On my blog, and in some private emails, I've had some discussion
recently about the lengthy kludges that are required to notate with
non-powers-of-two-denominators, so that the "counting units" are not
limited to wholes, halves, quarters, eighth, etc., but also include
other rational units, such as triplets ("thirds"), quintuplets
("fifths") etc.. (Please let's not get into a lengthy argument or flame
war about why one should or shouldn't want to do this; some of us do it,
probably beginning with Henry Cowell, and we do it for legitimate
musical reasons. Basta.)
The usual solution is to set up a metre that is as close in length as
possible as the metre desired, enter the notes and rhythms we like and
then hide the metre. A new metre notation is then inserted as a text or
graphic into a space created especially for the metre notation.
This is unwieldy, especially since it seems like there could be a much
easier solution. Time signature -> Options -> "Use another time
signature for display" already allows the presentation of a time
signature that is, as far as Finale is concerned, fictional.
Given the fictional nature of the notation, does anyone know if there is
any structural reason why "Use another time signature for display"
should be limited to powers-of-two? It seems like making only a small
change in this feature (allowing other whole numbers in the denominator)
would be an easy way for Finale to acquire a larger stake in the
experimental/complexity niche.
Daniel Wolf
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