Top Tip #4 – Linked Parts
September 10, 2014 6:55 pm
#4 – Use Linked Parts no matter how small your score is.
I recently had a friend tell me how much he hated cars. “Why?”, I wondered. Was it because of the emissions, or maintenance, the price of gas, etc…? “No,” he said. “It’s because your arm gets so tired doing all of that cranking – just to get the car started.” Then, my friend went on to complain about doing parts in Finale, because extracting parts is such a pain. I said, “really? What version of Finale are you using?” Somewhat sheepishly, he admitted to not having upgraded in a while. Then he finally just said it, “Finale 2001.”
Okay, that’s not a true story. At least not the part about the car. But the Finale part is true. Sad…but true.
Comparing Finale of old (pre Linked Parts) to the Finale of today is a lot like comparing the cars of the 20′s to today’s. They’re just really worlds apart. You’d laugh at the guy griping about the cars, but when it came to Finale, you might just join in on the fun. “Boo, Finale. Part extraction is terrible.” Blah, blah, blah. Truth of the matter is, you should laugh at him.
Okay, this is turning into a rant. Sorry.
Bottom line – Linked Parts is one of the greatest innovations in Finale over the last decade. This post wasn’t intended to become a tutorial on Linked Parts, so I’m not going to do that today. But, I will tell you that you simply must use Linked Parts every chance you get. Is it perfect? No. Has Finale improved it over the last 7 years? Yes. Does it save you a lot of time? Most definitely, yes. Whether you’re creating only a few parts, or 30 (or more), using the Linked Parts features provides a way to edit your parts consistently, scroll between parts effortlessly, edit and adjust your score and parts more efficiently, and a whole lot more. Linked Parts has saved me countless hours and it will for you to – if you just try it.
Remember that concept about the flying car? Man, now that thing would have been so awesome…
< Go Back