I am using Finale 2006 and I'm trying to create a section of music in which both hands alternate. It's somewhat similar to the alternating hands section of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in c# minor, to cite one of many examples. I'm trying to figure out how to get it so that the beam is "shared" (i.e. there is one beam between the staves, with the right hand notes above it on the upper staff and the left hand notes below it on the lower staff.)

Something tells me it shouldn't be too hard to make this happen, but I'm hitting a block and can't seem to figure it out. Anyone have any experience with this? Any advice/tips would be appreciated.

I ran into the same question the other day, only I'm just simply writing arrangements of simple tunes split between the hands for my beginner piano students. I only have the free version, however, of Finale so I just assumed the free version wasn't capable of it.

heh, should have gone with sibelius mate.

Well I eventually found out how to do it. Once I figured it out it wasn't really too bad at all, but the documentation made it a little tricky to figure it out that first time.

And bruce, I was kinda on the fence over which to go with - I went with Finale because I've had experience using previous versions. I'm sure Sibelius is a fine product.

You can open smart shapes tool pallete, and select the dotted line. Place this over the area in which you want the left hand/right hand to play. Go to text editor (the "A" button), and type "L.H. or R.H." Also, you can use different voices (orlayers) and combine them with cross stemming in order to create a more convincing line. Search in your help guide for "Cross-Beaming." I would explain it here, but there is a lot to explain.

I hope I helped!

(btw, I like Finale much better than Sibelius)

The easiest way to do it I've found is to use the Cross Staff function in the TG Tools section, if you have it.