It's not in the budget right now, but I still love to dream so I've taken a look at all of the music apps available (I want to be ready, just in case, right?). There are SO many and I was excited to see loads of options.
We all know that "page turning" can be tough for pianists! With a little help from a product called, Music Reader, that just may be a thing of the past. Designed to work with tablet PCs like the ipad, it boasts that page turning is a thing of the past! (Wouldn't you agree that now my desire for an ipad has turned from a want to a need?) It also claims to hold your entire music library. Can you imagine the storage space we could save?
I'm curious to know if any of you have an ipad and if you use one in your studio or as an alternative to music books. And if you have seen Music Reader, do you consider it a viable option?
4 comments:
You and me both! I had no desire to get an iPad UNTIL I found out what you can do with it with music!!! I have two students that have brought in their iPad to show me how cool it is to read their music from their iPad and turn the pages. Talk about making it nice for accompaniment gigs. No longer do you have to have pages of pages of music in a binder! Plus it would be tax deductible right? :)
I'm with you Jennifer! I'm not aware that any of my students have the ipod so I haven't actually seen this feature, but it looks amazing! And, yes, that tax deductible feature doesn't hurt!
We have iPods, iTouches, iPads, and laptops in our house. I have used the program in the post called "MusicReader" for one year now and I love it. The program alone is fantastic, but something I didn't count on was the support/customer service. These guys are the best I have ever encountered. Not only are they quick to respond when you post a question and concern on the forum, they will personally answer your problem and help you get to the bottom of any question. They are also extremely interested in what will make "MusicReader" a better program and take comments and suggestions written by users seriously.
Back to "MusicReader" itself - the music I load into the program is music I digitally download (which there is plenty of on the internet!) and music that I personally own and scan into "MusicConvert" which then turns it into a file so "MusicReader" can 'read' the file.
There are numerous devices you can read your music - a laptop, an iPad, a tablet PC, ... - right now I'm using a laptop and works beautifully. I plug the USB into my laptop, put the "page turning pedal" on the floor (which I use with my left foot) and play without using my hand to turn pages. It is a beautiful thing!
Funny story - the first couple of days were an adjustment. Every time I "turned the page", my tempo increased. I guess there was something about pedaling with my left foot that made me want to play faster for a few beats. I quickly got the hang of it, though, and I even use this with my students, ages 4-years-old to 65-years-old. Sometimes we sight read and other times we work on actual music - maybe a piece they may have forgotten to bring along. ("Forgot your music? I've got it right here on my laptop!")
There is so much more you can do in "MusicReader". You can 'write' all over your score with traditional expression marks or with your own digital handwriting and even color. This makes your music unique. There is nothing bad to say about this program whatsoever. The only thing I can think of is that there is not enough time in the day to upload all the music I would want to. The library capacity is limitless.
Wow, MusicReader sounds fabulous. I tried looking it up on the app store and couldn't find it. I found Piano Music Reading, is that it? Who makes it?
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