Music scores and lead sheets on tablets

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Tom

Tom

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For those of us who need a "printed" score or lead sheet, tablets are gaining popularity. Two couples from our uke group who (separately) visited Hawaii and played with a number of groups reported that many players were "using iPads" exclusively. Easier to carry than a lot of music/lead sheets, and they don't get blown around by indoor fans or outdoor breezes, but probably not good in bright sunlight.

An expensive alternative to a ring binder and a couple of 'long' clothes pins, but a tablet does provide easy/quick access to a huge library. I accompanied the founder of our group to check out tablets recently, and we both ended up buying one (in different stores). My motivation was a little different from his, and the jury is still out for me for this usage. Maybe a 12" tablet would be better  ??? Irrespective of size, it's hard to beat a pencil on paper to make changes on the fly. I just hope I don't grab a pencil and try to make a change on the tablet  :eek:

One useful feature is the ability to transpose music on the fly with a single click (aka tap on the screen) if away from a computer.
 
I could have used that when I was a teenager.  I played in small combo and we were doing a set at the Washington Park bandshell in Milwaukee.  In the middle of "Moon River" the wind took all the music off the stands.  Needless to say, the rest of the set didn't go well :)
 
Here's the low tech solution to music in the wind; Takes a clothes pin, a couple of skinny pieces of wood, and some Elmer's woodworker's glue.

OTOH since I manage all the music and updates for the uke group (online), if everyone was using a tablet, we could make and distribute changes on the fly.
 

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Another advantage of the tablet.. I've helped a couple of musicians (BIG NAME ONES at that, at least in their area) carry their books... One of them uses a child's little red wagon to haul them, Carries over 200 pounds of books when she's pereforming.

Or a pound or two of tablet.  Which can easily carry ALL her books, not just the limited amount that fit in the wagon.

Later.. Juanita (One of them) happened to be sitting on one side of me for coffee.. I''d not noticed her there (She came in after me and I was talking to the person on my right) I told him "I must be getting braver, Last night I sat next to Juanita in the filk room"

Now understand the room is concentric circles.. Juanita and the other BNF's (Big Name Filkers,  Filk is kind of the folks music  of Scence Fiction and Fantasy,, Or at least that is how it started).  So people on that innermost circle are EXPECTED to perform.. This is why it's scary.

Juanita (From the other side of me) Pipes up with "I'm not THAT scary"  (Well, she is kind of intimidating, but no she's not that scary.)
 
The show must go on and I'm always reticent to rely on technology without a backup plan.

I organize most of my music in PDF files.  These can come from the scanner, from websites that publish in PDF format (e.g. imslp.org), or as output from the word processor (lyrics) or notation program.

I use PDFTK to extract pages and put them in the right order.

While I don't have a tablet I have a smaller notebook computer and have occasionally used that while on the road, if I end up playing unexpectedly at a chapel service or something.  Otherwise I print the pages out and put them in a notebook or have them coil bound.  It keeps the poundage down because I don't have to bring several books from which I'll only use a few pages.
 
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