Thank You ALL

This is a different forum post. It is one of gratitude to you all. Please forgive its length.

I am 74 yrs old now. All of my life I've enjoyed music, and for one part of my life, I even played piano by ear. For reasons of life, I never learned to speed read music. I was too poor for lessons and by the time I was 30 and had the money, I was already a dad twice over, worked 8 - 6 + heavy commuting, and it was just beyond my ability to scan and understand both treble and base clefs at the same time. I did, however, have excellent pitch and could listen to a song and pick out each of its many notes. I did not know what notes they were, but I could hear them.

I composed four very melodic piano songs when I was in my 30's, to my daughter's delight. I could write down the notes laboriously, because they were 1 note at a time and I did not have to speed read them, but since I could not play my own song when done unless I memorized it, I never bothered. I just played them by ear.

Eventually, I sold my piano and as I aged, playing music of any kind just dropped away. I forgot all my songs and any others I had memorized.

40 years later, in 2014, I discovered MuseScore. It incredibly, was FREE. When I downloaded it, I discovered I could slowly and with difficulty, recreate my old songs, one note at a time, and write them down as sheet music. I also learned I could add other instruments to them (something I always wanted to do). I had 128 instruments to choose from. When done, the mixer would then play my music for me ... no struggling needed. I played with the program occasionally for a year or so, and managed to write and record several songs, but the program's learning curve was steep, since I knew nothing about music notation ... nothing. Life also got in the way and my usage dropped away ... until I retired.

In 2020, as COVID hit, I downloaded MuseScore 3.2, sat at my computer, and vowed to learn music notation, and the learning curve for MuseScore. With the gracious help and patience of Marc Sabatella, JoJo, Steve, Bob and a bunch of other guys on the forum, plus some outside party free soundfonts, I have finally learned most of what I need to write proper sheet music and have the mixer play back the result. That result is ... well ... wonderful ... and perhaps the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. Not only have I recorded my four compositions, but my talent for hearing individual notes in songs for each instrument enabled me with your wonderful program to craft almost 50 songs to date, and post them all on Musescore.com for others to listen to and download. The results have been most rewarding. My songs sound so ... wonderful. Being a perfectionist, I've spent countless hours adapting them to Musescore until they are as close to the originals as I can make them, sometimes with a dozen or more instruments included. My ratings are close to 5/5 for all my songs, the comments I've gotten and the "favorites" that others have saved are heartwarming, and ... I owe it all to you guys. Your spectacular coding ability, you understanding of music, and your willingness to make most of it free to me, has finally, at 74 yrs old, enabled me to become the amateur composer and adapter that I always wanted to me.

I spend at least 3 hours/day composing/adapting new songs and it fulfills my life. I am partly disabled now, and with it, I can still be productive. Thank you all ... from the bottom of my heart!

Frank