Vocal music

See also Choral music; Hymns; Lyrics.   

One convention used in opera or art song notation is beaming to lyrics. In this practice, eighth notes and sixteenth notes are never beamed together in the vocal line except when a syllable is sustained through more than one note (as in a melisma).

To beam according to lyric syllables

1. Click the Selection tool   and select a region. See Selecting music for some region-selecting shortcuts.
2. Choose Utilities > Rebeam > Rebeam to Lyrics. The Rebeam to Lyrics dialog box appears.
3. Specify the type of lyric you want rebeamed. You can specify an individual Verse, Chorus, or Section, if you wish, by selecting the lyric type, and entering the Verse, Chorus, or Section number.
4. If you want beams broken at each beat, click Also Break Beams at Each Beat in the Time Signature. In other words, Finale will begin a new beam at each beat even if a lyric melisma is still continuing. If you don’t use this option, the melisma beam will continue all the way through the measure—as long as the melisma lasts.
5. Click OK.

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