Finale

General Information:

 * Title: Finale 2009
 * Publisher: [|MakeMusic, inc]
 * Copyright: 2009
 * Platform: Wintel, Mac
 * Peripherals: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, MIDI instruments are supported but not required
 * Grade/Age: Finale is most suitable for high school students, but can be used by any grade
 * Type of Class: General Music, Composition, Theory


 * Finale has a [|forum] for users to discuss uses of the program.
 * MakeMusic does not provide any specific educator support beyond the various prices and levels of the program itself offered.

Instructional content:
The program is primarily designed for music notation. Applications of this include composing, arranging, creating MIDI files, creating and displaying virtual scores with playback, transposing music, etc.


 * National Standards Addressed
 * Standard 4: Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
 * Standard 5: Reading and Notating Music
 * Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

Instructional Design and Pedagogical Soundness:

 * Sequence of Materials: Finale's materials, while not sequenced for music education, are anything but sub-par. Its notation functionality is excellent and the MIDI fuctionalities included are a huge bonus, letting students listen to the compositions they create,
 * Pace of Instruction: Since Finale is not specifically meant for instruction, the pacing of instruction and how to use the program to create music is entirely up to the teacher.
 * Quality of Instruction: Since Finale is not spefically meant for instruction, the quality of the instruction on how to use the program and on how to create music is entirely up to the teacher.
 * Motivation for Students: One of the biggest motivations is the ability to hear what the student is creating. With this ability students are more likely to continue creating until they get something that sounds pleasant to their ears.
 * Interactivity: Everything on a virtual score can be selected, either directly or via anchors, and deleted or edited.
 * Intuitive Layout: For the most part, things are where you would expect, though some more unusual options may be hidden in unexpected submenus.

Record Keeping:

 * Finale lets you save files as .MUS, which is a Finale file, .MIDI, a MIDI file, or you can even "print" to a .PDF. You can also save MIDI playback as an mp3 file.
 * [|Finale Showcase] provides users with a forum to show off their creations and view and listen to the creations of others.

Overall Evaluation:

 * Finale can pretty much do anything one would need in music notation and composition. The main challenge is that it isn't always clear or intuitive how to get it to do what you want. Options may be hidden in submenus or in places that, organizationally, don't seem to make sense. Still, once one gets past the learning curve, the program can be used with great flexibility. The program is big, but not as big as Sibelius and not as prone to crashes or bizarre errors. This is a tradeoff though, as it doesn't look as sleek or pretty as Sibelius and is more selectively interactive. Finale is also, unfortunately, very expensive, at $600 for the full version. Various levels of the program are available at various discounted prices, but in an educational setting involving composition, the full version may be necessary to cover notational possibilities that students may require. Allegro, one step down an $200, is the only other option that might be viable for an educational setting involving composition. Finale, once mastered, is one of the best notation programs in existence, but may be too expensive for some schools.

Rating: ***
created: Michael Robinson 04/02/08 edited: Matthew Wascher 2009