[tag]Coda[/tag] [tag]Music[/tag] has done something wonderful for the music world and you should take full advantage of their generosity. Finale Notepad [tag]2007[/tag] has been released and once again it is totally free. Finale Notepad is an amazing tool for the price. Using it will inspire creativity, fortify musical understanding and promote music literacy.

If you are a teacher, you can easily add [tag]Finale[/tag] [tag]Notepad[/tag] into your everyday lessons and plans. Because it’s free and crosses O/S platforms ([tag]Mac[/tag] or [tag]Windows[/tag]), having any computer or [tag]computer lab[/tag] available to you is all that you will need in order to utilize this very useful program.

You do not need a music [tag]keyboard[/tag] or [tag]M.I.D.I.[/tag] device to use Finale Notepad. As a matter of fact, those things won’t help you at all, since M.I.D.I. type features are reserved for the upgraded versions of Finale. Despite this restriction, [tag]Finale Notepad[/tag] actually is quite useful and beneficial for individuals and school music programs alike.

The Top 10 things you can do (for Free) with Finale Notepad 2007:

1. Easily create “Fake Book” music

2. Easily create [tag]guitar[/tag] [tag]tab[/tag]

3. Easily perform music [tag]transposition[/tag]s

4. Quickly [tag]create[/tag] and notate music- using up to eight staves

5. View music in “C” or [tag]concert[/tag] pitch

6. Easily “jot down” musical ideas

7. Hear your “musical ideas” back

8. Listen to music at faster or slower speeds than the original

9. [tag]Print[/tag] out music for later use

10. Share your ideas with others using Finale’s Showcase

Good Reasons why Finale Notepad Should Be In Every Music Educator’s “Tool Box”:

1. It’s Free!

2. You can easily transpose music for your students

3. It’s Free!

4. You can quickly write missing parts for your ensembles and instrumentalists

5. It’s Free!

6. You can download music from http://www.classicalarchives.com and incorporate it into your classes (using Finale Notepad to view it) for discussions and as examples (Classical Archives is free too!).

7. It’s [tag]Free[/tag]!

8. You can use it as a creative [tag]tool[/tag], [tag]exploring[/tag] music [tag]writing[/tag] and composition with your students

9. It’s Free!

10. You can write tests with it using a combination of the text tool and notation tools

11. It’s Free!

12. There is no limit to the amount of computers that you can place the software on

13. It’s Free!

14. You can easily use “screen capture” software to grab images of your music and incorporate the images into your word processing documents

15. It’s Free!

16. You can make templates that graphically demonstrate the different types of chords, inversions and intervals and have the students both see and hear the examples

17. It’s Free!

18. You can explore different rhythmical elements and polyrhythms that you may not be able to easily demonstrate yourself

19. It’s Free!

20. Your student’s will be “blown away” by being able to do something MUSICAL in “computer lab”…

And the number one reason to use Finale in your [tag]classroom[/tag] IS …

IT’S FREE! … and it works with both Macs and Windows!

You can download Finale Notepad, for free, at http://www.finalemusic.com/notepad/

You can also submit your music created with Finale software and search for music that others have created and made available, free of charge, by visiting https://www.finalemusic.com/showcase/fs_home.asp

If you like this article, or have something to add or comment about, please feel free!

                                    ~J. Pisano

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