IMSLP Forums

Hello fellow users:

How do you manage to play from IMSLP scores on a laptop screen? What about scrolling and page turns? What ideas do pianists and string and wind players have?

Regards,

WilliamBunting

I'll be fascinated to see answers to those (excellent) questions.

Here is one possible solution.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/ ... ge-turner/

It is called the AirTurn Bluetooth BT-10 Page Turner.

It looks promising.

have a look at this -

http://www.borromeoquartet.org/artist.p ... s&nid=1431

Another one: http://virtmus.com/ (software based)

Een programmable footswitch is for example the VEC Infinity USB footpedal connected to your laptop, together with the free available software http://www.nch.com.au/footpedal/index.html and/or http://www.autohotkey.com/.

When I play music from IMSLP using my laptop as the music stand (I am a flutist), I just have the mouse on the "next" button on the PDF. It admittedly doesn't work very well, especially as I often press the next button twice on my ridiculous laptop mouse.

I have thought of building a DIY USB foot pedal like this one: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/ ... computing/ Cheap and gets the job done. Unfortunately I'm not really a hardware person, so this hasn't gotten done.

Apple iPad + ForScore.

Could be considered expensive if you buy an iPad just for this, but it's an easy purchase if you already have one. I don't use anything to handle page turns, but I could.

Maybe this one will work too: http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/software/ ... /index.htm. It's based on the Adobe Acrobat Reader and made by a yamaha keyboard player.

Thank you for the links.
Did anyone see an article in The Strad a few months ago about this?

It's good to see the bluetooth salesman using the expression "foot switch". Has anyone seen a pedal which wasn't operated by your foot? "Foot pedal" is here to stay, but it's pretty poor English in my opinion.

Regards WB

Never heard of the Strad, but maybe that's because I live in Europe.

I've found an article where musicians use a footswitch too together with the scores from IMSLP.
Here it is: http://www.squidoo.com/footime-page-turner

choul wrote:Never heard of the Strad, but maybe that's because I live in Europe.

I've found an article where musicians use a footswitch too together with the scores from IMSLP.
Here it is: http://www.squidoo.com/footime-page-turner

That's great. But you only get one page at a time. Maybe musicians will get used to that but it means it's only half as good as having a two page paper score on a music stand. Plus having to turn pages, via the pedal, twice as often. Then there's annotations. With a paper score the player just leans forward and writes on the page with a pencil. That sort of ease is impossible with an electronic score.

I bet those problems will be solved before too long... The technology's almost there....

I used to have a Tablet PC (Windows XP Tablet edition / Vista-compatible) for reading scores but using it was just awful. I'm now using an iPad with GoodReader. If you have an iPad, you're $5 is better spent on GoodReader, an all-purpose document reader, than most of these apps specifically for score. Goodreader lets you make annotations, sync with outside servers/cloud storage, etc.

Philidor wrote:

choul wrote:Never heard of the Strad, but maybe that's because I live in Europe.

I've found an article where musicians use a footswitch too together with the scores from IMSLP.
Here it is: http://www.squidoo.com/footime-page-turner

That's great. But you only get one page at a time. Maybe musicians will get used to that but it means it's only half as good as having a two page paper score on a music stand. Plus having to turn pages, via the pedal, twice as often. Then there's annotations. With a paper score the player just leans forward and writes on the page with a pencil. That sort of ease is impossible with an electronic score.

I bet those problems will be solved before too long... The technology's almost there....

Two iPads side-by-side? You can make annotations with a stylus too if that's your cup of tea, and there are pros and cons to both pencil and electronic markings.

Search for Airturn. I'm not using it yet, but it looks like the best & affordable solution. Looks great for the iPad.

Victor.

Philidor wrote:I'll be fascinated to see answers to those (excellent) questions.

As a pianist I would be more productive if I could select the piece I want to play in a computer menu instead of scanning my dusty heaps of scores!

As a violist, I often cause my stand to fall on the floor, and I doubt a LCD screen would still work thereafter