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I've been using Finale Notepad, but I don't think I can change the colors of the notes, or put in more than one line of notes on a single stave.

What I want to do is to put a Bach fugue into a composing program, and change the color of each line of notes, so that the top voice is blue and the middle voice is green and the bottom voice is red (or something like that).

Any ideas?

I'm just trying to learn the ins and outs of composing software myself. Have you tried e-mailing the "help desk" at Finale or Sibelius to see if any of their programs have this capability? That's where I would start because they would give you the specifics of which programs can do this and the how to's.

If it were me, not to sound negative but I would save my time, energy, and money on other more productive endeavors (such as composing ) and so long as you own your own copy of the music, make a personal photocopy and stick with the old-fashioned route of colored pencils or highlighters. I'm sure this is what you are already doing. Is it not working out? I've never color coded things, but have heard it suggested by others before.

Could you scan it to word and somehow "draw" in the colors? Or color them in by hand very neatly and then scan it into your computer to look more professional.

I know that Finale does this. I don't know how willing you are to go out and buy it though. But if you decide to, its way better than Sibelius, and I highly reccomend it.

Sorry, I just noticed you said "Free." Sorry, Sam, I don't know of any free ones that do. But I would definately consider buying Finale. It's worth every penney.

Finale's in the computer lab down the hall, Sam.

Notepad will do it. In the lower left corner, you'll see the numbers "1234". These are the layers you can type notes in with. Layer 1 is black, layer 2 is red, 3 is green and 4 is blue (or at least, that's the old system...dunno what they did in Finale 2006).

The only trouble with layers is you're going to wind up with a good amount of "clutter" between rests (where individual lines don't play, but you need the rest for the next note to show up) and overlapping staves, etc.

I say, go for the six-year-old solution...colored-pencils and paper with lines. (Just make sure you color on/inbetween the lines in the right places. :p )

Thank you, Derulux. That's exactly what I was looking for!