Sheet Music App
I'm getting to the point now where I'm taping sheet music pages across my Yamaha U3 - and that's not going to be sustainable in the long term (unless I buy one of those pianos with > 88 keys :-)
I see Ben and various other people use what looks like an iPad - once you start on longer pieces, is a larger format iPad with an app what folks use? I'm curious to know what folks use app-wise
Thanks!
Tim from New Zealand
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On iPad, ForScore.
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On iPad, if you're using PDF scores, forScore is outstanding.
My favorite sheet music app is the Henle Library (www.henle-library.com). All of the Henle editions are available via this app. You have to buy the scores, but they're cheaper than print editions and offer the best quality electronic scores. (In the interest of disclosure, Henle approached me to create tutorial videos for their app.)
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Albert I didn't think I would ever go for the Henle app, but tried it and I love it. I still love Henle in print, though. It's just another addiction.
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I’m curious what else will come up in this thread, but ForScore is what stuck for me.
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Any tips for Android or PC Windows?
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Guilherme Fonseca I like MobileSheets on my android Galaxy tablet
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Guilherme Fonseca I use Mobile Sheets on My Windows Surface tablet and on Samsung android tablet. It's an excellent app. The creator is very responsive if you have any issues or requests.
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forScore with a 12.9” iPad is what works for most people. Smaller screens could work, but it’s it’s harder to read, of course.
For Android, there is Piascore, I think. Dominic Cheli did an entire livestream about this.
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Same for me. iPad Pro with forScore, and the Henle app. With these two I feel I am covered.
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I use MobileSheets on my android tablet and it works great! Very similar function as forScore.
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also +1 ForScore! It's great, you can annotate on multiple layers for study purposes, which you can also hide/show however you want, something you can't do with paper ;)
When I bought an iPad last year, I started with the 10" one. I discovered literally after using it for an hour that it just would not do for me - notes were way too small and uncomfortable to look at. I took it right back to the Apple Store and exchanged for the 12.9" one. Worth every extra penny, your eyes will thank you.
There's also bluetooth pedals you can buy which will sync with ForScore so you can "flip" pages using your foot. Good luck!
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Consistently I have found iPadPro 12.9" with Foreshore to consistently be the combination use by Juilliard students/faculty and at the piano studios where I Practice in the city. I use it at my home with my own piano. It is a very easy combination with ability to annotate, respond to page turning (bluetooth pedals/etc), storage and retrieval of music and ability to catalog . Easy use of stylus (especially Apple Pencil). It also easily incorporates and syncs with all the major online sheet music sites. The visuals are excellent
So I agree with what everyone else has said and it's been a very worthwhile investment though certainly is pricey.
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Yes, I too switched to ForScore and the largest iPad years ago.
The only cons are the cost of the iPad (though they do last) and twice as many page-turns - unless you can afford two iPads, which I can't.
The pros are massive: not just convenience, but the vastly increased scope for markings and analysis - transparent highlighting in variable shades and shapes allows for identifying entries, motifs, contrapuntal lines, harmonic rhythm... anything you like. And no more messy rubbing out!
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After using paper for several years, I tried various digital approaches. Like nearly everyone here, I found ForScore on an iPad Pro (12.9") to work best. The many layers of notation in ForScore are great. I wish the downloadable scores that can be used directly in ForScore were better. Many have no fingering at all. I do like Henle, but prefer fingering from Alfred, so at the moment I'm using an Alfred score scanned into .pdf and imported into ForScore. Last I looked, I could only use Henle scores with the Henle app, which is not as flexible as ForScore, though it's making strides in that direction.
Page turns with ForScore on the iPad have gotten really easy. You can use a Bluetooth pedal, but with the iPad, since it has a front-facing camera, you can also wiggle your mouth in the right way to turn pages forward or backwards. You can also turn half pages, so you can see what you are playing on the current page while reading continuously onto the next page. There are many improvements still to be made on the electronics side that I hope ForScore will incorporate, such as listening to your playing and showing you where you are in the score, so when you have to look down at the keys, you have a marker for where to start reading again, for example. This and many other user-friendly improvements will doubtless work their way into the technology. Paper is old school, but necessary now and then.
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I've been using an iPad Pro, Apple pencil, and an app called KeyScore to allow automatic page turns by recording your playing and "tracking" where you are on the page. Some glitches, but it's mostly fantastic.
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I use digitalScore. It is better than forScore to me.
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Dominic Cheli has had sessions on all this which may be of use. He also recommended Airturn Duo/BT500 pedal for turning pages, which is available on Amazon. The whole setup takes awhile to get used to. Have fun.
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I've got and big iPad Pro with Piascore which is fine, and chose to get because it was much cheaper, anyone have any opinions about that compared with Forscore?
I hear Forscore's got several layers for annotating, which sounds helpful, Piascore only has one.
Piascore also seems to convert PDF pages into images, which means when you zoom in you get pixels rather than smooth text/notes. Anyone know if Forscore does that too?
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Roni I can Zoom in nicely in forscore and don’t have pixels
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Thanks Gail!
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I use Goodreader for sheet music pdfs on an iPad.
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4Score got it "right" first so everyone jumped on that bandwagon and it's now "the borg" of sheet music app. I used to be one of them and had the "pro" verion for a few years until 50 pages of scores I'd worked on and heavily annotaded got corrupted. Nothing support could do, I tried stuff for 6 months, tons of work lost. Casting around for something better I ended up with Newzik. Key points for me:
Against 4Score
- Only on iPad, not Android or PC
- You'll want the 12.9" iPad Pro so you're well over $1000, and you're still only seeing one smaller-than-a-real-paper page at a time
- The most expensive product I found when I was looking
- Your data sits on your iPad. If you lose the iPad with no backup, you lose your music. If you want it on some other device you're doing "import/export" functions. If your one copy gets corrupted you lose workFor Newzik (for me)
- Has all the key features you like in 4Score (annotations, layers, stamps, export PDFs)
- has an iPad App AND works in a web Browser -- so basically useful on ANY device that can get to the web.
- Your data is "in the cloud" so always available, everywhere. (no corruption issues so far, but still possible here I understand, but I think less likely) Export annotated PDFs as needed
- Mind blowing great for me was attaching a $150 27" monitor to my $400 PC, taking the stand off and putting it on my piano music stand. WAY more viewing area. I look at 2 full pages at once.
- I use my iPad for annotations for the "pencil". Save and seconds later it's up on my PC screen
- $20 lifetime subscription was plenty for me
- Easy to share scores with others, work collaboratively on the same score.
- It can actually "read" your score and make an audio version -- I find this handy in accompanying. I have it say read the flute part and I have something -- far from perfect as music, but SOMEthing to play along with for practice-
Steve Sorry to hear your forScore data got corrupted but happy you found a solution that works for you. Actually forScore does offer iCloud backup and sync, which fortunately have worked seamlessly for me across multiple devices. It’ been available for several years now, but maybe iCloud support wasn’t yet available when you used the app?
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Albert My problems started 2021, and forScore support never brought up iCloud backup as a possible help my issues. Even if synch. was available back then I generally don't have 2 different iPads I'd need to synch across anyway. Being able to use Newzik on a PC and put a big cheap monitor above my keyboard for playing and still use my iPad for travel performances and fine annotation/edits with an Apple Pencil is when all my devices reading from one main data source became super handy for me. Regards
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Steve That’s great that you can use a huge monitor at your piano for your scores—great idea.
Funny story about Newzik: Back when they were just getting started, they presented at a startup competition in Vienna. They announced, “We make digital sheet music available via our innovative app.”
A bit later in that same session, the panel had time for one random startup drawn from the audience. We all put our names into a hat and as luck would have it they drew my card. I got called to the stage to introduce the startup I was working with at the time.
”We make digital sheet music available via our innovative app!”
This got quite a laugh from the audience!
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