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...

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.

pseudonym58

On the NXTPAPER you can use the "pure" grayscale screen mode, or a mode that imitates the appearance of color e-ink displays, or the regular mode that's similar to other tablets and phones. I have just used the grayscale mode so far, but I think I might try the color e-ink so as to obtain a slightly off-white background. I've been busy with some arranging lately, so I haven't had time to really put it through its paces. However, it's nice to have something that doesn't reduce the size of the staves by much, if at all.

Gombessa

"navindra"#p38867

Looks amazing, thanks for the follow-up. I do find that I prefer setting my sheets to bottom-alignment since my tablet is also a widescreen that ends up way 'taller' than a typical 8x11. Normally I crop out the bottom margins more to accomplish that.

How's the Estona treating you?

navindra

Gombessa I do find that I prefer setting my sheets to bottom-alignment since my tablet

Good idea! I'll see if I can figure out how to do that in MobileSheets... at the very least it should be able to move the black border from the bottom to the top.

Gombessa How's the Estona treating you?

It's as wonderful as the day I bought it. The tone is stunningly beautiful to me and the sustain is amazing too.

I also play harmonium, where you basically have sustain as long as you're pumping the bellows, and sometimes when I'm playing the Estonia I feel like I'm playing harmonium... to the point where I get worried there's still air in the bellows and I have to let it sound out completely to avoid internal damage. 😂

I'm pretty sure that a lot of my satisfaction is attributable to the tuning as well.

The salesman had said the tone would improve over time, but I'm not sure I can discern any changes... if it has changed at all it would have been very gradual, but to me it's still the same signature tone that made Estonia a must-buy for me.

ShiroKuro

navindra The salesman had said the tone would improve over time, but I'm not sure I can discern any changes... if it has changed at all it would have been very gradual, but to me it's still the same signature tone that made Estonia a must-buy for me.

How long have you had the Estonia? You purchased it new, right?

Gombessa

navindra Good idea! I'll see if I can figure out how to do that in MobileSheets... at the very least it should be able to move the black border from the bottom to the top.

In case helpful: it's under Settings -> Display Settings -> Page Alignment

navindra

ShiroKuro Yes, it's been 3 years now!

ShiroKuro

navindra oh wow, that’s not very long. What piano did you have before the Estonia?

navindra

ShiroKuro Indeed, seems like I have a lot of lost time to make up for! I do regret starting piano later in life. On the other hand, I've gotten so much enjoyment out of the Estonia, it feels like I've had it forever at this point.

My Ritmuller UH121R is still going strong. I have it tuned to EBVT III. It's actually the most popular piano in the family. 😃

ShiroKuro

navindra I do regret starting piano later in life.

I started piano at age 30. I figure what I lack because of starting as an adult, I law up for in enthusiasm!

navindra My Ritmuller UH121R is still going strong. I have it tuned to EBVT III.

Is that an unequal temperament? I would love to hear it! Do you tune it yourself?

navindra

ShiroKuro Is that an unequal temperament? I would love to hear it! Do you tune it yourself?

Yes, I always tune my pianos by myself. I simply cannot conceive of any other way to do it now! 😂

A professional checked my upright a few weeks after I had tuned it to EBVT III and he was pretty surprised, in a good way.

I think this quote best explains EBVT III:

The Victorian style Well Temperament actually closely approximates ET, pitch for pitch. Some notes are, in fact the very same and others differ only very slightly. The fact is also that a piano tuned in the EBVT will exhibit 24 distinctly different sounding tonalities for each of the 24 Major and minor keys.

Yet, a piano tuned in the EBVT is compatible with all types of music and with other fixed pitch instruments tuned in ET, including another piano tuned in ET or an electronic keyboard or organ. The difference amounts to an internal one for the piano. The piano will exhibit a distinctly different character but it is not so different as to sound strange or unusual. Many people will think it somehow sounds more musical but some people will not be able to distinguish the difference.

Since there is no such a thing as true ET on a piano anyway, it's basically a technicality.

ShiroKuro

navindra I always tune my pianos by myself. I simply cannot conceive of any other way to do it now!

How long does it take you to do a full tuning? BYW am I right in guessing that you’d been tuning your upright before purchasing the Estonia, such that by the time you started tuning your Estonia, you had some years of tuning experience?

navindra I think this quote best explains EBVT III:

That is super interesting! I would love to hear my piano tuned to this kind of tuning, and also be able to compare that to an equal tuning. The trouble is, I’d have to have a live-in tuner to do this, because I’d need to play the piano for a good long while to experience the tuning, and then have it re-tuned etc…. And of course my one experience with a tuner who advocated for unequal tunings was not good, so….

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