While I was student teaching, the students regularly used SmartMusic in lessons. Mostly the program was used for the accompaniment and the student's had their own sheet music so they weren't reading off the computer. This is definitely something I wish I had growing up because when it came to All-State solos, I wasn't used to playing with a piano and when I first started it would always through me off! I think it's great for the students to hear how the piano compliments their performance and there's more than just reading the notes off the page.
As far as Finale, I must say I absolutely love scanning pieces in! What a time saver, considering I'm working on a laptop without the numeric keypad. Using the numbers on top of my laptop is helpful, but nothing compares (in my opinion) to having a numeric keypad to work with when inputting. It's kind of amazing how Finale can read and input music from a sheet of paper you scanned. I can only imagine what deceased composers would think if they only knew what advancements would occur in music technology!
