Switching to a digital score has made me a better pianist!

twocats · 2025-11-10T22:37:11+00:00

I switched to an iPad over two years ago and will never go back to paper scores. My initial impetus for going digital was to be able to easily turn pages bu...

pianocat

navindra iPad is a multi-use device for me and so it's basically distraction central #1.

I do have an iPad for sheet music, and I cut down on distractions by not having email, messages, apps, etc. installed on it. No notifications go to the iPad. It is just an overpriced forScore tablet (and Kindle reader for music books I had to purchase from Amazon).

navindra

pianocat Indeed, that's the only way I can think of to do it right!

pseudonym58

Here's my setup: a 12.9" iPad, which I will replace with a TCL Nxtpaper 14" Tablet (the equivalent of 8.5"x11" printed music) later this month, and the IMSLP app which includes a simple PDF viewer and which supports annotations. I was never able to get comfortable using a pedal, so the tablet is simply a replacement for sheet music. I still have to reach up and tap the screen. On the iPad I have an application which supports various different facial motions, but I wasn't able to get comfortable with that either. I have enough trouble playing the piano itself! 🙂

ShiroKuro

navindra that was super interesting! I don't have the complaints you did about iPad (I can easily turn notifications off, the glossy screen never bothered me etc.) But I really enjoyed reading about your concerns and your process.

navindra ~~and AI is being leveraged for maximum impact at the piano~~.

Was that a joke, as in, you turned off the AI functions? Or did you mean, you didn't turn them off? (sorry, sometimes I'm clueless! 😃 )

pseudonym58 I still have to reach up and tap the screen

I switched to using a bluetooth pedal years ago, but before that, I found just tapping the screen was much easier (and more reliable!) than turning a page in a physical book. So even just for that reason, I would recommend tablets for scores.

navindra

ShiroKuro Was that a joke, as in, you turned off the AI functions?

Indeed a joke, but if I can't get away from AI anywhere else, at least it can be banished from my piano. 😂

iternabe iPad Pro M4 13 inch 1TB with Nano-texture and Apple Pencil Pro

This is the way! What a glorious setup!

I would do that too, but then I fully expect neither you nor me would be able to employ such a device as a dedicated sheet music reader. We'd even have a full keyboard for it and would be using it for a myriad of other things. It would never just be at the piano, ready to go.

Love or hate it, the power of cheap Linux/Android devices is in dedicated computing.

ShiroKuro +1 This video says everything!

iternabe

I just upgraded my 7-year-old iPad Pro 1st Gen to a second-hand iPad Pro M4 13 inch 1TB with Nano-texture and Apple Pencil Pro (at great discount). Two reasons drove my decision: 1) no need to print sight reading materials that constantly change, 2) flexibility to write on the score (chord name, harmony, fingering, etc.) that I can change, erase, layer, and hide.

I briefly tried MobileSheets on my android tablet. But the convenience of having an all Apple ecosystem wins out. I can add PDF scores to forScore on my Mac, and it will automatically sync via iCloud and show up on my iPad.

As for distraction, it is not a problem yet. But if it does become an issue, there is always the "Guided access" mode on the iPad that can temporarily lock the iPad to a single app (e.g. forScore).

Seeker

rogerch I also have the AirTurn DUO 500. It's not perfect but I've gotten pretty good with it. The problems I have are related to the fact that I have a hardwood floor under my piano. The AirTurn is not perfectly flat. If I put it directly on the floor, part of it rises off the floor when I press the pedal and then falls back down with a loud "clack" when I release the pedal.

I use some gaffers tape folded back on itself to make a 2-sided slightly sticky strip that I put under the rubber feet at the top end of the DUO 500. This keeps the unit stable on slick floors. I use the unit in my studio which has slick tile flooring as well as when I play places with slick floors which include most stages. The tape wears out after a while, so off it comes to be replaced by another few inches of new tape.

ShiroKuro

Gombessa that was a great video, thanks for posting the link!

For anyone who hasn't watched, here's the video again. It's quite well-made and kind of funny/charming. Now I want to see some of his other videos!

candela

navindra I've discovered the TCL NXTPAPER 14

How do you find the viewing experience compared to "normal" screens and to paper? I sometimes play from sheet music on a 24" screen placed right behind the piano. And while there's undoubtedly some added convenience to digital sheets, I just find paper to be so much easier on the eyes that in the end I tend to go back to paper. If this NXTpaper tablet solves most of that it would be great!
Btw, do you know if it is compatible with standard EMR styluses like those from Wacom, Staedtler etc? The proprietary pen seems overpriced in my country when all I need is something to occasionally annotate some sheet music.

Otherwise, a good e-ink display might be ideal for me, but it doesn't seem to exist (yet?). If I've missed something, please let me know! Currently the only somewhat possible option I've found is the 13.3" Boox Note Max, which is also running on Android. But apart from the more or less severe ghosting issues present on all e-ink displays, there are so many reviews about terrible customer service where Boox blames the customer for problems that by all reasonable standards would be the company's responsibility within the warranty period. They are also fudging or outright breaking EU regulations on consumer rights regarding no-questions-asked returns etc. So while the device itself might be fine or ok for as long as it happens to work, if nothing else the company's reputation makes me disregard it as an option.

twocats

candela Currently the only somewhat possible option I've found is the 13.3" Boox Note Max

I had one (bought a lightly used one), owned it briefly and then sold it. The battery life was terrible and the page turn lag was noticeable. It was a few years ago and perhaps these things have improved, but it was an expensive device and it sounds like it's just not a trustworthy company!

navindra

candela How do you find the viewing experience compared to "normal" screens and to paper?

It's more like a normal screen, but TCL has tried to make NXTPAPER more eye-friendly. The filters and matt screen surface, together with the special modes, make it more paper-like, but definitely not as great as B&W E Ink. The viewing angles are more limited (especially if you use it on minimum brightness, they get better as you increase brightness), unlike E Ink.

Personally, I do feel like it's more similar to a color E Ink screen with the front light on. These are definitely not as nice as B&W E Ink with no front light at all... but the experience feels akin to that on the NXTPAPER.

And while it's not perfect, I've adjusted it so that it works for me, and I feel I finally have a device that has allowed me to go all in with digital scores.

All-in-all, I can say my time at the piano has become very enjoyable and I feel like I'm working on everything that I should be working on without missing a beat. Gone is the previous haphazard paper and book chaos I was dealing with.

candela Btw, do you know if it is compatible with standard EMR styluses like those from Wacom, Staedtler etc? The proprietary pen seems overpriced in my country when all I need is something to occasionally annotate some sheet music.

For me, the pen was included. I don't know if it's compatible with anything else, unfortunately. It's an active stylus.

candela Otherwise, a good e-ink display might be ideal for me, but it doesn't seem to exist (yet?).

I had an older and smaller Boox reader. I also tried AiPaper but it didn't work out. They iterate their software quickly but they only fix bugs to introduce new ones. I was waiting for some triumphant moment when everything would work right, but finally gave up and I'm glad I did.

Gombessa I'd love to see how that TCL looks on your piano setup.

I'll aim to take a photo on the weekend. It's nothing fancy and purely functional though! 🙂

Gombessa I did contact the developer to ask for some remote trigger functionality and....he built it in! I can now start mobilesheets from Home Assistant, which is cool.

Wow, talk about next level!

Gombessa My longest piece stored in Mobilesheets is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I put on there one time when we were traveling and I needed a makeshift ebook reader for my daughter

Now it's my turn to ask you to let us hear it! 😂

But seriously, very, very cool.

Gombessa Photo scans are the way to go.

Do you do it directly from MobileSheets? That's what I've been doing so far, though I could technically do it from my iPad and transfer it over.

Gombessa

@navindra, very nice!

I'd love to see how that TCL looks on your piano setup.

Reading through the account, I agree with so much of what is said:

Permanent setup, if possible, is key. I wouldn't use a tablet if I had to move it for other purposes (e.g., if my kids used it). By having it dedicated to the piano, I do the same thing of having ONLY Mobilesheets and Youtube (and Disklavier app) on the homescreen. It's just a sheet music reader/annotator and video-reference player. Suuuper first-world privilege use case, yes.
Mobilesheets has a crazy learning curve. It totally feels like it's built by a backend software engineer 🙂 Very complex and powerful when you get to using it, and I'm sure I only use 5% of its full function. I did contact the developer to ask for some remote trigger functionality and....he built it in! I can now start mobilesheets from Home Assistant, which is cool.

But it's all glorified pdf reader. Just like a foot pedal page turner is a glorified bluetooth button. My longest piece stored in Mobilesheets is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I put on there one time when we were traveling and I needed a makeshift ebook reader for my daughter 🙂

Photo scans are the way to go. I found that PDFs don't really need to be high-res, just sharp enough not to be distracting, and the key is getting the music in quickly and moving on to actually playing.
Mobilesheets has multiple backup options. There's a new "library backup" that I never use, because I already have all my devices pulling from the cloud library. In addition, I run an instance of Mobilesheets on my Mac that stores a local copy there. And my full-time tablet has my working library copy. As does my phone. So Everything is synced 4-ways and knock on wood I never have to worry about losing my music even one, two, or all of my devices crap out.

navindra

Gombessa I'd love to see how that TCL looks on your piano setup.

Here are a couple of photos of the TCL next to the equivalent sheet music.

I played around with the brightness/color temperature of the TCL to try to make the screen match a bit better for the photo. Note that the bezel size is the same all around, it's just the scan/aspect ratio that determines whether the content fills the frame or not.

ShiroKuro

navindra I would do that too, but then I fully expect neither you nor me would be able to employ such a device as a dedicated sheet music reader. We'd even have a full keyboard for it and would be using it for a myriad of other things. It would never just be at the piano, ready to go.

This hasn’t been an issue for me with the iPad. But maybe that’s because I don’t use my iPad for work and I am not a Mac user. I don’t have an external keyboard for the iPad, and I don’t leave the iPad on the piano (I close my piano when not playing) nor do I leave it in the piano room. I use my iPad at breakfast (right now!) and after piano practice, I usually use the iPad pleasure reading or browsing.

But when I’m playing piano, I put the iPad into airplane mode and that way, I don’t get any notifications.

What I really want is a stand-alone metronome. I don’t like using the metronome on my iPad while also score reading, so I just use a metronome app on my phone. But I don’t like having my phone out while practicing.

Maybe I should just buy one… duh.

Gombessa

navindra Do you do it directly from MobileSheets? That's what I've been doing so far, though I could technically do it from my iPad and transfer it over.

I uh, didn't actually know mobilesheets had a photo mode. I used to use this basic Google document scanner that let you correct the perspective/skew easily, but lately I've just been taking pictures and saving as PDF. I'll give the direct-from-Mobilesheets option a try next time!

ShiroKuro What I really want is a stand-alone metronome. I don’t like using the metronome on my iPad while also score reading,

That's the same thing with me. I have this thousand-dollar tablet that does everything, but I'm only using it as sheet music, and I don't like tapping/swiping to manipulate a metronome, so I prefer an entirely separate $20 gadget to do that. I don't know what it is, but I think it's related to how Steve Jobs was adamant about separating "Camera" and "Photos/Camera Roll" into two separate apps.

candela

navindra Thank you for your detailed description of the screen! I suppose the only way for me to truly find out is to order one as there are no local shops in my town that have it on display.

About the pen, I've now read somewhere that a user had tried his NXTpaper 14 with a USI standard pen (which is a different standard than the Wacom standard widely used for e-readers) It functioned for a while but stopped working after some upgrade, so the TCL T-pen is probably the safest bet. Here in Sweden it is not included. Neither is the case. According to price comparison sites the cheapest here is currently around 3500 SEK (about 375 USD or 325 €) for the tablet itself, with an additional 350 SEK for the case and 500 for the stylus. In total it adds up to about 400 € or 470 USD. Not ridiculously cheap today, but still in a league of is own for a 14" screen tablet. Maybe even the only one that large readily available. For comparison, the Boox Note Max 13.3 e-ink is 580 € including pen and cover from Boox' own store.

I wish there were some European, Canadian or Japanese alternatives, but as far as I can tell there isn't. { Edit: If one thinks a backlit 12.6 - 13" screen is ok for sheet music, there is the French Murena Volla, the German Volla tablet or the German Shift13Mi tablet Not sure what relevant pdf or sheet music apps are compatible on their respective operating systems, though. And I don't think my eyes would cope very well with yet another backlit screen. The European e-reader manufacturer's don't seem to have any big enough devices for piano sheet music, but top at around 10.6".}
So I'm leaning towards biting the bullet anyway for the convenience of carrying and reading sheet music as well as PressReader papers and magazines (including Pianist) from my local library. Thanks all for bringing it to my attention!

Small side note: I wonder if the preinstalled AI on NXTpaper is a Chinese regime flavoured one similar to the one allegedly shipped with Boox devices? But I would uninstall it in either case as I obviously agree there is absolutely no need for it to be there in the first place.

iternabe

ShiroKuro But when I’m playing piano, I put the iPad into airplane mode and that way, I don’t get any notifications.

On iPad/iPhone, you can also setup a “Focus” mode that automatically activcates when you launch an app (e.g. forScore). Focus mode by default silence all calls, messages, and notifications. Or you can set it so that only certain person or app is allowed to come through.

navindra

ShiroKuro But when I’m playing piano, I put the iPad into airplane mode and that way, I don’t get any notifications.

Nice strategy!

Gombessa I uh, didn't actually know mobilesheets had a photo mode.

Seems I'm in good company then. 😂

candela I wonder if the preinstalled AI on NXTpaper

The NXTPAPER is very clean and has no infestation. Sorry for the wrong impression, it's not like the other E Ink tablets in that regard. The only annoyance was the MSN (US) widget, which is easy to eradicate. Everything else is super easy to remove/disable/replace and is only a matter of taste.

Mine feels absolutely pristine with nothing but my sheet music always ready to go.

Seeker https://padformusician.com/en/

Wow!

ShiroKuro

iternabe you can also setup a “Focus” mode that automatically activcates when you launch an app (e.g. forScore).

I thought about doing that, but there's something nice about manually going in and putting the entire machine into airplane mode. It's a signal to myself that I'm getting ready to play.

And because the iPad is in airplane mode, I can't go search for a YT video (for example) if I want to listen to something, not without turning off airplane mode first. That might seem like an inconvenience, but it's another way of ensuring intentionality, that when I'm at the piano, I'm there to practice, to play.

Anyway, that works for me. It may not work for others.

Seeker

https://padformusician.com/en/

I have been using a PadMu for several years now. It's based on ePaper. It's reliable. It has some features just for musicians. If I had the ca$h, I'd buy a second so PadMu could turn two pages at once for me, but... I don't. The latest one has color as well, and I think the price is down from what I paid for mine a few years ago. I use mine for all my music at home - preferring to work from the display than paper at this point, and I have used it professionally in solo performances as well as directing/accompanying some operas, playing with people in competitions, etc.

There is a learning curve involved in working with a pedal. I have both the BT-200 and the BT-500 at this point, but I'm at the point that when I'm working from paper, I wonder why the page doesn't turn when I push my left foot down...

The PadMu was not my first digital library holder. That was a Lenovo Yoga device with a music library manager. It was okay, but having a screen that was larger and didn't reflect under stage lights was beyond what I could get that way, and that's when I switched to the PadMu.

ShiroKuro

Seeker interesting, I’ve never heard of that tablet before. It’s a little cheaper than the iPad Pro but much more than the iPad Air.

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