Lyrics

Note. View the Adding lyrics QuickStart Video for an overview.

There are two ways to add lyrics to your score in Finale. You can type the lyrics directly into the score, so that you know at all times where you are in the music—a feature called Type Into Score. Or you may prefer the Click Assignment method—where you type the lyrics in Finale’s text processor (called the Lyrics window), and then paste them into the score. Regardless of the method you use, the Lyrics window is available for ease in entry and editing.

Note. See Adding lyrics for a step-by-step tutorial overview on adding lyrics.

Finale defines a syllable as any letters separated by a space or a hyphen. When you put the lyrics into the score, Finale places the syllable in your score by the settings in the Lyrics Options dialog box, centers the hyphen between notes, and moves any syllable correspondingly if its notehead moves.

Lyrics are often written in distinct sections—verse and chorus, for example. For that reason, Finale provides three different lyric types—Verse, Chorus, and Section. These types are identical in every respect—you can write the verse of a song and define it as a Chorus, if you want to—except that you can set the default font and positioning for each type differently. You could specify, for example, that all Verses are to be set in boldface type, but that all Choruses are set in italic type. (You can have as many as 512 of each lyric type. You can also change the font and style within any lyric.)

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