Digital score with Bluetooth pedal

twocats

I switched from paper scores almost exactly a year ago while preparing a major chamber music piece for a workshop and it has changed my life. I don't think I can ever go back. Page turn stresses are a thing of the past!

Hardware Progression

--> I started off with a Boox Max Lumi 13.3" e-reader (with PageFlip Firefly Bluetooth pedal) using the Mobilesheets app, but the whole setup was frustratingly slow.
--> I then switched to my old 2015 1st gen iPad Pro 12.9" using the forScore app, and someone generously gave me a 1st gen Apple Pencil to use with it.
--> However, the 1st gen Apple Pencil didn't work very smoothly and I decided to upgrade to a 3rd gen iPad Pro 12.9" that came with a 2nd gen Apple Pencil. This made all the difference in the world, and the Pencil charges easily because it magnetically snaps to the side of the iPad for charging! The new iPad has far worse battery life than the old one but I just keep it on the charger except for when I'm using it to play music. I recently realized I could set the iPad to "night mode" permanently (use the schedule and just have it on for 23+ hours a day) so that the screen has a slightly yellow warm cast instead of being bright white.

Funny thing but I place the iPad off center and slightly to the right, as if it were the right page of a paper score. It throws me off if I have it centered!

Optimal Settings

@Sgisela and @Gombessa gave me some really great tips over on my PW thread, namely to set both pedals to go forward and digitally duplicate the pages for any repeats. This made all the difference in the world, because I didn't have to look down or be scared that I would turn the page back instead of forward!

It only took me two weeks to be really comfortable with this setup and now going back to a paper score is very difficult. One time I tried tapping on a paper page to try to turn it😂 I love being able to turn my own pages smoothly (there's one spot where I'm supposed to play una corda but I just lift it very quickly to turn the page and then go back, I figure I'm not a professional so it's ok if it's not ideal), and it makes it possible to practice difficult transitions that happen in the middle of a page turn.

Scores

I almost always buy Henle scores and now I buy digital ones through the Henle app. I export them as PDF in "print format" which is the same layout as the paper score, and then it takes some work to manually crop each page in forScore (not all pages crop the same, so better to do it manually than to apply the same crop to all and then have to undo a lot) but after that it's so enjoyable! I save my edits periodically into Dropbox so that if anything happens to my iPad, I won't lose my crops and many markings forever.

The digital Henle scores are so much cheaper and I buy a large number of credits when they are discounted (I know Black Friday is one time, there was also another recent time when I needed more and they were on sale).

Who else has switched to a digital score or is thinking about it? Hopefully these tips help!

Sgisela

I was an Early Adopter after I started playing again. When I got my digital piano, I had a iPad mini, and I briefly tried to use it for reading. But that was just way too small! However, I could see the potential, and I got an iPad Pro for a Christmas present. It was a real game changer. I remember lugging books to lessons, and having books everywhere in the music room, and having to dig through sheet music. I love marking things up, and my scores would end up so that you could barely see the original notes. And the sheets would end up ragged. Even without the Bluetooth pedal, the convenience of having your music library immediately at hand is just fantastic! And I love that marking them up is doable without compromising the sheets in any way. My music room is also a lot more organized, and with little effort!

I do find that page turns can still be tricky, but in different and ultimately more manageable ways. I know there’s now the ability to do the turns with a nod or a blink or something, but I like the Bluetooth pedal.

Pallas

I have the latest, largest iPad pro with pencil and ForScore. I take the time to scan in my paper scores rather than rebuy them in PDF, but I buy a lot of sheet music online in PDF, which is great. I have not learned any piece that's longer than two pages so I don't have a page turning pedal yet, but I will get one when I need one. I love being able to make layers and layers of notes that can be easily changed without eraser crumbs everywhere, and I love being able to turn layers on and off. I enjoy making practice playlists using bookmarks so I don't have to navigate very much during practice. I have a modest number of paper books, and when I can finally play original classical works, I'll buy the Henle PDFs. I'm glad to hear that they're cheaper than the paper. I honestly wish I could find every scrap of music I have in digital format and not have any paper in the studio at all, but alas, if I want that, I'll have some scanning work to do. I bought two 2T backup drives and run my whole house and business as paperless as possible.

twocats

Pallas when I can finally play original classical works, I'll buy the Henle PDFs. I'm glad to hear that they're cheaper than the paper

I find the digital scores to be around 30% of the original price, if I buy credits at a discount. And you don't have to buy the whole book, you can buy individual pieces! Since my latest chamber piece is 70+ pages (this sounds much longer than it is, because the piano part also shows all the string parts), there was no way I was going to scan it (and I wanted the cleanest score possible) and I paid for it twice, but going forward I'll save money!

Pallas

twocats I would not want to scan 70 pages, and would buy it twice too!

Jane

Another nice thing about forScore is that if I'm studying something with microscopic filigree notes (you know who you are, Mr. Chopin!) I can turn the tablet on its side so it stretches so that half a page fills the whole screen. And can then zoom portions of that if needed.

Sgisela

I will mention that Forscore and Newzik (which is what I use) both have a ‘half page’ turn feature, where you can advance and see the top half of the next page while seeing the bottom half of the first page. I find this is useful for practicing around page turns (that way I don’t have to press the pedal right at the page turn to see the next page). However, it’s clunky for performance, as it means you’re using the pedal twice as much. Anyways, it took me a while to realize this feature is available, and I definitely make use of it.

twocats

Sgisela I will mention that Forscore and Newzik (which is what I use) both have a ‘half page’ turn feature

I'm going to look into this today and see if I like it! It may solve some issues like trying to turn pages while doing una corda and I can just turn it during a break.

twocats

Sgisela ‘half page’ turn feature

I tried this today and it was helpful to practice a page transition! I would never use it to play through a whole piece though.

danno858

I started using ForScore as well just a couple months ago and use it with my iPad Pro - I was able to train it to turn pages using facial expressions - or really it trained me but it works well. I just don’t like having to pay $10 a year to have the ability but I guess all things considered it’s worth it

twocats

danno858 I just don’t like having to pay $10 a year to have the ability but I guess all things considered it’s worth it

I haven't looked into this but is it a subscription app to use facial expressions?

danno858

twocats yes it is. $9.99 a year. But you can try for one month at a time for I think $2.99. I tried it for month and was hooked. So I bought a one year subscription

twocats

danno858 what's it called? I may look into this at some point, but not at the moment, weeks before my workshop.

danno858

twocats ForScore

twocats

danno858 oh I see, I do use forScore but I had to look pretty hard to find the subscription upgrade for Pro which has gesture support. I'll look into it for the future, can certainly think of worse things to spend $10/year on!

danno858

twocats I kept having bad luck with a Bluetooth pedal. So I decided to try forScore because I read somewhere it worked well with face gestures.

What’s nice too is I can save sheet music I buy with the Henle app in pdf format and then upload into forScore.

Jane

Confession time...
I use forScore to add fingerings very neatly to my scores.
Then export as PDF.
And then PRINT them and put the pages on my music stand to play. 🙄

danno858

Jane I still use paper as well. But I like the auto page turn function so much

twocats

Jane I use forScore to add fingerings very neatly to my scores.
Then export as PDF.
And then PRINT them and put the pages on my music stand to play. 🙄

Hahaha! My fingerings are scribbled not so neatly in. But if I think it doesn't look good enough, at least it's easy to cleanly delete and rewrite! 🙂

Jane

twocats
I use the numbers from the annotation stamps palette. It's tedious but looks nice once it's done.

@Dan - most of the pieces I print out are 4 pages or less so I can kinda put them all side-by-side on the music rest. No page turns is easier than easy page turns!
Although I also printed out a 10-page piece I was working on last year.

Here's an example page:

Pallas

Jane I use the numbers from the annotation stamps palette. It's tedious but looks nice once it's done.

Oh. My. Goodness. Thank you for mentioning this. I've just been scribbling, and I'm going to try this right away. Thank you.

Jane

Pallas
A few things I need to scribble free-hand, like the red line in measure 71 reminding me to take the D with the right hand. Although I used the stamps to add the "m.d." next to the note.

As a hint - if you're lining up numbers vertically for a chord, the ruler tool in forScore can help the alignment.