At 09:20 PM 4/16/05 -0500, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
>I agree with the concensus that there is none on whether a 
>multi-movement work should be one or more than one Finale file.

Voila!

>My own 
>personal preference is to use multiple files, one to a movement. but 
>this is informed by the fact that most of my work is with choral music, 
>and there are lyric issues to contend with.

Ah, yes. I understand that issue. I have always kept multiple choral pieces
in separate files. I did a Sacred Harp-style collection last year, all
separate files.

>Also, in the event of an 
>irretrieveably corrupted file, you have to re-do only one tenth of the 
>work, not the whole thing. 

I have a habit of saving files at every pause in my thinking. Since drive
space isn't a premium, I start out with a file musicwhatever001.mus and
increment the number with an ALT-F-A "save as" keystroke sequence that's
second nature. Pause thinking, ALT-F-A. In a SynthEdit project last week, I
had 431 drafts by Friday (yes, it's almost done!).

>IMO, the most important thing is to plan early whether to make the work 
>one file, or more than one.

There wasn't much chance of that this time! On Monday morning, I received a
call asking if I could sub for another composer in writing ten 90-second
orchestral pieces (standard large orchestra -- 2222 4221 timp, 2perc, harp,
strings) ... by the next Monday. So I knew I would be composing straight to
Finale. I made up 10 template files, and started filling them in as they
came knocking on my creative door: 6, 9, 4, 5, 7, 9, 3, 2, 8, 1 and I'm now
working on #10. Tomorrow I clean up the scores, add all the stuff that's
still in my head (dynamics, articulations, etc.), and make the PDFs. So I
had to decide whether I would make 10 separate scores or one merged score.
Rehearsals start Wednesday and performance is May 4 ... assuming no
crash-and-burn issues for anyone on either side of the ocean!

Now back to it...

Thanks much,
Dennis




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