Hands free wireless page turning device

[SoYoung Lee]

Anyone who is using digital scores out there, my partners and I have launched a new product called AirTurn AT-104 which allows you to turn pages with a foot pedal. It is easy to use, plug and play, silent, affordable, and no software is required to operate. You may never need to hire a page turner ever again! www.AirTurn.com

[Yagan Kiely]

Prove to me this isn't spam (by posting again), and I won't close this.

[SoYoung Lee]

Yagan, I haven't heard from you regarding my earlier response to your question about Spam. Let me know if you have other concerns. I can also be reached through email divasmithlee@yahoo.com Thank you.

[SoYoung Lee]

Hello Yagan. This is not spam. I am genuinely interested in assisting musicians read, study, and perform differently. As a classical pianist and music director at Rocky Ridge Music Center (summer festival in Estes Park, Colorado), I am amazed that we are still using pretty archaic methods of memorizing all our music (think of all the time and mental space that would be freed up to focus on other aspects of music making). The AirTurn wireless page turner in conjunction with Music Reader software allows you many more possibilities, e.g. like forwarding the next page while you're still reading the current. I'll share a real life story that just happened to my pianist friend Andrew Cooperstock (Chair of Keyboard Department at U of Colorado-Boulder). On a very short notice he was asked to play the Beethoven Concerto No.1 with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra as the scheduled performer was hesitant to fly due to a travel alert on account of the flu virus. Andrew downloaded the public domain score from IMSLP, inserted the cadenza of his choice, and used his Mac laptop with the wireless page-turning device (AT-104 and Boss FS-5 pedal + software) and voila! I think it is fair to say that Andrew would not have undertaken the performance without using music on a moment's notice and the device helped it go seamlessly. The audience, the musicians, and the conductor all found this new way of reading music interesting and commented on it before and after the performance.

[daphnis]

I find the device very interesting and potentially useful, although I have to wonder how you manage to turn pages if you're already using your feet to depress 2 piano pedals.

[Lyle Neff]

I find the device very interesting and potentially useful, although I have to wonder how you manage to turn pages if you're already using your feet to depress 2 piano pedals.

Maybe they could make an adjustable clamp to attach the activation mechanism underneath the keyboard so that you could hit it with your knee, or invent a knee-activated lever, as with some harpsichords.

Or, maybe a long piece of removable, pressure-sensitive, sensor-enhanced tape stuck right behind the keys, so that all you have to do is touch it with a finger to activate the page turn on the machine.

I got nothin'.

[SoYoung Lee]

Hello Daphnis,

Great point about the feet being busy as well especially if you are a keyboard player, and extra especially for organists! (Incidentally, there is an organist who DID mount a unit under his keyboard to be activated by the knee as suggested by your responder.) Although one has to admit that we've managed quite well for many years with our hands turning the pages even though they too are occupied most of the time. I find that the MusicReader software is a helpful complement in this regard-- with half page mode, it brings up the next page on top while the remainder of the previous page is on the bottom or with two page mode, it brings up the second page without compromising the current page. What that does is that it actually increases the time-frame in which to plot out a convenient turn. There's a free trial MusicReader on airturn.com if you want to just play around with it. Take care and post any other thoughts.

[hughsung]

Hi Daphnis - there's actually a pretty easy solution to pressing two pedals at once with a single foot, thanks to my childhood days struggling with organ pedals at Church! If you angle the page turning pedal just so, you can actually use your heel to press the page turner while keeping your toe on the Una Corda (that's the foot i typically use for page turns). This is a pretty standard "toe-heel" technique for organists, so it's actually easier than it sounds, just takes a little getting used to! I took a video demonstrating the technique, i've just been too busy to post it up - hopefully once things here at Curtis slow down, i'll be able to catch up on all my mad blogging!

As for knee pedals...unfortunately, i'm too short and my needs don't get up high enough to hit the keyboard bed Maybe a big undersided handlebar or something?

[Yagan Kiely]

I was just making sure, the fact that you posted again proves to me this isn't spam.

[Mazin]

I've seen these glowing unsolicited posts about AirTurn on other music websites too. I suppose it's spam, except that the product may have some relevance and that somebody is manually sitting at his computer trying to drum up business.

Regardless, it's also in the wrong forum. Can we close or move this? I also wish I could sage threads.

[Yagan Kiely]

I agree in moving it but I see no point in closing it (whether it's the company or not, still at least slightly informative and helpful.

[hughsung]

Dear Mazin and Yagan,
One of the best benefits of pairing scores from IMSLP with an AirTurn system is the fact that by using computers as music readers, you don't have to print them to paper with expensive inks - a very environmentally sound way to read and work with a full library of music, i should think!
Please let me know which forum category would be best suited for this discussion of integrating different technologies with digital music scores if you prefer to move this thread. Your forum provides an incredible service to musicians worldwide - as a collaborative pianist myself, i'm incredibly grateful for all that the IMSLP contributes to my art!
With best wishes always,
Hugh Sung
VP of Communications
AirTurn, Inc.

[Leonard Vertighel]

you don't have to print them to paper with expensive inks - a very environmentally sound way to read and work with a full library of music, i should think.

Actually I wonder if this is true. Printing a score requires ink and paper only once. Working with an electronic device requires electric energy each and every time. I'm not sure which of the two has a greater environmental impact.

[horndude77]

you don't have to print them to paper with expensive inks - a very environmentally sound way to read and work with a full library of music, i should think.

Actually I wonder if this is true. Printing a score requires ink and paper only once. Working with an electronic device requires electric energy each and every time. I'm not sure which of the two has a greater environmental impact.

Just pedal a generator while playing . Better yet, have the audience pedal and power the lights too. Carbon neutral concerts!

I agree that the environmental friendliness of electric components is debatable. They have the potential to be environmentally friendly (depending on manufacturing methods, power consumption, power source, etc.). It's just not practical for the common person quite yet.

[daphnis]

My biggest concern with using e-devices for viewing/performing from music is the ability to retain any annotations that may be made to the music. Turning/viewing is very useful, but we practicing musicians rely heavily on notes and markings either we make or others make, and until now we had to use paper to retain those. So if these devices are able to intelligently display, store and remove these annotations, I'd be all for it. I primarily like the idea of eSheetmusic because it keeps me from having to cart around or store filing cabinets full of scores, that and when I collaborate with other musicians using my own personal music, I can send them their part/score without having to worry about mutilation, loss or defacing my originals.