I love how the iPad can instantly change the way we do things.
7 thoughts on “Sheet music and the iPad”
Another tip: there are foot pedals that use Bluetooth to turn music pages on the iPad so musicians don’t even need to take their hands off their instruments to swipe. Two popular models are the “PageFlip Cicada” and the “AirTurn BT-105”. They can be customized for pretty much any software, whether it’s a simple PDF reader or dedicated sheet music software. (I’m not a musician and haven’t used these, so it’s not an endorsement; just something I read about recently that sounded like a great use of tech).
Wouldn’t it be great if the App listened to the notes I was playing and turned the page at right time. Thus eliminating the need for me to swipe.
Apps from Steinberg and Yamaha incorporate timing into sheet music display, so they advance at the rate specified within the music, kind of mixing the sheet with a metronome.
I think that’s awesome!
I’ve been using SongBook w/ an iPad mount for lyrics while playing drums. Have used iPad and Nexus 7 successfully — great cross-platform support via DropBox and simple as pie to use.
I’m a church pianist. I use an iPad1 with forScore and Bluetooth AirTurn foot pedals. I have over 600 pieces of music already scanned in and available at a moment’s notice. I love it. No more heavy music bag packed with books.
Youssef, I once thought about that, but what happens when you need to repeat something or the same musical segment appears in multiple places? forScore also does the metronome style page turns, but what happens when your choir director adjusts tempo in the middle of the piece. I don’t want it to turn the pages unless I tell it to. I love my AirTurn pedals. I just wish they had a dedicated on/off switch other than a multifunction button–a minor quibble.
forScore is great. If a fellow musician also running forScore doesn’t have his music scanned yet, I can beam it to him via Bluetooth in seconds. I also like the ability to annotate my music and set page turn links.
It’s truly a revolutionary way of reading and managing sheet music. I couldn’t be happier.
I play organ/piano in church and for weddings, and major dittos to all of Brain’s points (I use the Cicada page turn pedals).
Another tip: there are foot pedals that use Bluetooth to turn music pages on the iPad so musicians don’t even need to take their hands off their instruments to swipe. Two popular models are the “PageFlip Cicada” and the “AirTurn BT-105”. They can be customized for pretty much any software, whether it’s a simple PDF reader or dedicated sheet music software. (I’m not a musician and haven’t used these, so it’s not an endorsement; just something I read about recently that sounded like a great use of tech).
Wouldn’t it be great if the App listened to the notes I was playing and turned the page at right time. Thus eliminating the need for me to swipe.
Apps from Steinberg and Yamaha incorporate timing into sheet music display, so they advance at the rate specified within the music, kind of mixing the sheet with a metronome.
I think that’s awesome!
I’ve been using SongBook w/ an iPad mount for lyrics while playing drums. Have used iPad and Nexus 7 successfully — great cross-platform support via DropBox and simple as pie to use.
I’m a church pianist. I use an iPad1 with forScore and Bluetooth AirTurn foot pedals. I have over 600 pieces of music already scanned in and available at a moment’s notice. I love it. No more heavy music bag packed with books.
Youssef, I once thought about that, but what happens when you need to repeat something or the same musical segment appears in multiple places? forScore also does the metronome style page turns, but what happens when your choir director adjusts tempo in the middle of the piece. I don’t want it to turn the pages unless I tell it to. I love my AirTurn pedals. I just wish they had a dedicated on/off switch other than a multifunction button–a minor quibble.
forScore is great. If a fellow musician also running forScore doesn’t have his music scanned yet, I can beam it to him via Bluetooth in seconds. I also like the ability to annotate my music and set page turn links.
It’s truly a revolutionary way of reading and managing sheet music. I couldn’t be happier.
I play organ/piano in church and for weddings, and major dittos to all of Brain’s points (I use the Cicada page turn pedals).
Have you tried SheetMusicFox? All the sheet music is completely free: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sheetmusicfox/id553770587?ls=1&mt=8