Using forScore

Pallas · 2025-01-02T12:48:16+00:00

I noticed that several of us use forScore in our piano study. I use it on an iPad to organize, read, and annotate scores. I've also got a Firefly page flippi...

ShiroKuro

One thing I didn’t use is layers… I don’t actually know what that is 😅 but my piano teacher mentioned.

I assume that means that you could turn off the annotations you made, maybe? And possibly have different sets of annotations?? Maybe someone in this thread uses layers and can explain?

One thing I use a lot are setlists. Here’s what my setlist list looks like right now:

candela

ShiroKuro I assume that means that you could turn off the annotations you made, maybe? And possibly have different sets of annotations?? Maybe someone in this thread uses layers and can explain?

I'm a bit old-school and often use paper scorers, but when I use ForScore I really appreciate the layer function. One way I use it is when dividing a piece into practice sections, (with numbers, letters and/ or colour coded). At first these could be very short, like just one or two tricky bars. Eventually the sections will be longer or cover a different part of the music and then I'll make a new layer and turn off the old. I like to only show the markings relevant for a particular practice session. If I'm really nerdy and want to randomise the order I practice the sections, I use a bag with a known number of different coloured pawns from a game (multiple of each colour), draw one at a time and then put it aside after successfully practicing the section. In that case it would be very confusing to have more than one section of each colour visible on the score.

Interpretational annotations, highlights of repeat signs, signo and coda etc and other long-term comments go into their own layer which is treated as a more permanent one.

ShiroKuro

Another tool that I’ve used but am not actively using right now is the bookmark function. If I have a pdf of an actual book, I can use the bookmark to jump to a specific page upon opening, so that I don’t have to scroll through 25 pages to get to the score I want.

Sgisela

I have Newzik, and while the details are different from Forscore, I think there’s a lot of very similar functionality. I highly recommend looking into layers if you’re taking lots of notes, as this will help you keep all your notes associated with the piece and you don’t need to have extra pdfs. You can organize things however is most convenient — you could do a separate layer for each lesson, or you could have layers for fingering, phrasing, etc. whatever makes sense for you. But layers are very helpful, and you can instantly make them visible/invisible.

Newzik also has a built in metronome, which is very convenient—don’t need to have a separate app or device.

If you get into longer/more complicated pieces, you can duplicate pages so you don’t have to ‘go back’ for repeats, there’s the bookmark feature and lots of other things. But I think you will find the layers very helpful.

JB_PT

@Pallas Thank you for starting this thread! I have been using only the most basic functions and keep thinking about reviewing the other features "later," and here I am years down the road and later hasn't come yet. This discussion will definitely motivate me to learn more about the program.

Sgisela

Pallas it seems like you’re pretty up to speed about the overall functionality of the app. I don’t write journal style notes— just take lots and lots of notes on the score. But one option would be to add some blank pages to the end of the piece that you use for writing longer notes/practice notes. This has the advantage of keeping it within the same document, but you may prefer not to have the added pages, or to have a separate document that encompasses all your pieces but is more of a practice diary.