Thanks for publishing the announcement of the Ragtime composition
contest; it's entertaining reading -- once!  But all my friends who
compose and arrange music have told me they usually use old-fashioned
pencil and paper for the "inspiration" and "perspiration" phases of
music making.  If they use the computer it's mostly to verify the
music.

Many of the tools at the hardware store -- and the software store --
are designed and packaged to appeal to the creative ego of the
would-be, want-to-be Artisan.  The merit of these products is
debatable.

I illustrate with this doggerel (which I composed using a dull
pencil):

        "Alluring are my fishing flies,
           but it's hard for me to tie them;
        The store knows how to catch the eyes
           of us fishermen who buy them!"

-- Robbie Rhodes