Avoiding Page Turns

[John Kemp]

As we all know, music stands will display a double 'standard size' page. Bigger stands will allow a three page fold out. Some 'ordinary' stands have little wire foldout brackets that allow a three page display. This is not always enough. You can EITHER cut out a long sheet of hardboard, tough cardboard, or plastic to place on the stand first, OR, to increase the page count by only one, i.e. a 2-page stand will display 3 pages, 3-page stand will display 4 pages, print or photocopy the music onto thin white card, and join the sheets with sticky tape on the back. These printouts will stay put fine, overlapping the stand by half a page at each side. I'm surprised never to have seen either of these obvious techniques used previously.

[Stephen Kenyon]

I never have any trouble with 4 pages of simple paper taped together - on a stand with fold-out arms.

Stephen

[jbid]

I address this issue in a different way. I use an app called "forScore" on my iPad. I upload all my sheet music in pdf format and view/manage it with the app. I can tag, edit, annotate, etc. all my music and carry all of it with me wherever I go. There are two ways pages can be turned hands free. The easiest way involves purchasing a hands free bluetooth page turner (which is a foot pedal) to use with the app. The second way is to adjust the page turning settings for a particular piece of music using the built-in metronome. After the appropriate number of beats, the page turns automatically. Of course, this second method requires a bit more coordination on the part of the player to ensure he or she stays on beat.

[tormodg]

I use forScore on my iPad for all my sheet music, and a Pageflip Firefly to turn pages with my foot. Works really well, but it took a little getting used to.

Last weekend I played acoustic guitar with a jazz group and got some sheet music which spanned up to 4 pages. I got a concert stand which managed to hold 2 1/2 page, so I used a hard-cover sheet music binder in "landscape mode" to extend the stand without problems.

[oski79]

My teacher uses his iPad, though I don't know which page turner he uses. He's used it in concert and it works great.

[Ramon Amira]

I believe there are digital music stands with a monitor display, and you can "turn" the page with a foot pedal.

Ramon

[Deme]

I use my computer instead of a stand, as it's much easier than having sheet music, falling off a stand if someone walks by. I have a lot of PDF files, and I would be interested in acquiring a page turner for my Foxit Reader, if one exists.
What would be very good though is to have an A4 size tablet, which you can put on a music stand, and use a foot pedal to turn the pages.
I recently saw a programme on TV, that there will soon be available a "fold up" tablet, i.e. a large monitor up to 40" size, that can be folded up and you can carry it with you!!
Just google "fold up monitor" for more info.

[Lockie]

It's a pity that pdf files are not tablet friendly, what I mean is the white border around the music image wastes space on a 10 inch screen. If the image was cropped to remove unused white border space ( word calls it non printable area ) then a music score would appear to be larger and that is good for

_20170127_091210.JPG

older people like me.
Rather than

IMG_20170127_091047.jpg

squint free reading.

Regards

Lockie

[tormodg]

If the image was cropped to remove unused white border space ( word calls it non printable area ) then a music score would appear to be larger and that is good for _20170127_091210.JPG older people like me.

The forScore app for ipad supports cropping, so that the white space is removed and the actual score zoomed to fit the ipad screen.

[Lockie]

Hi

Thanks for that information. I was curious to see if any one else has noticed and had any suggestions. Good tip must see if it can work on Android.

Regards

Lockie

[tormodg]

AFAIK there is an app called "piaScore" for Android which also supports page cropping.

I think "cropping" in this situation really means "zooming".

[robert e]

As we all know, music stands will display a double 'standard size' page. Bigger stands will allow a three page fold out. Some 'ordinary' stands have little wire foldout brackets that allow a three page display. This is not always enough. You can EITHER cut out a long sheet of hardboard, tough cardboard, or plastic to place on the stand first, OR, to increase the page count by only one, i.e. a 2-page stand will display 3 pages, 3-page stand will display 4 pages, print or photocopy the music onto thin white card, and join the sheets with sticky tape on the back. These printouts will stay put fine, overlapping the stand by half a page at each side. I'm surprised never to have seen either of these obvious techniques used previously.

I've seen this, and other creative cut n' paste n' card solutions, at student recitals and ensemble concerts.

For example, to either of these card/board tactics, you can also tape pages to the bottom that will hang down off the front of the stand.

Also, one can use taller white card that will accommodate, say, one and a half pages per panel rather than just one. At one and a half pages per card, a 4-page score becomes a 3-panel score with an extra half-page space for notes or a zoomed detail. A 5-page score becomes 3 panels + a half page flap that can hang off the front of the stand from any of the 3 panels. Or a 2-panel score with one-page flaps hanging off both panels.

Another tactic: Some editions are more compact than others, using more repeats and jumps and abbreviated notation. One can seek these out, or get out the scissors and tape and pencil, and cut and mark up a more written-out score.

(I hope it goes without saying that we're cutting up photocopies!)

[Lockie]

Hi

Thanks for the android solution and the hard copy suggestions, I will certainly try out both options over next few days.

Regards

Lockie