Hi Mark,

"I am inclined to do something opposite"

This sounds good.

"I probably need to have a few more improv sessions to find some new material, and perhaps to expand on the quiet, somewhat melodic idea at measure 110."

I really like that idea. Part of its effect derives from its contrast to what has gone before, so I'm not sure how it would work without that contrast each time it comes up. However, expansion could work nicely. Have you thought of perhaps expanding on it at each occurrence throughout the movement?

"I'd much rather spend 100 hours writing music... or music software... than doing calligraphy"

Exactly. Whenever I think how many years I was born before the PC, I wear my teeth down a bit more. On the other hand, my internal filters have been at work for a lot of years of a lot of listening, so I have a pretty good sense of what I want to do, in a basic, general sense, and when it comes to a particular composition, I find that I seldom have to re-do a passage more than once to get what I was after.

"I've noticed that sometimes the metronome button up/down position doesn't correctly indicate whether the metronome is turned on or off"

Does it matter? I recall seeing a comment, maybe by Sherry, that if it's off, the sheet music might be unplayable. Not sure I understand, but if on/off matters, I guess I should turn it back on????

I'm getting used to Composer gradually. It takes a while to learn to do some thing, like hitting P (I like to work in the dark, except for the screen which is above and doesn't light the keyboard) with my left hand while clicking the mouse. (Once I can find it with my left, it will be a lot better than moving my right hand to the keyboard and reaching across to click the mouse with my left LOL.) I make a lot of mistakes (like altering volume as well as tempo, somehow) and have to learn to correct them, which is good. The only thing I have having trouble with is that the screen jumps around a lot when I make changes, especially when I hit Ctrl Z, when it sometimes goes to the previous screen, so it is sometimes hard to keep my place and concentration. I assume that I have something set wrong, either in Composer or Windows, but I have no idea what it may be yet.

I'll get around to doing the registration thing before long.

all best,
mgj