Finale 2011 is a complete music writing, arranging and playback software package. It can be used by music students as well as professional composers and arrangers. Finale 2011 offers several options for inputting music, including simple keyboard entry, midi keyboard entry and music scanning options. A complete menu of tools for notation, expression, dynamics, lyrics, tempo, key signature and even graphics, etc. is available.
 
After using other software for several years, I found the Finale 2011 version more user-friendly and easier to navigate.  The tutorial video is well organized by feature and category and the Help Menu and Online Discussion feature are both very useful.  This newest version of Finale has a much improved list of instrument sounds through the Garritan Orchestra feature along with many new fonts for the various percussion instruments and mallets. The Startup Wizard was also easy to use and self explanatory.
 
The Music Educational Worksheets would be useful for general music, music appreciation and fundamentals of music classes at a variety of levels. Smart Music is available allowing teachers to add accompaniments that may not be part of the standard library. This is particularly useful for beginning and intermediate level students where accompaniments are not readily available.
 
One feature that seems to have problems is editing the score after parts have been extracted. The changes are not automatically made in the parts.
 
Finale 2011can best be learned and used by students in music theory or arranging and composition classes with the guidance of an instructor. It can also be used by the amateur or professional composer working alone. This second method, however, would take time and considerable patience to really develop fluency with the program.  In either case it is worth the time as Finale 2011 is an excellent product for any musician interested in music notation and playback.