A couple of years ago I bought a computer to replace my aging word processor. Choosing a Macintosh was one of the best decisions I ever made, and this computer has transformed the way I do all my paper-oriented work - essay writing, bookkeeping, etc. But it's not all work for my 'Mac'; we do a lot of playing together too.

There is a synthesizer in the house that my daughters used to use for keyboard practice, and this is now connected to my computer. With the help of some special software, I can now write music on the computer screen using the mouse, and then hear it played back automatically by the synthesizer. I can choose from many different sounds - everything from 'grand piano' and traditional wind or brass instruments, right up to space-age electronic tones.

I tried my hand at music composition when I was a school student, but found it quite frustrating sometimes. I wrote the music with pencil onto the score paper, copied out the parts for each instrument, and then gathered some friends to play it so I could hear what it sounded like. I would then go back to the desk to make changes ...

But now! I simply click click click with the mouse to put the notes onto the screen, click again to select the instruments, and then with one final click on the 'play' button, sit back to hear the 'performance'. It's an absolutely fabulous system, one that composers of the past could never have even dreamed of using.

There's only one problem. Mozart had nothing but pencil and paper, and look what he wrote. I have this wonderful system, and you should hear the stuff that I write! Do you think that perhaps there's something wrong with my computer ...?)