Re: Finale Files Archive

: Hi,
: Does anyone know of an archive of classical pieces (piano preferred)
: in Finale format? I only know of Finale Showcase.

: Please help,
: Michael

Michael,

If you have Finale, you can import .mid files, of which there are thousands
out there.

Classical MIDI archives, try Harmony Central (sorry, I never remember
addresses, I end up Googling everything!)

Are you avoiding MIDI for some reason?

As a warning, if you're not familiar with it, most MIDI files are OK
sounding, many better than others, but in
many cases they won't print out or display without a little to a HUGE amount
of tweaking. MIDI files also
don't include dynamincs, tempo, articulation markings, etc. (you hear them,
but they don't show on screen). Many people even
intentionally put information in their MIDI files to prevent people from
importing them and printing them out
to protect their copyright and performance rights (like they use some wierd
time signature that makes it play correctly, but print out
in a mess!).

The same is true for printed music, even with Finale. If you're going to
print and distribute music, it either needs to be your own,
or out of copyright. If I sit here with Finale, and use an Alfred book I
bought, copy it in, and put it on the net, Alfred's going
to sue me! They own the copyright. This is why people make new "editions" of
older music - they use an old, out of copyright
source, and create their own edition. However, I knew a publisher who was
forced to change one of their editions before going
to press because it looked too much like another edition.

If you just want to listen, search for MIDI files.
If you want to see the music, expect MIDI files to import poorly most of the
time (unless all you want is the raw notes, and in that case
it might be useable). Another resource for printed music is PDF files. I've
found a number of Guitar pieces in PDF. Again, someone
had to put in a lot of work to compose, transcribe, or re-edit the piece,
and they don't want to just give that effort away. PDFs
are nice because they can provide a printed copy, but the user can't edit
it.

If you're looking for Finale files of classical music to open and edit
yourself, you may have to wait for people to become very
generous! Nonetheless, some others may offer good suggestions. My experience
with Finale Showcase is it was very hit and miss. Additionally
most are original compositions or arrangements (probably due to copyright
issues again) which I gather you're not looking for...

Happy Hunting!
Steve