When I double-click on a .MID file (a MIDI file), Windows Media Player starts, and the internal synthesizer produces the sounds the file calls for.

I would like to write a utility to do rudimentary editing of MIDI files in a more human-interface approach than editing the files byte by byte, and would like to include the ability to stimulate the internal synthesizer as Media Player does.

It just can’t be that hard, but the only info I find in Visual Studio Help refers to Windows CE utilities!

References?
URLS?
API recommendations?