New Tricks

I think the reason it took me so long to try out the new software was because I was afraid.

I’ve been a Finale user for 25+ years – enough to learn shortcuts for virtually everything I want to do, and solid workarounds for everything it doesn’t do well. I’ve been closely following a notation software upstart for several years, but only in the last few weeks did I try to do much with it.

I was afraid that I was too old of a dog – or at least too ingrained – to learn any new tricks.

But good news! Between the reading and videos I’d already consumed, some easy googling, and most of all by forcing myself to really immerse myself, I discovered that I was up to the challenge. Now, with several projects done and a solid sense of how the software works, I have no desire to go back to the old way – even though I still know it much “better.”

You can learn new tricks at any age, and no matter how fully immersed you are in a way of working. Certainly we’ve all learned that over the last six months, as we’ve tried all sorts of new technological solutions to novel challenges in the age of COVID-19. But it was Dorico that really drove it home for me.