Struggling with Sheet Music

rogerch · 2024-07-01T23:46:39+00:00

I recorded myself sight reading for "Sight Reading Progress Thread" today. I played several pieces and let the camera run the whole time. I thought the best...

Sgisela

Player1 For learning a piece I discovered the joy of photocopies. If I photocopy the sheets in the book I can make all the marks on them that I want, organize them any way that I want, bend/staple/fold/mutilate them all that I want, and finally toss them in the trash when I'm done.

The other nice thing about the tablet vs photocopies is that if you ever decide you want to come back to the music (months/years later) you have your notes saved (as regards fingering, dynamics, tricky passages, anything else you marked up). I like having that!

Pallas

Player1 All of it was fun to learn.

I think this is the MOST important part!

Player1

Pallas

Besides the fact that most of us are doing this to "have fun," learning how to turn pages was laughable sometimes. Fumble fingers, scattered pages, the cat wanting to join in, etc, it was so funny at times. Even after I figured out how, it was still funny.

I started with a 2-sheet piece and reaching up and tapping the page with a finger when I went from page 1 to page 2. I progressed from there to photocopies and putting page 2 under page 1. I learned how to do it without a break in the playing or having to drop a note.

candela

WieWaldi Interestingly, not all violins did turn the page at the same time. I had the impression the sheet music was printed with some offset for each music rest. Another thing, what I couldn't remember, was that one was turning a page back for a repeat. Maybe they did the layout in a way that a repeating section never required a page turn. Okay, this might be a waste of paper, but it optimizes for a minimum amount of turns.

Yes, orchestral music is normally laid out in such a way that page turns as much as possible fall during rests. Compared to solo pieces for piano, an individual player in an orchestra has a lot of shorter or longer rests as the music moves between or within sections, so this is often achievable. Occasionally it might lead to a very short page with only a few lines of music on it. The written music is also much more compact than piano music (not to mention the conductor's full score). Normally only the single part is included and that only requires a single staff. Rests across several measures also save a lot of space. Unless there is a da capo, it's rarely necessary to go back beyond a single spread of sheet music.

Pallas

Player1 Fumble fingers, scattered pages, the cat wanting to join in, etc, it was so funny at times. Even after I figured out how, it was still funny.

Now THIS is the wholesome comedy we deserve. ❤️❤️❤️❤️🐱🎹

Player1

Pallas

The cat apparently believes that because I'm sitting down, it's pet the cat time, as my previously posted cat video shows. I've also trained my cats to jump up onto their grooming table, and other flat surfaces, when I tap on it.

So tapping the book in between pages had the cat jumping onto the piano, sometimes crashing into the wall behind the music desk and giving me a nasty look for it. This happened several times before the cat got tired of the game.

thepianoplayer416

Sometime ago came across a video of a student playing a Bach fugue from “Art of Fugue” BWV 1080. The playing was very good with a steady beat except for 1 spot that nearly ruined the listening experience. 5 pages were on the DP stand. Somewhere in the middle the man took 1 hand off and quickly pulled the sheet over losing a fraction of a beat. Except for the 1st line as intro, nowhere in the piece has a long enough rest for him to do that without losing a beat.

In a more professional performance you see a person standing next to a pianist as a page turner.

I keep many pieces as PDFs and on paper in case of computer crash. A lot of pieces are also in a Muse Score file with comments & fingerings added. I like the end of a phrase at the end of a line and major section breaks on the next page for east reading. Muse Score allows me to do line & page breaks based on my preferences.

As I get older, I’d photocopy pages in larger paper for easy reading. People in my music group started making paper copies in large print due to failing eye sight. Pieces that are in Letter size paper 8 1/2” by 11” I’d redo them in 8 1/2” by 14” or 17” so I can get more lines on a page… to avoid many pages.

2 years ago I worked on a piano arrangement of a Bach Sinfonia with Muse Score for over a month before printing anything on paper. Right now I’m working on a Haydn piece without a paper copy.

Pallas

Player1 Oh no! 🤣 Pets are life. ❤️

twocats

rogerch I'm hoping that with Apple Pencil annotating the score will be as easy as paper.

It's very easy!! I love it because I'm constantly marking up the score or erasing old markings and making new ones.

Note that the original Apple Pencil isn't as good. I was annoyed enough that I actually bought a (used) newer iPad that was compatible with an Apple Pencil 2 just for sheet music, and it works great! Sometimes if the side of my hand is resting on the page it'll interfere because it recognizes it as skin but I just put a cloth between it.

JB_PT

twocats Note that the original Apple Pencil isn't as good.

Hmm…I only have experience with the original. I do not enjoy using it in ForScore much. How is the newer version better? I am almost afraid to ask…the new iPads are so expensive and I don’t need a reason to start coveting one. 🫣

twocats

JB_PT I don't remember how bad the old one is but the Apple Pencil 2 is very, very good. It is so natural and feels like using a pen with ForScore.

I bought a 3rd generation iPad Pro 12.9" with a pencil for a little over $500 last year. That's the first gen of the big iPads that uses the newer Pencil. Also, I love that you just magnetically snap the Pencil to the side of the iPad for charging and you don't have to worry about charging it separately! The iPad battery life is terrible compared to my old one but then I realized that apparently any kind of drawing app takes up a lot of battery and also sheet music is white (I have it permanently with night tint on for my eye comfort, but still).

A used one in good condition would be a great option! My original big iPad (a 2015 model!) is still going strong and I expect it to keep working for many years.

navindra

rogerch Oh wow. Awesome video. I didn't realize it took so much deliberate preparation, but in retrospect, it's obvious.

I always enjoyed the skill involved with the page turns on this channel:

There's some really nice timing involved. Seems she switched to a tablet now though.

JohnCW I much prefer paper, I can easily scribble fingerings, chord names, etc on it. Just photocopy each page from the book and lay them side by side across the music stand.

Same here! I think I get too much screen time already, and a tablet on my piano just doesn't work for me.

PianoMonk

I don't write on sheet music. Any song I want to try, if it's in paper form, gets scanned and saved as a pdf. Then I read it on a Dell 24 inch screen that is rotatable, so I can occasionally get the entire page on screen. But usually, I work in wide screen, showing three or four lines at a time. Everything I play is from memory, and even that is subject to on-the-fly arranging, and rearranging. The only time I actually refer to sheet music is when I learning a tune, or if I forgot how a part went. If I had paper versions of all of the sheet music and music books I have, there wouldn't be room for the piano, even as a digital, nor room for me to sit and play it.

Adagiette

rogerch Too funny! I would have done all that and then knocked the whole business on the floor anyway! 😆

PianoMonk

rogerch Yeah, that's pretty funny. I could never attempt a tune that required that much messing around with page turning. So, my hat's off to you for your dedication and tenacity.

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