I wanted to share one more special Finale file this holiday season, the Christmas Canon. Spoiler alert! Watch the above video (with the sound turned up) before reading further; otherwise some of the fun may be spoiled.

In creating this file I have used Finale in a somewhat unconventional manner, as an animation tool! This video shows an actual Finale file being played back in Finale. Watch the video closely; you may notice few clues as to how this file works. If you don’t believe that this was done entirely in Finale, you can download the file here and try it yourself.  Once you examine the file, it will be fairly obvious how this was accomplished.

Actually, the biggest challenge was not the animation, but coming up with a short animated subject that displayed notation in a fun way. While I was working on a string arrangement of the Christmas Canon for MakeMusic’s annual Free Holiday Music, it occurred to me I could do something fun with a play on words using the cannon in our Finale Percussion font.

Yes, I know there are plenty of programs out there designed specifically for animation, but I wanted to demonstrate some of the things that can be accomplished with Finale if you think out of the box a bit. I’ve even thought of some practical, though less elaborate, uses for this type of file. So be on the lookout for a few animated Finale Worksheets in the future.

I wish you all a great holiday season!