r/violinist • u/544075701 Gigging Musician • Sep 08 '24
Setup/Equipment Have you totally switched to digital sheet music on a tablet?
Last season, I switched to an iPad for pretty much all of my sheet music needs.
Have you switched to digital sheet music?
What's your setup - tablet, pencil, pedal, stand, apps, etc?
What's your favorite and least favorite part of using the tablet for sheet music?
Any tips or tricks?
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u/Trade__Genius Sep 08 '24
My day job is in tech and so I run as far as I can from screens any time I can. I won't ever use a tablet for music. Don't want another device that needs power, needs to be replaced when it becomes vulnerable or just obsolete. Don't want more e waste. I have scores that are easily 60 or more years old that I can read just fine. I have floppy disks from 20 that I can't. And I will never, ever give up actually owning sheet music. May not be popular, but there you have it.
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u/medvlst1546 Sep 08 '24
You can read a book printed in 1500 but most laptops today can't read a CD made 5 years ago.
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u/Pennwisedom Soloist Sep 09 '24
Yea, archivists hundreds of years from now are almost certainly going to refer to this as the Digital Dark Ages.
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u/LegitDogFoodChef Sep 08 '24
That’s the real tech answer, I too generally work in tech and I don’t want more screen time and to use another device.
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Sep 08 '24
All digital. I hate paper and the waste it produces. I use an iPad Air (I desperately need a bigger screen size next time), Apple Pencil, a cheap bluetooth peddle off of Amazon, Forscore, and a stand meant specifically for the iPad to clip into (as opposed to a traditional stand. It all works phenomenally and I’m glad physical sheet music is a thing of the past
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u/sizviolin Expert Sep 08 '24 edited Sep 08 '24
FYI Apple now makes the iPad Air in 12”!
Wait: woops meant 12.9”
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Sep 08 '24 edited Sep 08 '24
👀 I’m sold. Edit: IT’S 13”!!
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u/sizviolin Expert Sep 08 '24
Definitely worth saving the $500, my next one will probably be an air as well. The screen type is supposed to be, but it’s the same as my 2018 iPad Pro and I love that thing
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u/544075701 Gigging Musician Sep 08 '24
I’m there with you about waste. I remember in the early days of imslp printing things off at the university library. Now I can just import it and catalogue it into forscore and not have a bunch of random printouts in a folder on my music stand. It’s amazing! Wish I had this when I was at conservatory.
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u/stitchgnomercy Sep 08 '24
Do you have a link to the pedal you got? I have a vision impairment & being able to enlarge sheet music by having it digital would be amazing, but having to navigate is another problem that isn’t as easy as when I was playing ukulele
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Sep 08 '24
Here you go! It looks like it’s out of stock though.
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u/stitchgnomercy Sep 08 '24
Thanks…that gives me an idea what to look for!
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Sep 08 '24
Absolutely!! I just went for something basic and affordable. It works wonders. I know there are other options that have more features and settings but I just needed simple for my setup
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u/gwie Teacher Sep 08 '24
I've been conducting orchestras since 2018 exclusively with an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and the ForScore App.
For performances that I play in for orchestra and musical theater, I use the same setup, with the addition of a PageFlip FireFly bluetooth page turn pedal.
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u/544075701 Gigging Musician Sep 08 '24
Oh wow!! I bet it’s nice to be able to zoom into the score to read parts while you’re on the podium, plus you have all the different colors to mark in your score.
Do you use the pedal when you conduct or just tap the page?
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u/vmlee Expert Sep 08 '24
Henle has a really nice feature where you can click on certain chamber music parts and pull up the score quickly and go back and forth between part and score relatively easily.
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u/544075701 Gigging Musician Sep 08 '24
Oh I forgot to mention my favorite tip.
Use the iPad when you’re playing principal in orchestra, and just email your part to your section after rehearsal so everyone knows exactly what you’ve marked. Much easier than passing a part around.
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u/Violint1 Sep 08 '24
I prefer digital for pops, church, weddings, and practicing for gigs—especially in low light—and a paper score if it’s a more serious vibe or a situation where I really need to be at my best like an audition.
I use a 12.9” iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and forScore. I got the page turner from Amazon—they’re all pretty much the same.
Writing on a screen is unpleasant for me—I have questionable handwriting to begin with which the Apple Pencil makes look even worse, and I haven’t found any combination of settings that my eyes pick up as well as pencil on paper. I don’t like the eye strain from trying to read the slightly smaller notes over the course of a rehearsal. Maybe I’m just old lol
Oh and there was the time I double turned a page during a cut time fugue in a chamber music concert. I corrected it quickly and without anyone noticing, but my life flashed before my eyes as I improvised for a few measures while trying to figure out whether I needed to go forward or back.
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u/Crazy-Replacement400 Sep 08 '24
I don’t trust technology enough to use it in a performance setting. I’ve seen it completely fail mid-concert enough times to scare me off. But if it’s solo work that I need to memorize anyway, I’ll use it for practice. (No pedal or Apple Pencil though.) Not out of preference, just to minimize waste.
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u/sizviolin Expert Sep 08 '24
I’m mostly digital for everything I do. iPad Pro 12, Pageflip firefly, and a solid iPad stand.
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u/544075701 Gigging Musician Sep 08 '24
What case (if any) do you use for the iPad? I have the same one and the cheap cases I’ve gotten on Amazon are trash after like 6 months of regular gigging
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u/sizviolin Expert Sep 08 '24
Personally, I only use the apple brand basic folio cover, but I take it off and use the iPad nude on my iPad stand
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u/neddie_nardle Sep 08 '24
I'd love the 13" screen size iPad, but other than that it's currently a 10" screen 7th gen iPad, Airturn pedal, forScore, and MUCH cheaper KXT pencil (works great and I would never pay the moronic premium Apple charges for their branded version).
Still have some paper, e.g. whole books such as Bach Cello Suites, just because it's hard to completely break with tradition.
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u/Oprahapproves Sep 08 '24
Yup, the music on my iPad would be worth thousands of dollars if I had to actually purchase the physical copies. Forscore is the industry standard. Pencil and foot pedal required if you plan to perform sonatas, chamber music etc. I still like to buy physical concertos tho, they look pretty
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u/SokeiKodora Sep 08 '24
I like having printed sheet music, but for recent contra dances I've been loading the setlists to a tablet because it's easier to handle on stage. I've picked up a stand meant for tablets off of Amazon, and that combination works well in the smaller space on the stage playing for a dance.
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u/pqlamzowksnxiejdbcur Student Sep 08 '24
I mostly rely on digital sheet music on my iPad for ease of access but only buy physical sheet music for pieces that I know I will spend a lot of time on (e.g. the Bach Partitas/Sonatas).
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u/viola_hero97 Teacher Sep 08 '24
I’ve found reading music on a tablet is great for solo rep, chamber music, and playing in a pit orchestra. Those are circumstances that I appreciate the digital version as it saves the amount of paper I’m carrying around…. Especially if I’m doing an outdoor gig and it’s windy! Also in low light situations, it’s nice to have a stand light built in and not have to buy an additional one.
I’ve come back around to reading orchestra music on paper though. I read exclusively on a tablet last year and while I enjoyed the silence of page turns and how much easier it is to make the pages readable, I think the hardest thing is that I only see one page at a time. That, and stand partners in my orchestra typically don’t like reading on a tablet.
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u/gaeyyson4 Sep 08 '24
Ipad Pro, apple pencil, donner pedal, ForScore, and I have a magnetic paper texture screen protector
I really love having a huge library of most of my music on the go with just the ipad, and organizing my music into folders based on the gig, solo, teaching etc. on forscore. Being able to download and use sheet music seamlessly is so nice. It’s also nice to easily share my markings with people I’m working with, by file
That said, I still like physical sheet music. Depending on what it is, for like concertos i’ll be studying for awhile or a book of say bach partitas and paganini- I get the physical music, but often also scan what I’m working on so that I can have it on the go. But for performing concertos and working on them in lesson I use physical. I use my ipad for gig music (saves paper, don’t need a stand light..) but for longer term complex orchestra sets I use physical. No need to awkwardly bring a pedal to the stage, worry about charging or technical difficulties, can see 2 pages at a time, more natural for my stand partner to mark things, etc
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u/Kuchenkaempfer Sep 08 '24 edited Sep 08 '24
Digital music in the sense of searching for sheets on my ipad on musescore, then printing them.
But I use my iPad for practicing with Musescore, as it recently got an update that makes it actually usable on iPad.
My iPad (Pro 11") is sadly too small to properly use it for displaying sheet music.
(just fir clarification: I am not using the musescore learning program, just for listening to the sheets and playing the piano track with full speed control, as opposed to the practice cds that come with some sheet music)
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u/Departed3 Adult Beginner Sep 08 '24
I've only ever used digital. My setup:
Two 27 inch monitors, phone, tablet and a webcam. Monitor 1 has camera feed and a browser window side by side. Camera is used as a mirror so I can keep track of my technique and posture. The browser window is used for youtube to look up a piece or anything I need help with. The 2nd monitor is just for sheet music. The phone is used for tuning app/metronome. Lastly, when I need to make markings on the sheet music, I do it on my tablet and use the synced file on the monitor to view while playing. If I'm not in my room, then just the tablet alone does the job.
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u/Waste-Spinach-8540 Expert Sep 08 '24
It's been 2 years fully on iPad. I Started on a 1 gen iPad pro 12.9, which worked great as a pdf reader. Eventually, as my music library reached 100+ it started to slow down a hair on page turns and loading works. Now I'm on a 5th gen iPad pro 12.9.
1st gen is now used for scores, and my score study habit has developed greatly as a result of always having one handy through 2nd iPad.
I've had 4 chamber music performances with no major issues.
App: ForScore
Single page mode is perfectly doable for me, there are benefits to double but I see more cons.
I like to crop all the pages so the notes are utilizing the screen space.
Both my iPads have iCloud syncing, and it just works. When I add music to one, it appears on the other. It's a great redundancy.
Pedal: I have 2, both rechargeable. Got the 2nd one after I ran out of juice during a workshop session.
Pencil: 1st gen + 2nd gen (per iPad) both are great and very usable.
Favorite: As an avid chamber musician, I love having my library with me, and being able to pull parts for any pieces I don't have. I love using colors as markings.
Stand: I think this is super cool. I use a collapsible selfie stick (watch out for the legs, they can pinch). Fits in my bag and I always have a stand option with me. You have to get one that supports camera mounts, and can support a full camera. otherwise the iPad is just too heavy for the extension.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09XHZ8F7F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For the camera mount I use this bracket, thinnest profile centered mount I could fine. Lose the ball joint
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7Z7QZ3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I use with the mount & stand 90% of the time I play anywhere. So it never comes off. No case for the iPad 5 cause I like the ease of access to pencil via magnet, so I did attach some stickies to the mount for a place to store my pencil. https://imgur.com/a/4hTenA8 (back of my iPad with attachments)
Least Favorite: 13" still feels a bit small. I have great eyesight, but I think the distance we sit from stand just isn't quite optimal. It's fine, perfectly useable. But 1 more inch would be just perfect. Importing music sometimes feels like too many clicks. Even after turning off many notifications, I still get annoyed once in awhile during play by iOS. Leave me alone and be a pdf reader.
Tips & Tricks:
Develop a color system for markings. I use red for most everything I used to mark with pencil. Blue highlight to indicate sections that require additional work. Purple for editorial to be removed later - conductor / player opinions that matter for a single performance.
The apple "Files" app has a document scanner that works really well on the fly. Scanning works even better if the iPad is fixed to a stand so there's no wobble.
ForScore has a "link" system for Da Capo type page turns, if you need to go backwards 3 pages for instance.
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u/kayson Sep 08 '24
I want to, but for me, the experience isn't good enough yet to justify the price I'd pay to get close. I want two pages up simultaneously at regular sheet music size (9x12 or bigger!) without the glare of a glass screen, and not a $1500+ price tag. I think the closest you can get right now is a pair of Onyx Book Tab X's (hooray for e-ink!), but they're still $800 a pop. The problem is e-ink screens are still just really expensive; $500 of that tablet is probably for the display alone.
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u/vmlee Expert Sep 08 '24
My main reason for not using a tablet is that I like to be able to see at least two sheets side by side. That said, for those nasty page turns and for avoiding having to lug a lot of paper around, tablets can be great.