I played Faure’s Elegie at a performance of amateur musicians.  We had a wonderful, large, very accepting audience.  I was amazed that so many people came to a performance like this.  It wasn’t free and it was on a Friday night, but it was standing room only.

Both the pianist and I were using our iPad Pro’s and foot pedals, as was one of the other musicians.  When the “concert” was over, the director opened the floor for questions.  I was so surprised when all the questions were about our use of the devices and how we incorporated technology into our musical world. (No one was interested in “Why Faure Wrote The Elegie”.) We were very happy to share how much we loved making this change.

So here’s an update on my transition away from paper.   It’s fabulous.  I have all my music in setlists on the Pro.  I can scan music I already have or download directly from IMSLP into my dropbox file, which is then a tap of a button to put it into my Pro.  The For Score program is wonderful.  I can add/subtract/rearrange pages.  I can highlight, erase, add symbols, and write notes in black, blue or red.    I can mark “turn” on the page so I remember to do a 1/2 page turn which allows me to see the music I’m playing on the bottom half of the page while the top half of the next page is on the top of my page.  In other words, I always have the notes in front of me.  I can record what I’m playing, have a metronome beating (or blinking), or bring up a little piano keyboard so I can play those notes that just don’t seem “right”.   I’ve even learned the correct way to back it all up so nothing will be “lost”.

No more hunting for music through all my binders.  No more grabbing the wrong orchestra folder.  Everything is in one place which makes it easier to practice as well as carry to lessons or rehearsals.

And speaking of that, I gotta go practice!  Go Pro!

4 thoughts on “Techno-Cello!

  1. I am hugely impressed that you understand and are able to use all its features! (this from a non-techie) It sounds so worthwhile that it tempts me to jump through the hoops to try it myself. Any downsides to it? Thanks for sharing this.

  2. Hi Cindi. The biggest downside is probably the price of the ipad Pro. After that, it’s just going step by step, reading a few instructions, getting ideas from others who are using it, and playing around with it. I was so happy to load up my music, I spent a day getting the music I was working on (orchestra, lessons, cello choir) loaded. Then I just started playing with it and trying different things. I’m still learning and loving it! I am a non-techie as well, but the support staff at For Score and their handbook is very helpful. I’m encouraging you to go for it. Email me if you get stuck!

  3. Peter Wauters says:

    I’m very tempted.
    That’s all I can say.

    I’m using my iPad (mini) for play-alongs with piano accompaniments (you should definitely check out the CAPO app! it just got a lot better), which is an enormous help in getting the intonation spot-on.

    Just one question: is it possible to zoom in on the score? Some sheet music is really hard to read (e.g. some of those pieces look as if they’ve been squeezed to fit on two pages). So I was wondering: what if I could zoom in just a little bit…

  4. Hi Peter! I will definitely look into the CAPO app.
    Yes you can ZOOM in on the score. If you turn the pro sideways, you get a huge enlargement and can still use the foot pedal to move the page. Or you can just pinch out a portion if you want to give some intense focus on a few measures. (It’s always useful to isolate the areas you are struggling with.)

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