By now it’s old news that Finale has been sunset and it is no longer being support. The last time I checked, Finale was still running on my computer, but it is only a matter of time before it won’t and I have many compositions and arrangements that exist as Finale files. I decided that it would be a good idea to go ahead and get started as soon as possible with new software for notation.

I’ve been a Finale user since 1989, I believe, when as an undergraduate I took a class in computer applications with music in the brand new computer lab. I believe it was Finale 2.0 that we used and I’ve been using Finale ever since. After some research I decided to go with Dorico. It’s been very frustrating at times trying to figure out how to do certain things on Dorico that are easy for me with Finale. Some of the most frustrating things about Dorico are how certain things are just a little bit different from what I’m used to. For example, the key command for a quarter note on Finale is “5,” but on Dorico that is “6.” One of the things that I like very much about Dorico is that you can customize things like key commands, so once I’m more used to the software I’ll start setting some of those up.

The best way for me to learn the new software has been to simply jump in cold turkey and use it for a project. Coincidentally, I got asked to write an arrangement again for Lenoir Sax (I’ve done a bunch of writing for them) for their Christmas concert. They asked for O Come, O Come Emmanuel in a latin groove feel. I’ve previously arranged a big band chart on this tune, so I borrowed a little bit from that but with a different groove for this arrangement it was pretty easy to come up with some new ideas. Here’s a MIDI realization of the completed arrangement.