It doesn't make much difference how they begin as long as they complete a song within the specified guidelines. Sequencers can be used to record student compositions. Students with no performance skills can enter notes using a feature known as step time entry, which makes it possible to enter notes and chords using the computer keyboard and a mouse. The multitrack capability of sequencers makes it possible for students to create multi-timbral arrangements of their songs. These features enable students to better understand some of the variables in music composition and orchestration.
Sequencers can help students learn how to read and notate music.
For example, the teacher can teach students a simple melody by rote. The students can record the melody into a sequencer. Many software sequencers can display note information in standard musical notation. In this way students can view a notated representation of their performance and, with teacher guidance, begin to understand notational elements such as staves, clefs, time signatures, key signatures and note durations. Sequencers with notation capabilities make it possible for beginning music students to produce professional looking notation in a fraction of the time needed for them to learn how to notate music themselves.