What is the best music notation software for composing and playing music tracks live

[Sherry C]

p.s. For my own personal example of how I use Notation Composer, I compose the entire musical for our kids' Christmas program each year for church on Notation Composer, and then use it to play the sound track. Doing this, I can create a "lyrics" part which displays to the kids in real time so that they can use it as a "prompter" to keep up with where the music is at (a huge advantage over a recorded sound track) and Notation Composer is actually playing the sound track "live", so I can manipulate it as needed on the fly.

Prior to the actual performance, I printed out parts that the kids could take home and practice on their own, either by playing the sheet music themselves, or by using our free Notation Player and the .not file to practice along on their own computer while hearing the music and following the notes and lyrics.

I really do love this software

ttfn,
Sherry