notating a harp glissando in Finale

These are proper notation for a harp glissando.

All 7 notes of a diatonic scale must be notated with accidentals where applicable
The initial note of the gliss. must contain the complete rhythmic value the glissando will cover

4
&4

? 4 w
4

Harp

# #

Notice that stems are removed from the 6 last notes,

and that they are resized (generally to 75%).
The "target" note can be only a notehead if the glissando is more or less precise and contained within a measure
but it should have a value if it is in another measure, or if it marks a specific spot in a measure to either stop or
begin a new glissando.
Creating a playback/printing glissando in Finale
1) notate the 7 notes as a 7tuplet
if the tempo is rapid, use 16th notes,
if the tempo is slow, use 32nd notes.

?
7

3) hide the beam

2) hide the tuplet number/bracket.

check the stem direction for the very first note.
consider the note as a lone note, and select the correct direction
for its stem.

here the stem must

be flipped to achieve
correct stem direction

4) hide the stems

note: if this is a 4-beat gliss

hide ALL stems

here the stem is already

in the right direction

5) resize the noteheads to 75%

6) correct the length

of the stem

7) select the correct notehead for

the value of the glissando

8) completed glissando

in the next page, how to make a dotted value glissando

&
?

1) enter the notes without the tuplet

2) make the first note a dotted value.

3) create a tuplet: "1 dotted value in the space of 1 value"

in this case, it is one dotted 32nd in the space of one 32nd

4) create a 7tuplet of the correct overall value

in this case, seven 32nd notes in the space of four 32nd notes

The rest is the same as for a non-dotted value: hide stems, tuplets, beams, resize notes, select proper notehead...
and voil! a dotted value glissando that will also play back correctly in Finale.

&
?

A note: Notice that Finale places the beginning and end of the glissando line in the wrong position by default.
You will have to move the start point up, and to the right slightly, and the end point down and to the left.

For a glissando with more than one starting note, include as many notes as are necessary to cover all diatonic tones

&

? b b b b

-2-

b
# #