Introduction

Welcome to Notation Composer!

In this documentation we will refer to this music software program as Composer for short.

Composer is a tool for creating and arranging music-- both the sound and the printable notation. You can create music with your mouse and keyboard, or by recording from a music keyboard connected to your computer. Composer helps you find and download MIDI (.mid) and Karaoke (.kar) files from the Internet, and converts them to sheet music with amazing accuracy. You can use MIDI files that you find on the Internet as a starting point for preparing arrangements that suit your musical tastes, your playing ability, or the membership of your band or choir. You can print the music you have created or imported, view it on the screen, and sing or play along with it as the score is played. You can also extract particular parts for performers in your ensemble.

You likely will be able to learn how to use most of Composer's features by simply trying out menu commands and clicking buttons here and there. However, for a quick start in learning how to use Composer, we recommend going through the Quick Start Tutorial.

TIP:  The most important tip we can offer you for getting started with Composer is to have fun exploring it! Explore Composer's menus, toolbar, and palettes by clicking items to learn what happens. If you do not like a result, you can always undo it.
 
Composer has a large number of options, but they are well organized to help avoid overwhelming you. You probably won't need all of the features of Composer. Don't worry that you're not using all of the features and options. When you accomplish your musical goals with Composer, and have fun doing so, then you will have taken full advantage of Composer. Many unexplored features of Composer will remain waiting for you for a later project!