I've Been Looking for This Link For a While!

http://www.finalemusic.com/NotePad/default.aspx

Finale Notepad is free.

I have students that ask me for staff paper all the time.  I almost hate to give them any because I know that a notation program like Finale would be better.  They can hear their work. The math that puts the right number of beats in a measure is built in.  The general neatness of the final product is better and readable.

There are a lot fewer trees involved between the start of the project and the end of the project too.

I have been getting by on really old versions of Notepad with students.  This will make for a much better computer situation for my middle schoolers.  Not everyone has the budget for Finale on their home computer and assigning a notation project homework or make-up work wasn't a good idea.  Sure there are online notation programs, but we are almost there when it comes to home connected internet computers.  (Not all the way there.)

Hopefully, this nice gesture on Finale's part translates into some good Karma for them.  Who knows?  Maybe the next generation of great composers will remember who gave them their start with free tools when they go to buy their first full scale notation program.