Mastering Music is premium music notation software that's as much an educational tool as it is a composition and audio sequencing tool. This application and its partner application, Music Master Professional, are well suited to teen students and serious musicians who have yet to reach a professional level. You must buy both applications together to take advantage of all the educational material, which acts as both an introduction to music theory and a user guide for Music Master Professional. Fortunately, the combined price is relatively low.

This software is a good choice for music theory classrooms, but its weaknesses in functionality make it hard to recommend as premium composition software. While this software offers a limited MIDI library of instrument voices, it doesn't include or support external sound libraries. In the sequencing arena, you can use MIDI devices and have many editing options, but WAV files are the only type that you can import and export.

The capabilities of this product as music composition software are better than most applications designed for beginners, but they aren't as comprehensive as most of the other premium music applications we reviewed. You can use multiple staves, chord symbols and a handful of clefs, including one for percussion, but you can't compose in guitar tabulation. You can use a MIDI microphone to record yourself playing or singing, but you can't enter notes into a staff that way. However, you can easily edit your recorded file in the sequencer or piano roll windows. You can transpose notes, but can't do just a few measures at a time. Unfortunately, few of the capabilities of this software are automated.

The educational capabilities of this music notation software are excellent, particularly when it comes to intermediate music theory, ear training and audio editing. There are more than 400 lessons, which cover topics such as performance, improvisation, four-part composition, adding chords and composing for ensembles. Sequencing tools include MIDI voice selection and manipulation, Wavesample editing, drum loops and film scoring. You also get several lessons for aural interval and chord recognition and learning to play by ear. This was the best application we found for teaching these skills. All the lessons are online. Completing their exercises requires Music Master Professional, the desktop application. The lessons are easy to understand, and many come with video tutorials. The exercises involve tasks such as playing live with your primary instrument, with Mastering Music acting as accompaniment. You will learn to use the desktop application by working through the lessons, so you get practice writing and editing notation. In comparison with the best music composition software products on the market, Mastering Music doesn't allow teachers to view and control students as they use the application on separate computers. It also lacks a free reader application, but students can access the application from home with the purchase of a WebConnect license.

Options for importing and exporting music with Mastering Music are less than satisfactory, especially when you consider the advanced capabilities of this software as an audio sequencer. You can't import or export MIDI files or XML files, but you can use WAV files. You can print your scores, but you can't export graphics. Options for entering music aren't much better. You can enter notes using your keyboard mouse, but you can't do so with a computer keyboard. Nevertheless, this application includes many convenient keyboard shortcuts. When you're done entering notes, rests and chords, you can add dynamic markings and transpose notes easily. You can also change the key signature with little effort, but you can't change a song from a major key to a minor one without changing all the accidentals one at a time.

Mastering Music has many features so there will be a learning curve, but a few features will make the task easier. Navigation within the desktop application is intuitive. The interface uses the menu systems and button-based toolbars you're probably already accustomed to. Furthermore, the online lessons are very helpful. They act as an excellent tutorial for the desktop software. If you have questions or technical trouble, you can use the online FAQs or help guide, but you may have to download extra software from Microsoft to make the guide work properly. You can contact the Australian manufacturer by phone or email for technical support.