Ipad impact

[rpjazzguitar]

This post is about settings where musicians are reading.

Not so long ago, charts were on paper. Still are, depending on the setting.

But, at some point, some players would show up with Ipads and there'd be some effort to support their use.

When everything worked properly, a player with an electronic copy of a chart would air drop it to everybody else. Everybody would have ForScore and it would take less than 30 seconds to provide everybody with the chart.

And, it's possible to carry around a small device with thousands of charts. Multiple fakebooks, all of IRealPro and whatever people send you. You can even make notes on them easily or edit them with a bit more difficulty.

They look good on the bandstand and you don't need a light.

Now for the less-good news.

My first exposure to the Ipads was hen I was playing in an octet and some of the horn players wanted to use Ipads. The leader was a computer guy, but his computer was upstairs, so he'd disappear for a while and then return at which point he'd find out if the transfer worked (back then I think it was desktop to Ipad maybe by email?). Often enough, it didn't work and the band would sit around waiting.

Then, it started pervading smaller groups. Not unusual for the tune to fall apart while everybody touched the screen to turn the page. Then everybody got foot switches and it wasn't unusual for somebody to hit the wrong button, or something, and sometimes be thrown into a blank screen, unsure which way to go to get back to the chart they were supposed to be playing at that very moment. And, the tune would fall apart.

Then, Apple changed the security on airdrop and people had to enter codes, which could be confusing when air dropping simultaneously to multiple Ipads.

Often enough, something else would go wrong. For example, one player finding out that his Ipad thought his page turn pedal was a keyboard, meaning that it wouldn't recognize his kb and didn't give him a way to enter the code. Or, someone would be trying to airdrop and couldn't see all the other Ipads. So, everybody then has to check their settings and retry things. Most often, it eventually works, which reinforces the idea of trying it despite the time taken.

On my last gig, I sent out a pdf of all the charts in advance by file sharing and then, somehow (my bad) my own copy got altered and, on the gig, I was missing charts. They were elsewhere on my Ipad, but I have nearly 5000 tunes in ForScore and it takes a while to scroll to a particular one. That was a bad look and entirely my fault. But wouldn't have happened with paper.

When something goes wrong, two players I know get more interested in troubleshooting the computer problem then playing the tune from paper, even when everybody has a copy of the book. Music stops.

I just wondered if anybody is having similar, or different, experiences.

[Bob_Ross]

I just wondered if anybody is having similar, or different, experiences.

I'm about to find out, because no matter all the horror stories I've heard about using tablets & digital chart management apps for sightreading gigs, none of it strikes me as being worse than the crap I've been putting up with trying to use traditional paper charts.

First off, three-page charts don't fit on a conventional music stand, and the ends of the pages that overhang the stand tend to fold back, making them unreadable. And as the bass player in a pop/rock/jazz/show band, I rarely have the luxury of being able to execute a page turn mid-song, I'm pretty much playing constantly from my entrance until the fine.

Secondly, 90% of our gigs are outdoors. It's windy here. Hilarity ensues...not! I've got the giant plexiglass clothespins to hold charts to the stand, but they are cumbersome and inelegant.

Thirdly, set management is a PIA. If the bandleader calls an audible I have to go digging through an inch-thick pile of paper looking for the tune that's starting in three, two, one...

I'm done with that crap. Actually heading out later today to buy a 13" iPad Air, then I'll download the forScore app, scan all my paper charts, and then BURN THEM!
I'm entering the 21st Century come hell or high water.

[rpjazzguitar]

I'm about to find out, because no matter all the horror stories I've heard about using tablets & digital chart management apps for sightreading gigs, non

I'm done with that crap. Actually heading out later today to buy a 13" iPad Air, then I'll download the forScore app, scan all my paper charts, and then BURN THEM!
I'm entering the 21st Century come hell or high water.

Good luck with that.

I find two pages per screen just a little too small to read comfortably on the 13 inch screen. So, a 3 page chart is going to involve some page turns, possibly page 3 to page 1. Or searching for the segno if you don't already know where it is. Not always on Page 1. Errors occur.

My page turn foot pedal works reliably, but it's not bolted to the floor, so it ends up moving around, increasing the chance of a bad click. Might put something rough on the bottom to increase friction.

For outdoor gigs, I've been alerted to wash-out in bright sun and also overheating causing the device to shut down.

I've been gigging with the Ipad, but I have paper in the car just in case.

[skykomishone]

Good luck with that Bob!
I spend too much time searching my sheet piles and if I had spent the amount of time looking for charts in the piles of sheets to apply to playing the tunes, I'd be a master player by now. It is frustrating. I agree. It's the sheets man!
Probably on my horizon, a new Ipad.