Digital score with Bluetooth pedal

twocats · 2024-05-27T15:50:01+00:00

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...

twocats

BartK If I have Henle books do I have to buy the scores again digitally?

Unfortunately yes, unless you scan them in.

BartK For personal reasons I have a deep dislike of Apple products (no offense to the fanboys 🤣) and I'd like to know if anyone has some different tablet suggestions for that purpose.

The Mobilesheets app is good, and that's what I used on the e-reader. I actually prefer some of its features to forScore but I already had the latter paid for on my iPad a long time back. Perhaps a Samsung tablet? I heard they make good ones and I'm very happy with their phones.

FrankCox

I use a Samsung tablet and Mobilesheets.

Wouldn't be without it.

I can find stuff instantly rather than fanning through a pile of paper, "I know it's in here somewhere" flip flip flip...

My wife appreciates the lack of piles of paper on and around my piano.

When I did my little Christmas concert at the dementia home I just carried my tablet along with me and had "everything".

What's not to like?

FrankCox

It occurs to me that i took a picture of my tablet on my piano the other day for someone else who asked what it looks ike.

Here's the photo.

Gosh, it actually worked. 😃

PatG

I had an old smaller iPad with ForScore on it. I had printer scanned all my lesson music onto it, but it was too small for me to read. A couple of weeks ago I bought a refurbished 2018 iPad Pro 12.9, a Donner wireless page turner foot pedal and a 2nd generation generic pencil. I'm loving this setup. I got everything from my old iPad moved to the new one without a problem. I have taken it to lessons the last two weeks. Because sometimes I forgot things my teacher has said, I asked her if it was all right to tape our lessons. So now I use Voice Memos for that. You do need to remember to turn that off when you are done with your lesson (ha, ha). Currently I am taking my physical music just in case. The evening of my lesson I do take notes from the Voice Memo recording. I really like being able to do this.
I'm still getting used to using the foot pedal. For most pieces I leave it on turning the whole page, but one piece with 6 pages I use the half page turning. As I was having trouble remembering just when to hit the pedal I put a marking in the margin just when I need to pedal. You also have to remember to hit the page turner pedal and not the piano pedal (Ha, Ha). I did that once or twice when I first started using it.
I also put the name of the book that the piece of music came from into ForScore under Reference. I have the Composer, Genre and under Label I have the date I finished the piece with my teacher plus the Key of the piece. I also have all scanned music saved to the cloud as well as the full backup of ForScore.
There's this one piece "Love Theme" by Catherine Rollin that has D.S. al Coda and then to Coda. So in ForScore I copied the pages and then deleted the parts I didn't need. So now I use the full page turning without having to go back and just see what I need to play. Pretty Cool!

ShiroKuro

I also switched to digital scores many years ago. Now I use an iPad Pro and a bluetooth foot pedal. The rare times I play something from a paper score, I find myself tapping the pedal and wondering why the page doesn't turn! 😃

I still often buy paper scores and make PDFs of the pieces I want, although depending on the piece, I sometimes just by the digital version.

If money and tech were no object (tho they both are) I would love to have a bi-fold digital score reader so I could see two pages at once.

twocats

ShiroKuro If money and tech were no object (tho they both are) I would love to have a bi-fold digital score reader so I could see two pages at once.

I actually looked into this, but it costs too much and also then you have to charge two devices and it just seems like a lot of hassle.

There are rumors of a 16" iPad in a couple of years though! Depending on the height in landscape mode it could be a possible option!

MRC

ShiroKuro If money and tech were no object (tho they both are) I would love to have a bi-fold digital score reader so I could see two pages at once.

twocats I actually looked into this, but it costs too much and also then you have to charge two devices and it just seems like a lot of hassle

In 2020, when we cancelled our summer holiday because of Covid, I used some of the money we saved to buy a second iPad. Since then I've played many concerts using both iPads with ForScore. It's no hassle and the dual page feature in ForScore is very robust: I've never had a problem in a concert.

Here's what it looks like:

ShiroKuro

twocats but it costs too much

Yep. 🙁

twocats There are rumors of a 16" iPad in a couple of years though! Depending on the height in landscape mode it could be a possible option!

Oooh, that could be promising!

Pallas

twocats I have the largest iPad currently on the market, and no lie it was terribly expensive, but I just have to rotate the tablet and I get a 2-page spread that's completely readable to a nearsighted person on an upright. Maybe if my music desk were farther away, as on a grand, it would not be readable. When my music reaches three pages, I'll have to decide between a pedal, a subscription so I can use the gesture turning, or print and pin across a couple of manila folders.

FrankCox

Mobilesheets has face gestures (though I've never used them) and works on Ipads.

Pallas

FrankCox Very Good to know! May my skills improve quickly enough that I need to soon decide which thingy to use! 😃

Sgisela

BartK If I have Henle books do I have to buy the scores again digitally?

What I do with my books is I use a scanning app on my phone or tablet to take a picture of the sheet music and then convert it into a pdf. Forscore and Newzik both have a scanner built in as well… not sure about MobileSheets. But I find the dedicated scanner apps give me better results with not much more work. Anyways, I don’t scan the whole book, just any pieces I’m going to work on. But over time, the library builds up!

twocats

Sgisela Forscore and Newzik both have a scanner built in as well

Wow, did not know this! I'm sure the result is better than if I took a photo, which is what my friend did to digitize a score.

Sgisela

twocats I’m not sure how it works in Forscore, but in Newzik, when you want to add a new piece, you get 3 options: import a file, scan a piece, or use a template. So it’s kind of built into the ‘add piece’ functionality. it’s easy enough to use, but I find the dedicated scanner apps are just a little more flexible.

twocats

Sgisela nice! I will keep it in mind if I'm ever in the position to need to scan a score again 🙂

ErfurtBob

With mobilesheets I take pictures with the tablet of new scores on paper, and it scales them automatically to fit the page. This is a relatively new feature. It needs good light.
I didn't know about face gestures, I just tried it and it seems to work. Is anybody using that to play, and does it work okay?

ShiroKuro

MRC I would love that! I just can’t justify the expense, not right now any way.

navindra

twocats navindra I feel like lately many people are making the leap to tablets for sheet music. Maybe I should as well?

You haven't yet?? I'm very surprised. I think you will like it! 🙂

I can be a bit of luddite when it comes to pianos.

Even when I was playing a digital, I went to great lengths to conceal the tech I was using to power the piano. I especially didn't want big computer screens or noisy computers around me for running the piano engine.

Similarly, I don't get along with having an iPad on my piano... the screen shining at me is too much. Maybe an e-reader will work one day, but I just got a Scribe, and I'm already sending it back. It couldn't open several sheet music books (which work fine on my smaller BOOX device) + it would not work with a Bluetooth page turner + it was too heavy for general use.

I'm in no rush because my teacher showed me a neat way to tape all my sheet music together and that's worked out great for me so far... I just have the whole thing opened up in front of me, I don't have to worry about page-turning, and it mostly stays in place. That probably works for me because the pieces I play aren't very long or complicated so far!

twocats

navindra Similarly, I don't get along with having an iPad on my piano... the screen shining at me is too much. Maybe an e-reader will work one day

I started off with a Boox Max Lumi but it was too slow to turn pages and the pen didn't work all that well. Oh, and the battery life was terrible! I was also concerned about glare with an iPad but it hasn't been a problem. I dim the screen and have it set on permanent night mode so that it has a warm look, otherwise the bright white is too harsh for me.

navindra

twocats I dim the screen and have it set on permanent night mode so that it has a warm look, otherwise the bright white is too harsh for me.

This is a great idea, thanks!

I recently downsized from the 12.9" to the 11" model — for general use this was actually a relief — but I think it could still work on the piano.

twocats

navindra if you decide to try it out, we're all here to give you hot tips 😉

I think as long as the pieces are pretty simple (and you have good eyesight) the 11" could work-- at least to try it out and see how you feel!

iPad Pro 12.9" talk, cut for length:

My 2015 iPad Pro 12.9" (1st Gen) is still going strong! I started with trying it out for sheet music but the original Pencil isn't very good. After reading a bunch of reviews I ended up getting a used 2018 model (12.9" 3rd Gen) last year for sheet music because the Apple Pencil 2 was so much better, plus the charging is much easier since you just magnetically attach it to the side of the tablet. I expect it to last for many years! The battery life was a little disappointing compared to my old iPad Pro but then I realized that I've got a white screen on for hours and according to the Internet, using the Pencil (and also putting it for charge on the iPad) is a big drain on the battery. It's always enough charge to get me through a practice day but I always have it on the charger when it's not being used (Apple has internal software to keep it from degrading the battery). Anyway, the older models can be had for just a few hundred dollars if you find a deal!

« Previous Page