpful to see how to make drum parts that look good and are easy to read.

[@brentroman]

This was so helpful. Looking forward to more stuff on drums. (like how to do syncopated cymbal parts above a basic groove, rests, how to differentiate between cymbals and drums, etc). Thanks.

[@JohnnyFedevich]

Great tutorial for me! I've always been a drummer that hand writes my drum notation but have always wanted to step up the game. This is perfect!

[@jamessbca]

Great video! Two thumbs up to all stems up. I've stumbled into many of these things over the years, yet learned new tricks from your video. Finding these things in Finale on your own are tough. This video should be Assignment Number 1 for anyone wanting to use finale for drumset notation!!!

[@yaroslavleshchukh]

That is awesome tutorial.Thank u so much. Best explanation I've found in KZbin.

[@FoundationDrumAcademy]

Sold me from Print Music to the full version with this video. Great work.

[@dr.keithheimann3963]

Thanks very much, Tim. This was very helpful.

[@roma_hood]

Great lesson! Huge thanks for this!

[@benandrewsmusic]

great video Tim! really helpful!

[@TigeyPuss1]

Good to see some of the mechanics in doing scores. I'm more interested in vocal and piano score, but this is great to see how to edit score. The video was professional. I liked the switch between details and the speaker. Very nice.

[@DarrenBrollo]

Fantastic tutorial, thank you. :)

[@JohnHenrySheridan]

Very helpful thank you!

[@kristinastary]

Wow, what a workflow! I am not a drummer and rarely need to write drum notation. But I learned many other details from you as well. I wondered if you would let us listen to the "result" in the end. Great video, thanks!

[@musicforbrass]

Well done sir!

[@7771212drummer]

WoW! Great video. I have been using Finale for many years now. I was not sure how to do many of the things mentioned in this video. I have jumped from MuseScore to Finale and vice versa. I would like to request a video on polyrhythms, please. Thanks

[@IvanLiakh]

Super! Fantastic! Thank you!

[@TimBuell]

Thanks for watching Ivan - glad you enjoyed.

[@williamrowe7648]

Great job explaining. It was easy to follow for an experienced Finale user. I did find that the Fit Measure command on MacOS is Shift + Cmd + M. Just Cmd + M is minimize window.

[@johnrispoli]

Thank you this was very helpful

[@raveniskcrow3638]

Great Job

[@shreekuldrums3221]

Useful Stuff!

[@macmankcodo9651]

Excellent tutorial, Tim! Just going to add that in Finale v.27 the Key Command for Fit Measures is Shift+Command+M on a Mac.

[@johntrotta5375]

Great video, Tim. I especially liked how you showed us to use note heads to denote open and closed hi hats rather than using the articulation tool. Another great tip was your showing is how to create the legend. If would help if you would include instructions on how to zero it the measure numbering for that notation legend measure. That way, the song would begin with measure 1.

[@drum_mama]

This was a great video. I like the neat look of using layers and so I use layer 2 for the feet. One thing I'd like to know is if there is a way to make a template of all the changes you made such as the noteheads and the margin settings and the removal of all the extraneous text so that you don't have to do that every time you start a new document.

[@jonadamsdrums6649]

this is such a great video. thanks for posting. I'll be referencing this video a lot unfortunately lol

[@thewelshwizard5869]

I love this video and have looking for something like this for a while. For someone who just wants to write simple stuff without the bells and whistles which version of Finale would you recommend

[@jameswigginton5973]

TIM!

[@jamescrouse3779]

Hi Tim, thank you for making this video. I am new to drum notation but wanted to use it to make song charts for live performances. I downloaded the 2014 version, but I see it does not look like yours thought it has many of the same features. Page formatting is a bit different though. What version do you recommend. May need to upgrade already ... thanks!

[@Thomohawk21]

15:20 Thank you thank you thank you! For so so long I have been trying to find what software to best use for sticking. I've resorted to using Guitar Pro but it's lyrics are only above the measure and as a drum teacher, this can be very frustrating and confusing for the student. I should have known Finale could do this!

[@tinoperc]

Hello Tim, thank's for your tutorials... How i can repeat the same rhythm in other measures? please..

[@youtubebanddirector]

Thank you for this! Is there a way to save it permanently when you change the notation for the specific cymbals, etc?

[@effyiew7318]

It's insane after all these decades that Finale still can't just automatically add the little "o" over an open hi hat. It's something I thought they'd eventually fix and they just never did. It makes scoring drums such a PITA.

[@jimmcmahon1987]

Thanks for the video Tim. Very helpful. Two problems still elude me: First, I tried opening a MIDI drum file (created in Cubase Pro with SSD5.5) in Finale and it was a disaster. Not even worth trying to edit. Wondering if I'm missing something. Second, I mostly work in jazz and would like drum notation that more easily allows each drum part (e.g., hi-hat, snare, kick, floor tom, etc.) to have its own independent timing. In other words, if you want to add a snare hit between two hi-hat 8th notes, you don't have to alter the hi-hat notes to do it.

[@ZFMP]

I've been using Finale since its original release in the late '80s and drum set notation has always been a weak spot for me. I like the legend that was presented in this video, but I do scores that include one or more drum sets rather than a document that only contains drums (as in this video). I'd like to see a suggestion for how to incorporate the legend into a full score. The conductor would need to see the legend in the score without it cluttering things up or causing spacing issues, but, ideally, the legend would also be extracted in the drum set part(s).

[@teresaines9257]

I just (and finally) got finale. I am creating some leadsheets and sometimes to write very simple "arrangements", for example, starting the song with the drums doing a cetain rhtyhm. Is there a way to write the rhythm on a voice/ flute staff using "percussion notes", meaning no pitch? I can't find this

[@jamessbca]

How did you place the kick and snare notes at 9:44 with your keyboard? I typically have done this with a mouse. With the latest finale, there are so many options for the desired note that are close vertically that it’s hard to even pick a simple snare note with the mouse. I saw in another video you were in with a few other people that you use a special input device / keyboard. Is that necessary to enter these bass and snare notes this quick / easily? Finale is getting harder to use :(

[@paulzarvisMusicProducer]

Hi I s et up a score with bass guitar on top and drum set on the bottom. Finale won’t let me enter anything after I put my eighth note hi hats in. It’s treating the drum set like a normal measure. How can I undo that so I can put in snare and kick drum etc? Thanks

[@facethemusictogether8489]

How do you add a 3rd note sounding together in the same layer? ie, BD, Ride & HH played w/foot. Finale is only letting me do 2 voices and that's all you have used. Thanks

[@tsiryherisonandriamalala9645]

I have watched this video multiple times. After performing the key combination 'Ctrl+C' and then 'Ctrl+I' at bar 15/4, how can I move the notes downward to create an empty staff in the same bar? I noticed this in the video. Could someone provide me with assistance?

[@thedrummersbrain]

Thank you! But A little help please! after you inserted the 15/4 measure in the beginning for the notation legend -- you didn't say how you moved the 4/4 bars to the next line.

[@jamessbca]

When using the measure tool, he unchecked “hide cautionary clefs…”

[@brentroman]

@22:54, you press some key on your keyboard which then moves the selected measure down to the next system. What did you press? ((I was able to manually fit measures later on, effectively doing the same thing,...but your key press was MUCH faster)) (Mac user here BTW) Thanks

[@TimBuell]

When you are in the "measure tool" just hit the up or down arrow to shift measures to the line above or below. Great question!

[@brentroman]

@@TimBuell thank you so much! Super helpful!

[@brentroman]

@@TimBuell Hey man- just caught your finale “make it stick” workshop today- it was great! Thanks again for all you do for the community! It’s been super helpful.

[@TimBuell]

@@brentroman So glad to hear it Brent! Thanks for checking it out. If you have any questions you know how to find me!

[@davidarana3232]

Did I miss the part where you explained why you didn't do stems-down notation for kick and hi-hat pedals? I know all stems up is easier but not always as clear.

[@effyiew7318]

I have a feeling he did it because he didn't want to get into using layers for this video. I'd never score drum notation like this, but I can understand why he chose not to do it correctly in order not to have too much going on in one lesson.

[@bernardmaloney5484]

Will most drummers understand "Set up" ? Or is there a way to notate it.

[@jmatthewgallant]

Tight Video, so helpful. Quick question, are you using windows? My mac set up looks different where my "main tool pallet" is moveable, as well as my rhythm window, etc. if thats the case can i make my set up like windows? Thanks again for the video. Cheers

[@TimBuell]

Hey Matthew! Yep - I was in Windows. With Mac I believe you can move those pallets to wherever you want on the screen and when you open Finale it should default to wherever you left them last.

[@jmatthewgallant]

@@TimBuell Thanks for the quick response. Cheers

[@felipedevis3768]

wow

I wrote a 2004 pages electric bass method and a 2152 pages electric guitar method, it took me six years and a half, 75% of the pages were written with finale. That software is one of the best of the genre but it is still a hell to work with, everything takes ages, I hate finale. The support guys openly mock you when you send them bug reports and never fix them. The whole experience is sadomasochism. It took 27mn to this guy in the video to write 9 bars of 4/4 and a legend, stop the nightmare.

[@TimBuell]

Hey Frederic! I hear you. It took me a while to get the hang of Finale, and like you said it isn't the only program offered on the market. For me, I've tried every program for notation available - and I always end up coming back to Finale. Every program has it's strengths and weaknesses and for me all of Finale's strengths outweigh any features or I wish were different. As for the support team - I've never had that experience, but I 100% understand how frustrating it can be to spend time trying to get help on a program that isn't working like you need and not getting the help you want. About the 27 minute run time - I also hear you 100%. This video is meant to help people just getting started with Finale and not only give people the steps to take, but also explain the "why" behind things. I find that my biggest struggle using software is often when I only know the steps and procedural order of things - and not the "why" behind those steps. That is when I run into problems I can't solve myself. But if I understand the "why" of each step of the process, I often have much more freedom and can speed up my workflow. That's why we've included chapter markers so people can skip to whatever topic they might find most helpful throughout the video. Hope that all makes sense - and I know Finale won't be for everyone, and even more so this video won't be for everyone. But I'm just trying to create the videos I wish I had when I started using notation software so that I could have a better understanding of the "why" and begin to better learn and use a tool like Finale.

[@at8ax]

@@TimBuell I've been using Finale for nearly 30 years, and I've dreaded doing drum parts that whole time (partly because I create them so rarely, so I have to relearn it every time). This video is so helpful, I kind of wish I had immediate use for it. Saving it for additional viewing. (Hopefully, nobody was too confused when you referred to forward slash as "back slash.")

[@brentroman]

@@TimBuell beautifully stated