Composing in the score editor

Hi All,

I've been watching reaper for a couple of years but I never bought it because the score editor was lacking. Well here it is and here I am. Bought it a couple of months ago and watched a lot of Kenny Gioia's videos on Groove 3.
Of course the score editor didn't exist yet. I have a couple of questions. Does anyone know of a tutorial for getting started with composition in the score editor? The two issues that confront me first are 1) how do I create an empty midi space that I can open with the score editor and 2) how do I put notes onto the staff. I've found that double clicking on the staff will place a note with the duration that is set in the grid. Is there a way to change the note durations without changing the grid? Is there a way to place notes on the staff with a single click? I see that these things may need to be set with actions shortcut keys but filtering actions with "score" returns nothing. Can someone point a beginner in a helpful direction?

Thanks

Composing in the score editor