Want to compose your own music? There are a vast array of programs available in the digital age that can make composing, and sharing of your compositions easier than ever before. Finale, and Sibelius are the most popular programs available, both are very nice and have tons of features to cater to different tastes in the composition / notation practice. Just one convenient feature is the ability to hook up to a midi keyboard or other device to notate in real time. These programs share another quality besides their popularity, a price tag. Sibelius can be found for a reasonable price some places online, but finale costs a staggering $600 retail.
Good news, there are FREE alternatives. In the spirit of Apache open office and other open source programs MuseScore is available for free download and holds its own against finale and sibelius. MuseScore is available for most all operating systems including Windows, IOS, and Linux. There are various other programs available for free download such as Crescendo, Lilypond, and the free version of finale: Finale Note Pad (severely limited in capability) among others. Obviously my favorite of these thus far has been MuseScore, it has some quirks, but for being completely FREE its beautiful.
Soon I will post some of my compositions created with the software, along with a more in depth review of the program itself.