Technology suggestions
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    So my wife and I finally caved and got iPhones after years of pleading from family and friends. Actually, I appreciate what they can do; I've actually sung for daily Masses a few times using PDFs from my phone screen. Along that line, how many of you currently use a tablet of some kind for your music work? I have some questions:

    1. Are they handy and useful, or overly fragile and touchy, less dependable than plain printed music?

    2. How useful are any composition apps? I use Finale on my desktop for arranging and psalm settings---anything like that available? Any to recommend? I've been reading up on some the software and apps developed by Notion---are they useful?

    3. Is a tablet a worthwhile use of my budget?

    Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!
    Thanked by 1jefflokanata
  • I tried the digital music approach. There are lots of useful apps to markup your music, to add highlighting, to change notes, etc....

    But I had to drop it and go back to ink and paper. The tactile nature is SO superior to learn music from, for me anyways. I enjoy the learning process more. I markup my music more. And, I get away and sing and play from memory more.

    I find that interaction with digital work has a big effect on my attitude. Anything digital is consumed and discarded. It's infinitely reproducible, and thus instinctively less valuable. I find myself giving less worth to anything digital, simply by instinct. And of course, in preparing sacred music, we should have the opposite instinct: something close to dedication and reverence, instead of throwaway.

    That's just my story, though. I know some who are diehard digital-only folks. It just doesn't fly with me, long term.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,791
    One of my favorite entertainments is to introduce my wife, a composer, to graphic artists and then stand back as they discuss erasers with the relish of (as the Malay saying goes) tigers around a piece of meat. When ink and razorblades come up I'm, um, plainly aware of how two-dimensional my own experience of paper is.
    I am addicted to Sibelius though. There's a little bit here about tablets on the Help center page, which you can search without registration; I imagine Finale must have a forum as well?
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I use a tablet for 95% of all my music (some may remember me as "that guy" at the last colloquium).

    I have a dropbox folder filled with tons of resources. SEP, the graduale romanum, graduale simplex, liber usualis, liber brevior, the offertoriale romanum, the chant abreges, the gregorian ordinaries, a decent amount of simpler organ music, parish book of chant (1st and 2nd editions), Richard Rice's communion books (english and latin), the cantus selecti, the simple choral gradual, parish book of psalms, the american gradual, the gregorian missal, collection of all the missal antiphons, the palmer burgess plainchant gradual, the revised grail psalms, Secunda anthologia vocalis (three voice motets) fr kelly's missal chants, nova organi harmonia, the entire collection of organ scores for the ordinary for when I sub at my parish, random resources downloaded from the forum, the roman missal, the entire repertoire for each of the several choirs I sing in, as well as any specific music for Masses for which I plan to sing/direct/play for (which as you might guess rotates around depending on what I'm doing), and a ton more.

    It's between 1-2GB in all.

    This collection lives in my dropbox on my computer, and also thanks to a third part app called DropSync, it is contained entirely offline on my tablet (nexus 7, 2013) and my phone (nexus 5) and phone as well. I have used both of them at Masses, though obviously the nexus 7 is what I typically use. I use dropsync because the native android dropbox app only allows you to download individual files, not keep your entire collection offline on your device and synced.

    I'd recommend the nexus 9. I think it's a great option, and is quite fast. It should allow you to store all these things offline and keep them synchronized like I doubt you could on an apple tablet. Adobe's PDF reader on android also allows me to take and edit notes (both typed and scribbled) allowing me to fully take notes like any other singer, but also to sync these notes to my computer and phone, so that they follow me no matter what device I use. I also use an android task manager to kill all background apps when I am getting ready to sing to ensure there is absolutely no lag or delay in the processing.

    I am very satisfied with this system. If anyone wanted to set themselves up with a similar system, I'd be more than willing to answer questions here or via pm. I've used this for about 2 years, so I am very comfortable with it and know all the tips and tricks.
    Thanked by 2Kathy francis
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Also, as I write this on my chromebook, I'm setting up my secondary windows 7 desktop to be a dedicated organ simulacrum for use when I need to help with music in conference halls and hotels with a program called GrandOrgue.

    :)
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen francis
  • Jani
    Posts: 441
    There have been a few times when I've been asked to sub immediately before Mass begins. When that happens, during the Spanish part of the homily I pop up CC Watershed and look at the SEP for Communion; since I got the hang of them I am able to do them very well "cold" - maybe not 100% accurate, but close enough for the situation. So yes, I think there is definitely a place for electronic stuff. Btw, nothing fancy here- I have a two year old Samsung Galaxy S3. Don't think I would ever give up paper though.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,466
    BEN YANKE:
    You should do a post for the cafe about your setup.
    Thanked by 1Spriggo
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Not a bad idea. Maybe even provide a public link to.my Dropbox folder....
    Thanked by 1EMH
  • A humble singer in a schola cantorum for the extraordinary form, I use an Ipad Air for all of my music. As a reading device it is superb – high resolution and you don’t have to depend on the, often rather dodgy, lighting available in choir lofts. To get this to work I use:

    1. The app “PDF Expert”. An excellent PDF reader that connects to most of the major cloud services and to local network resources allowing for easy download of music in PDF form. It also allows for easy (and multi-coloured!) annotation.

    2. I load PDF versions of the propers from the Institute of Christ the King and from CCWatershed for each week; I use the PDF version of the (wonderful!) Parish Book of Chant for the ordinary and various bits and pieces.

    3. I keep various chant books in PDF form loaded on the IPad, just in case: The Liber Usualis (’61), Liber Brevior, Graduale Simplex, Graduale Romanum (’61 & 74), Gregorian Missal. I have a back-up collection of weird and wacky stuff on my PC just in case someone decides to schedule a great responsory. I can dream…

    4. I have a variety of supporting apps: iChant, Liber Pro, Ipieta, iMassHD, Magnificat & Logos Bible.

    I can thoroughly recommend this sort of approach to other singers.

    For composition (or for making particular editions), though, I stick with the PC: Gregorio for chant and MuseScore for modern notation.


    Thanked by 1jefflokanata
  • Last Sunday, our Schola invited to other city to sing Gregorian chant with local choir.
    Number of local number is so many, so we run out printed music.
    I brought my iPad , and downloaded Graduale Romanum, so I Print Screen and email to other member who bring any gadget.
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Number of local number is so many, so we run out printed music.


    What a great problem to have! Please keep is informed about your situation.
  • If you're a Lilyponder, you could always just get a text editor to edit the file and compile at the computer later (if you don't need immediate feedback).
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    So, consensus is, get an Android? Anything else? Details on ease of use during singing/playing? Feasibility for recording?
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    One caveat- I downloaded OCP Accompaniment to two Android based tabs (Acer and Asus), didn't/couldn't route it through KINDLE, and the screen buttons in the task bar (indices, etc.) don't react, so I have to manually scroll tune to tune. One of my pianists has the same on his iPad which does respond to all button commands.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,791
    There have been a few editions specially laid out for tablet appearing on IMSLP.