My tutorials for the music notation application Finale (MakeMsic, Inc.) were originally developed for a workshop course at the University of Oregon School of Music first offered in 1990. The tutorials have been updated for each major new version up to Finale 2010. Tutorials for Finale 2010 and earlier versions are available from me by sending an email request to
The tutorials were developed for use with the Macintosh, but can be used as well on the Windows platform. In Finale for Windows, some of the keyboard commands and mouse clicks are different. For example, when "option" appears in the text, Windows users should substitute "control."
I am happy to share these materials without charge. However, a donation of $10 deposited in my PayPal account or sent to my home address at 1375 Olive St., Eugene, Oregon 97401 would be greatly appreciated. If you use them with a class, please give me credit. I have considered publishing this material, but I'm afraid that as soon as a little volume could be printed, a major upgrade would be available, and the materials would need to be brought up to date.
With an application as comprehensive and complex as Finale, I cannot discuss all advanced features in a single set of exercises. Several areas are not even touched (the Transcription Tool, FinaleScript, for example). There are notes on some of the plug-ins, however. I have found that those using the tutorials have fared very well after going through the exercises, and they have produced fine-looking scores.
Visit the Finale Discussion List here.
You can contact me at hjowen@uoregon.edu