From: fields@zip.eecs.umich.edu (Matthew H. Fields)
Subject: Re: Scoring software gripes [beaming]
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 12:04:15 GMT

In article <9513@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM> rlapham@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Richard Lapham) writes:
>Noam Elkies (elkies@ramanujan.harvard.edu) wrote:
>: In article <1992Oct4.210703.2845@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
>: Moreover, the tree structure may depend on context; either beaming
>: of 1/16,1/32,1/16,1/32 can be "correct" (is the implied local rhythm
>: 2*(3/32) or a syncopated 3/16?).  Even more important than having
>: reasonable defaults is the capability to override them.
>: 
>: --Noam D. Elkies (elkies@zariski.harvard.edu)
>:   Dept. of Mathematics, Harvard University
>
>In response to this article on the beaming of the 8th, 32nd, 16th, 32nd
>note grouping, there is a way to get the desired beaming with a little bit of
>manipulation to the music.  However, the only way that it will work is if
>the grouping is the only layer or voice in the measure.
>
>1st - Use the "Speedy Note Entry Tool".  Enter an 8th note (any pitch) and
>hit the "O" key.  then enter the 32nd, 16th, and 32nd notes on the correct
>pitches.
>2nd - Switch to Layer 2 or Voice 2 and enter a quarter note on the pitch 
>of the intended first 8th note.
>3rd - Click the "Special Tools" icon, and click the measure.  Switch back to
>Layer 1 using the layer button in the "Special Tools" window and use the 
>"Beam Extension Tool" to extend the 8th note beam of the grouping to the
>quarter note.  Switch back to Layer 2 and use the "Stem Length Tool" to adjust
>the height of the quarter note stem to match the beam.  You can also use the 
>"Beam Angle Tool" to make any further adjustments as far as the angle of the
>beam is concerned.
>
>Although it would be nice if Finale did this by default, there is a way to 
>get around this small problem in the program, and with a little manipulation,
>you can do almost anything in Finale.
>
>P.S.  I solved this problem using Finale 2.0.1 for Windows, but I'm sure the 
>Mac version works the same way.
>
>Tim Lapham, Suwanee, GA, USA.

Yes, yes, this is also the official answer to how to beam across barlines.
Since the program doesn't have a snapping grid, good luck getting it to
look decent when you print to a printer at higher resolution than your
display terminal.  And if you switch between views, edit your music, or
your music gets rejustified/repaginated, I can virtually guarantee this
will break.  Now, if we could force the corner to remain spliced (beam
locked to end of stem, and stem locked to end of beam, which even Score
attempts to provide for), then it'd be a halfway-useable workaround.  But
I don't even try to use the beam extender for cross-measure beaming.  When
a piece has a lot of that, I just don't use finale---because its faster to
draw it by hand.
It would help if all display on my screen were done using display postscript,
but currently thats expensive (seen a lot on sparcstations and NeXTs but
not IBMS or Macs).
But congradulations on having a workaround.  This is a perfect example of
what I mean when I say the users are doing all the work that the engineers
should be doing right in the first place.

My usual workaround is to break the beam, then change the music character
to a quarternote, then draw in the missing beam-frag by hand.  Or
don't use Finale for music containing alla zoppa at three or more levels of
beaming (pretty arbitrary---they should have implemented beams as trees
in the first place!)...

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