One week after I bought the program, I created my first score of a sacrament-type hymn. I considered this an accomplishment. And then it just started going on from there and is still going. I wrote a primary-type song next that I hope to enter into the LDS Music submission "contest". It is not my first submission. I wrote a piece almost a decade ago. The music was handwritten on staff paper, and the words were also hand written. I still have  a copy of that submission as I consider how rudimentary it looks compared to the crisp professional look of the capabilities of the scoring program. The notes and music on the handwritten score broke just about every music manuscript writing rule there was. And with modern technology, all those rules are obeyed by the scoring program.

With this new software, there are 3 main ways to enter music into the computer to make a score:

This is slow, laborious work. Every note to be placed on the screen is picked from the menu. You want a quarter note? Click it and place it on the staff where you want it to go. Repeat.

It is still laborious, and is similar to the complete manual entry, but for the most part, one hand is on the numerical keypad and the other hand is is the midi keyboard. You choose a note via the keypad and hit the note(s) on the midi keyboard. Repeat.

The midi keyboard is used to play the music. A metronome clicks as you play to make sure you are playing in the correct time. As you play, the notes appear on the screen. This is, or can be the fastest way to get music to score, however, the metronome is generally unforgiving. If you hold the notes longer than what you have set it for, your score can become a total mess, where you may as well start over. This method takes practice and holds the best results if played with extreme accuracy.

As I was learning this new software, reading the manual, following the tutorials and plugging away, at first using the complete manual entry, then onto the automated entry, and trying (and failing miserably) speedy entry, I was struck with a parallel. I can liken this to our progression through mortality.

We are all at various levels in mortality. Some people are further ahead in some areas while we may be ahead of  them in other areas. We all started out this life at the same level - as babies. We learned from our parents, who have also experienced the same levels and have learned and grown. They teach us things that they have learned along the way of their mortality. When we are learning and growing, it seems it can be a slow and laborious process. But it is needed in order for us to improve ourselves.

As we gain experience, we learn there are different ways to learn things. We still rely on the tried and true methods and those basic things our parents taught us, but we expand out from those basic ideals to see if we can better ourselves even more. We learn new ideas from school teachers and professors. We are encouraged to explore new possibilities, but we generally also base those ideals on those basic truths.

Sometimes, we see ways that we can even further better ourselves. We try those methods, and fail miserably. We can see the benefits of those methods, but we are just "not at that level" yet. So, some of us will fall back on familiar territory; things that we know and are comfortable with. And there are some who "take the bull by the horn" and keep trying . They may have several "small victories"  and may also have continued  failure. But the thing that stands out for these people is they keep on trying. They possess perseverance.

Now there is nothing wrong with any of these methods of composing music; each will get a person closer to the final goal - of producing sheet music. It may just take longer time to see the results. The fact is, this life is not a race or a popularity contest. We all have the common goal of returning home to be with our Father in Heaven. We all possess the right tools to accomplish this. For music composing, it is a melody that we are already familiar with. We can use manuscript paper or a computer to help us along the way. For our progression through mortality, we can use paper scriptures, or electronic scriptures. We can watch our leaders and the counsel that they offer us via the internet, or read them via the monthly magazines. These are tools for us. As we grow in the gospel, we will gain testimony of certain things, or "little victories". We also experience trials and hardships along our way. We may be asked via callings to something that we are uncomfortable doing or something, like the software scoring program, we have never experienced before. We learn that software and progress to next levels by accepting those callings and thus we learn and grow. And as we pass our earthly test, our manuscripts  may not be fully realized. For we will continue to learn, grow, and improve ourselves even after we go to the next level in our eternal course. Our master cares not about how far we got finished with the score - rather that we have notes on a piece of paper. It shows our effort, and I believe we will be rewarded according to our individual efforts.