Score Readers: techniques and devices

[absolutelybaching]

[deleted]

[Spotted Horses]

I can't say I do. Your pdf reader does not support bookmarks?

[Roasted Swan]

Bump!

No-one uses tablets or similar to read PDF versions of orchestral scores?!

Nope!  Prefer a proper score every time

[bhodges]

Bump!

No-one uses tablets or similar to read PDF versions of orchestral scores?!

Though I do love following a score now and then, I mostly opt for the occasional score-syncing done by the cadre of benevolent YouTube contributors. It's just easier, and to address one of your original concerns, the posters do appear to observe repeats.

(I also have a handful of paper scores, maybe 20-25.)

--Bruce

[San Antone]

I've seen chamber group musicians use a tablet for their part.  I assume an iPad or something similar and they touch the corner to turn the page.  Would seem very convenient if the display doesn't black out after a period of time.  But I guess that is a setting.

[Spotted Horses]

Yes they all do, but a bookmark's not a lot of use unless there's a mechanism to jump to it at the appropriate time. So whilst it's easy to place a bookmark at the start of a da capo passage, I don't know how I can put a link back to it at the eventual repeat sign. [Edited to add: I can certainly add what they call a 'link' back to a specific page -but not to a bookmark as such. And, at least with the software I'm using, you cannot name or make text describing the link (such as 'follow repeat'') so you end up with just an invisible 'spot' which you'd have to know somehow to click without any visual clues. Links and bookmarks don't appear to be satisfactory options, I fear.]

I have been experimenting with putting javascript buttons in scores. If, for example, you were to download the score of Beethoven's 9th from this page, you'd be able to (or, you're supposed to be able to!) use the buttons on the front page to jump to the start of any of the movements... and if you followed playback of the second movement (Molto vivace), you'd find buttons to jump back to the start of repeats on (for example) page 85. This is functionally quite good, but it's quite a lot of effort marking up a score in this way. I was just wondering if anyone knew a better way of doing it, really. Or if I've missed out some page jumps that people would more generally find useful.

It seems like you require a link at the end of a section which jumps back to the beginning of the section for the repeat. I don't know of any pdf reader that supports that naturally. But some pdf readers I've used (kindle, dropbox pdf viewer) allow you to jump to a bookmark with a two or three taps. You could do the brute force thing, use a pdf editor to past in the score pages corresponding to the repeats so that scrolling forward brings you back to the beginning of the repeated section. I'm sure you have an axiom that this violates. It obeys my primary axiom. It doesn't depend on any obscure software packages of features that I may not be available to me in the future.

[VonStupp]

Even with an iPad though: how do they flick back quickly to the start of a repeat? That's my real question here.

I have been using the paid app(lication) ForScore for many years now as an organist, accompanist and chorus master, and I know many choirs and small instrumental ensembles who have completely converted to digital music and use it as well.

It allows me to either set links at repeats, D.S., and D.C.'s or duplicate score pages so I can keep going. Of course, I mainly use octavos which are easier to read, but I assume if you had the huge iPad Pro, this would work for full scores as well.

For me, being able to highlight, edit, write notes in scores with this has been immensely helpful, but you only see one page at a time which takes some getting used to if you usually look at a physical score in side-by-side book form. At least this is true for my old eyes! 

VS

[Spotted Horses]

I have been using the paid app(lication) ForScore for many years now as an organist, accompanist and chorus master, and I know many choirs and small instrumental ensembles who have completely converted to digital music and use it as well.

It allows me to either set links at repeats, D.S, or D.C's or duplicate pages so I can keep going. Of course, I mainly use octavos which are easier to read, but I assume if you had the huge iPad Pro, this would work for full scores as well.

For me, being able to highlight, edit, write notes in scores with this has been immensely helpful, but you only see one page at a time which takes some getting used to if you usually look at a physical score in side-by-side book form.

VS

Does it require the scope to be a special format, or does it work with simple pdf files?

[VonStupp]

Does it require the scope to be a special format, or does it work with simple pdf files?

It is designed to be used with PDF's.

https://forscore.co/

https://forscore.co/documentation/adding-files/

VS

[VonStupp]

Thanks for that mention of ForScore: turns out it's Apple-only, which makes it something of a non-starter for most people (and certainly for me). But it also turns out that it's merely using PDF documents underneath all the programming glitz, so it's interesting to know that someone, somehow, has made it possible to put in links at repeats and so on and then have the score flash at you on the 'return page' so you know immediately where to read from. I imagine that there's quite some Javascript shennanigans going on to make that happen! I would love to see a video, screenshot or something of how you add that sort of link/jump to a PDF and how it then appears to the reader. That would help me with my own layout and appearance dilemmas.

It's also good to know that I'm not the only one wondering about this stuff!

I'm reading my own prototype PDFs in MobileSheets, rather than a 'standard' PDF reader, because it seems optimised for page-per-screen display and one-touch page turns (rather than, say, continuous scrolling). It seems to do much the same as ForScore, including half-page turns and being able to use Bluetooth foot pedals to achieve page turns, etc. Works only on Windows and Android, though, so again not the comprehensive and open source solution I'd prefer it to be

I think I can make a video of how I put a link in.

I am not a natural Macintosh/Apple user either, except for this single aspect of using a score reader, so I understand it not working for what you want. However, when I discovered it, it was a no-brainer to immediately buy it and put it to use. (It was only $5.99 back then)

Being a PC user all my life though, the learning curve was high to be comfortable using 'i' products.

VS

[Szykneij]

I've seen chamber group musicians use a tablet for their part.  I assume an iPad or something similar and they touch the corner to turn the page.  Would seem very convenient if the display doesn't black out after a period of time.  But I guess that is a setting.

I've seen it too, and, am jealous of the performers' eyesight. My eyes get tired reading printed music, which is larger and non-glaring.