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Chuck
I'd love to see it all - keep me
informed!
Jim Sodke
Lecturer in Music:
UW-Parkside
Editor/Arranger: Hal Leonard
Publications
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2004 8:52
PM
Subject: [Finale] BD notes etc.
List members:
A couple of months ago, I bought Bill
Duncan's Finale productivity package mostly out of interest in his chord font,
which is far more sophisticated than anything I have been able to do with
Finale's chord suffix editor. It sat around, only casually read and looking
dauntingly complex, for a long time. Then a follow up email from Bill
encouraged communication, and I discovered that he had moved from LA and is
now living within a couple of hours drive from Bellingham. All this lead
(yesterday) to a visit from Bill and a long day's exploration of what is in
his fonts and templates. Bill's style is designed for maximum clarity and
unmistakable sight reading - LA recording session graphics rather than elegant
"Henle" engraving and artistic beauty. Nevertheless, as we explored the things
he has done, many generally useful and timesaving devices turned up, and some
other things that I find quite beautiful. Besides this, Bill's attitude about
his package is that he'd like to make it generally useful to others whose
style may diverge from the needs of sight reading/recording sessions. So the
five or six hours we spent looking at things and considering what might be
changed (mostly to suit my eye for graphic balance and readability) turned out
to be very productive.
24 hours later, Bill emailed modified chord
suffix elements and slash fonts (to my specifications!), and I am simply
delighted at what has turned out to be a level of custom programming I had no
idea I would be able to find, let alone just be given in return for my
interest in Bill's work and a home cooked meal (thanks to Margot). Bill's
chord suffix creator is bug and tweak free and produces what, to my eye, are
compact, clear, and elegant results. The chord symbols are a good size, and
you can use his existing library or create (easily) any kind of suffixes you
like. The results are so much better than what I produced under my own steam
(and had accepted as pretty good), that I wish I had found this long ago.
Now there is a plan afoot for us to meet again, and to include Greg
Hamilton, a meticulous and experienced Vancouver Finale engraver (and
friend/former student of mine), to see what other things might be modified
and/or included that would address problems, input speed issues, control of
consistency, etc., that might be improved as Bill updates his package to
include Finale 2004 changes. (The existing package was designed for 2002.) I
thought it might be good to alert interested people to this activity and to
the fact that I have found many useful things in this package. This has turned
out to be fun. I'll keep you all posted over the next couple of months as
things develop.
I know this missive is somewhat in the form of "the
dreaded infomercial," so I hope it will be taken in the friendly spirit in
which it is offered.
Chuck
Chuck
Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone
(360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
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