Years ago I had the pleasure of doing a run of Harry Connick Jr.’s Concert on Broadway show when the tour hit Florida. Along with playing with an incredible group of musicians I was introduced to some new technology being developed: music reading software with a page-turning foot pedal.
Connick kept his set list on an iPad by his piano and was working with his developer to enable him to make universal edits on everyone’s music on the fly from that single iPad. No more shouting out changes over the applause and newbie musicians praying they heard him right. I thought this was just the most awesome thing since the smart phone. Well, that was over 7 years ago and while it is still not wildly embraced by traditional music institutions, it is now possible for me to independently run wild with iPad. I call it my all-in-one stress packet. I keep my repertoire for my orchestra job, important MHTP documents and set lists, books, audio & video files and a plethora of apps that help me organize everything I need to get done – including taking better care of myself. While I do think less screen time is good time, the smart technology used wisely is a powerful ally to have on my side.
MY STRESS PACKET RECIPE:
- Dry ingredients (hardware):
- iPad Pro 12.9 or tablet large enough to read music
- Page turner pedal
- Tablet pencil (optional)
- Tablet stand (optional)
- Wet ingredients (Software):
- FourScore
- Genius Scan
- Symphony (optional)
- Headspace (optional)
THE HARDWARE I USE
iPad Pro 12.9: Thanks to my classmates in Module 4, I had a chance to see the latest and largest tablets in use as well as the latest music reading software. The touch-screen technology enables the kinds of edits that were only dreamed of 7 years ago: note corrections, bowings, taking out measures or repeating them. Best of all is the ability to digitalize a huge library of music, organize it and have it with you at all times. No more having to decide which 10 pound, 800-page ring binder out to put in your gig bag on a given day. Yes, it is an investment, but its is definitely worth it.
PageFlip Butterfly/Firefly: Page turner pedal is not exactly essential, but if you’re going to be using both hands to play, its one less thing you have to worry about. It takes a bit of time and practice to get used to the controls, but it allows for continuous playing when needed.
Apple Pen: I’m still a ‘paper-trained’ musician and that’s not going to change overnight so I like to use the tablet pencil to put in markings such as bowings, fingerings and edits. I tried with my finger tip, then with a stylus, but it was just not working for my OCD eyes that require orderly notations.
GRIFITI Nootle: As long as I need to read music and bring up my set lists, my iPad is going to be with me when I play for patients. Originally I was just going to bring a traditional stand and put the tablet on it, but it was yet another cumbersome piece of equipment that I had to worry about. The Nootle makes two (iPad and stand) into one less thing to carry with me.
THE SOFTWARE – this is where the fun begins…
forScore https://forscore.co : In addition to doing the coursework reading assignments on my iPad, I also organized my repertoire lists with forScore. I’ve only scratched the surface of this app, but these days, I use this app for all of my music study. I am able to annotate as I would with pencil-to-paper, rearrange pages in drag-and-drop fashion and create set lists that can specifically address a patient or general conditions. Another useful features is a metronome for those moments when you just aren’t sure how slow 50bpm really is when you’re too nervous yourself. You can set it to ‘silent’ mode and have it flash the appropriate tempo when you’re in a bind.
The program does have some annoying sensitive touch-issues such as opening annotation instead to turning the page which where the turner pedal is worthwhile Nevertheless, it is well worth the bother given the utility and ease of the app.
GeniusScan https://www.thegrizzlylabs.com : While not designed exclusively for music scanning, this convenient scanner-in-a-pocket app doesn’t require you to mutilate your books in order to get a decent facsimile. I have lots of sheet music that have a teacher’s markings I want to keep as reference or published in a preferred edition but is not available in a digital format. The app allows me to take a snapshot with my iPad or phone, do some basic editing, including perspective correction. It won’t give you a 350ppi flat-scanner quality image, but its decent and a built-in aspect of your iPad. Only draw back for me is getting the scan to forScore without needing to send it email to myself or uploading it in my Google drive, but that is just a matter of a few flicks on the screen.
Symphony Pro 5 https://symphonypro.net: While I am able to read three different clefs, I prefer to transcribe all my new pieces into bass clef when they are being added into an existing setlist. I started using Finale Notepad back when I didn’t have the iPad Pro and it just took forever to input 50 measure of music. Then it was no longer compatible when the SierraOS updates rolled in. I ended up just grabbing a piece of manuscript paper and writing it out old-school, scanning it exporting as a PDF, importing it to iTunes then to the iPad. Then I found Symphony Pro. Again, not a perfect, bug-free bit of software, but a miracle for me. I can input with their keypad/keyboard OR I can use my tablet pencil and write it out/in old-school on the screen… how cool is that? Old-school remains the fastest way to input simple-meter pieces. Thankfully, it recognizes forScore so I can go from input-to-setlist right from Symphony. I’ve even had both apps open on split screen for pieces I wanted to further edit for the particular set list needs.
Headspace https://www.headspace.com : This app is not really about music but general self-care and a great option to help mentally clear out between sets. I’ve made many attempts in the past to use a meditation program but I found Headspace to be a good fit for me. It’s clear, direct and non-proselytizing instructions allow you to set the length of your sessions. Plus if you like an English accent and need a break from Siri/Alexa, you won’t be disappointed.
I am the kind of person that has lives in a continual state of ‘what-if’ anxieties. Combine that with my father’s algebraic genius genes, I can roll out an endless number of zero-sum-what-if equations with me being the so-fired-I’m-dead at the end. Being able to centralize much of my work-related items AND carry them with me where ever I am is a stress-buster in itself. In its most fundamental form, the iPad’s ability to eat up a lot of what-if material makes me very happy. As I keep working with the iPad, I am discovering is that when used wisely and in moderation, its potential for creative problem-solving is endless.
