Hi, Eddie.

I'm not sure how your solution gets me any closer to meeting my needs.

I'm a computer programmer who's volunteered to teach a class on music theory to a handful of teenagers. I have no budget, and we meet once a month for one hour.

When I asked them what they wanted to learn about, they said they wanted to get right to the fundamentals of SATB-style writing. You know - that pedantic 4-part style that they teach you in Music Theory 101, because everyone likes to spend their spare time writing chorales.

One hour is dreadfully short amount of time, especially when I want to make sure people understand the fundamentals. By the time I've explained basic stuff like why similar motion is bad if you're trying to create independent melodic lines, class is already over.

They're chomping at the bit, taking home my copies of Jeppenson's Counterpoint: The Polyphonic Vocal Style of the Sixteenth Century and Kennan's Counterpoint Based on Eighteenth-Century Practice. (I'll confess not making my way through either completely, although I've made a number of valiant attempts).

While they're certainly motivated, I'm not entirely sure their about their comprehension level.

It got me thinking about what I wished I had when I was taking Music Theory 101 in college:



Does this look like Finale to you?