Dear Student:

We are pleased to offer the new 1-hour series classes. Based on students comments,
suggestions, and frequently addressed software concerns, we have expanded the Learning Centers
course curriculum. These classes are more focused and not as broad, covering less material in
greater depth. The 1-hour series are all more advanced classes, so if you are unfamiliar with the
software, we suggest you take the basics classes first.
Thank you, and as always we welcome your questions, comments and concerns.
Ricardo Poza
Chris Fitzgerald

rpoza@berklee.edu
cfitzgerald@berklee.edu

In Finale: Drum Notation we will cover General MIDI drum mapping, configuring drum staves,
adding slash notation and stop time, manipulating playback, saving libraries and more!
Visit us at learningcenter.berklee.edu
(617) 747-2669 (150 Massachusetts Avenue Building)
Learning Center Staff

Table of Contents
Adding a Drum Staff & General MIDI Drum Map
Editing Finale Percussion Maps
Slash Notation, Rhythmic Notation & Kicks Over Time
Articulations and Measure Expressions
Playback & Libraries

3
4
5
6
7
Revision: Summer 2006

- 3 Adding

a Drum Staff & General MIDI Drum Map

Because drum sets are not pitch specific, they are notated
differently than other instruments. The pieces of the drums played
with the feet are notated with the stems down, and those played
with the hands or drum sticks, stems up. Cymbals are X noteheads,
and the rest are solid.

Crash

Toms
Hi hat

Snare

Kick
drum

Hi hat
pedal

To add a drum set staff, go

to the Staff Tool and choose
New Staves (With Setup
Wizard) from the Staff menu.
Highlight the drum set, then
click Add and Finish.

In General MIDI, the drumset sounds

start 2 octaves below middle C

Snare
(C#2 E2)

Kick
(C2)

Hi Hat
(foot F#2
closed G#2,
open Bb2)
Crash
(C#3)

Toms
(F2, G2, A2, B2, C3)

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Ride
(Eb3)

Splash
(E3)

Each drum sound is assigned to a different MIDI

note, and Finale uses Percussion Maps to
translate where the drum belongs on the staff.

Finale has four layers

in order to have
multiple parts in one
staff. Put stems up in
layer 1, stems down
in layer 2.

Editing Finale Percussion Maps

-4-

To change these
two discrepancies,
go to Edit Staff
Attributes for the
drum staff. Choose
Select next to the
percussion notation
style.

Simple Entry
Choose your duration from the Simple Entry
palette and place the note on the staff. There
are a few discrepancies between Finale and
Berklee standards, and peculiarities with the
drumset percussion map. For example, clicking
to add a snare will give you an x notehead, and
a rim shot sound. Also, Finale places the hi hat
above the staff rather than at the top space.

Choose Edit for the Drum Set in the

percussion map selection

Scroll down to pitch C#2, the side stick.

Because the side stick is above the snare in
order, Finale defaults to the side stick, and
the X notehead. To change this, take the
side stick out of the notes the drum map
uses by selecting it and unchecking
Highlighted Note.
Now scroll down to the hi hat at pitch
F#2 and select it. Change the staff
position by dragging the handle down
from above the staff to the top space.

Next do the same for the open hi hat at pitch Bb2

Now you can enter
your drum notation to
Berklees standards.
Speedy Entry
If you are using a MIDI controller, entering the
notes with speedy entry is much easier (refer to
the drum map on page 2). Finale will translate
the MIDI note to the right place on the staff
according to the percussion map.

If you need to flatten a beam in the

speedy entry tool, use the slash (\) key.

- 5 Slash

Notation, Rhythmic Notation & Kicks Over Time

There are a number

of ways to simplify
your drum scores,
making it easier on
you, and allowing
your drummer more
freedom with their
playing.
These are
called Staff Styles and
they are created with
the staff tool.

Slash Notation
You can indicate a style and then use slashes to really give
your drummer a lot of freedom. Select the measures you
want slashes on, go to the Staff menu and select Apply Staff
Style. When the window comes up, select Slash Notation.

If you are OK with your drummer improvising within

a specific drum groove, you can input the drum
notation for a few measures and then write simile
above slashes.

Kicks Over Time

If you want the band to
accent a certain rhythm,
are not concerned with
which specific drums are
played, and want the
groove
to
continue
without going into stop
time, you can add the
rhythm on top of slash
notation.

Apply slash notation, and

add the rhythm in layer 2,
above the staff. Point the
stems up with the L key,
and click and drag any
rests up above the staff.

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Rhythmic Notation (or stop time)

You may want the whole band to break down
to a particular rhythmic figure during a measure
for accent. You can accomplish this with the
Rhythmic Notation staff style. Add the rhythm in
the measure on any pitches, and then create
the staff style the same way as before.

Choose Define Staff Styles from the Staff menu,

and then Select from the Staff Styles window.

Now check Show Notes In Other Layers,

and you have kicks over time.

Articulations and Measure Expressions - 6 Drum notation with the

Expression Tool

Add further playing directions

with the Articulation Tool.

Let ring

Double-click to
add an expression
and choose
Create.

Open and closed hi hat

In the Text menu,
change the font to
EngraverFontSet, and
the size to 36
Then type in (i), which
will give you the let
ring symbol
Fills

Playback
In Finale, drum sounds are
played through general MIDI,
which always reserves channel
10 for percussion. If your drums
are being played back as
piano pitches, or something
else, youll have to change
the instrument channel.

Create a new text expression

using the JazzText font. Type
OPTION-COMMA, then the
text. Change the font size as
necessary.

Go to the Window menu and open up the

Instrument List. If the instrument is anything other
than drums on channel 10, click on the
instrument name and select New Instrument.

Name your instrument, and

change it to channel 10

- 7 - Playback

& Libraries

Finale has a lot of drum-style grooves stored for your use. With the Mass Edit Tool,
highlight the measures that you want to add Finales drums. Go to the Plug-in
menu, Scoring and Arranging, and Drum Groove.

Choose the style, and then choose to either add

it to an existing drum staff, or create a new one.
Unfortunately, the notation is all in
one layer, and looks like a big
mess. You can put time slashes
over it with the Staff Tool, and it will
still play back.
For orchestral percussion, or other
types of drums, look through the
instrument list in the set up wizard

When you have your

percussion maps set up,
save the library from the
File menu. Now they will be
available in all the Finale
files on your computer.

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Each of these instruments makes

use of a percussion map to
translate MIDI notes to the
correct staff position.
All of
these maps are editable to your
liking, and you can even create
your own percussion maps.