If a performer needs to switch instruments, all aspects of the staff may need to be updated, including the clef, transposition, and so forth. Finale allows you to make these changes easily using an option under the Utilities menu. When you change instruments, Finale also loads the correct playback sounds, and makes all other changes, including Percussion Layouts and Percussion MIDI Maps, automatically.

Note. Instrument changes in Finale 2011 or earlier were added as Staff Styles. Finale converts all instrument change Staff Styles to Instrument changes when opened in Finale 2012, adding the respective Instruments in the Score Manager. See Mid-score Instruments.

To add mid-score instrument changes

1. Click the Selection tool .
2. Select the region of the staff that will include the instrument change. Or, to define an instrument change until the end of the piece, select a single measure. See Selecting music. If the selection includes more than one Instrument, Finale will disregard all but the top Instrument.
3. Choose Utilities > Change Instrument. The Change Instrument dialog box appears. If the top staff of your selection is a single-staff Instrument, you will see a list of single-staff Instruments to choose from. If the top staff of your selection is any staff of a multiple-staff Instrument, you will see a list of multiple-staff instruments (piano, harpsichord, etc.). See Change Instrument dialog box.
4. Choose the new instrument from the list and click OK. Finale adds the Instrument change, and also adds a change back to the original Instrument in the measure after the selected region.

To view all instrument changes, click the + to the left of the Staff Name in the Score Manager. Its location is listed under the Start Meas. column. You can use the columns of the Score Manager to edit the playback attributes and the staff settings below to adjust the staff properties. Unlike the original Instruments (that start at measure 1), mid-score Instruments do not allow changes to the playback of individual layers, expressions, and chords.

To add the text indication (e.g. "To Flute")

1. Choose the Expression tool .
2. Double-click the first measure of the mid-score Instrument change.
3. Click the Technique Text category.
4. Click Create Technique Text.
5. Type the desired text (e.g. "To Flute").
6. Click OK, then Assign. Repeat these steps for the change back to the original instrument. If you change instruments again, these expression will be available in the Expression Selection dialog box.

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