I have a woman in my choir who digitizes everything. Everything is on her Ipad and organized in some systematic way. It is enviable. Her sons use Ipads too and they find everything quickly and efficiently. Let me know if you would like me to ask her if she would be willing to "talk" to you about it.

I started doing this for our small choir a number of years ago. Initially it was just three of us (myself, my wife and son) but a number of other choir members jumped on the bandwagon, and currently all but 4 members are using tablets of one kind or another. We have some people using iPads, some using Android tablets (either 8" or 10" screens) and two of us who are using Surface Pro devices (myself included). I create a PDF file that contains all of the songs and readings, with bookmarks to facilitate practice (when we don't do things in order), and the files are shared via Google Drive and can be downloaded to individuals' devices.

It works quite nicely and is much easier than trying to find songs in a hymnal or binders. Contact me and I'd be happy to tell you more.

Mike

@CCooze A member of this forum was conducting a choir during Mass, and they were all following the music (Byrd Ave Verum) from a laptop perched on the gallery rail, Then the screen saver cut in and everybody had to sing from memory, it took a couple of bars for the screen saver to be cancelled.

Members of the Schola Sanctae Scholatisticae were regularly seen singing from their iPads using the Liber App, and the tuning fork app.

A professional musician that occasionally sings with our choir also sings from music on her iPad.

The one advantage of singing from an iPad is the Easter Vigil and other candle lit services, you can always see the music.

My iPad chooses to freeze at the most random times, so I'm not sure I'd be able to trust it.
I've used my phone before, though, when I have been the lone cantor at some Mass or other, and forgotten my Gregorian Missal, or other Ordinary chants that are readily accessible on the internet.

I know of at least a few semi-professional choirs in town where I can tell that at least 1 or 2 of the singers are using tablets, instead of sheet music. There's always that weird blueish glow on their faces...

At our Easter vigil service, we used tablets, but some people had the screen set to reverse video mode (black screen with white text/notes) which created less face glare. The rest of us just turned the brightness down to the minimum. Some of the people with sheet music binders had LED lamps attached, that created more back-scattered light than our tablets did.

LIke CharlesW, I look askance at these, largely because many choir singers are not techno-savvy, and the privacy concerns (uploads/downloads) are growing.

Agreed. At least half my choir doesn't even have e-mail addresses. Tablets? No way.

That aside, is there some non-incidental proof that one can "learn the line" by reading a PDF with a melody provided by computer?

As with any other technique for learning music, success or failure depends on the person directly involved. Sol-fege, for example, is a wonderful tool... but some people put roadblocks in their own use of it preventing it from being successful in their own case. Similarly with learning music from part files. If people are determined to learn the part and use a part file, it works well. Where I typically see trouble is those people who don't really want to use the part file. Cyber-Bass and CC Watershed mainstream examples of success stories with part files.

Technology can help us in many ways; I don't think this is one of them. Nothing beats a good old-fashioned paper octavo or book.

While personally my preference is to have music in which I can write notes and which is sized for my eyes, I don't know that I can legitimately make that statement universally, expecting others to follow my personal preferences. Sometimes I read e-books although, again, I typically prefer a physical book.

I would encourage us - as in so many other areas of music - to avoid looking at things as only having one solution or one valid approach. Technology CAN be very useful in so many ways. We all take advantage in a variety of ways - manuscripts online; CPDL; this forum; shared sites; group sites; etc..

I'm not advocating the use of tablets per se - merely making the case that it is likely to be a decision that varies from group to group and even from person to person.

Agreed. At least half my choir doesn't even have e-mail addresses. Tablets? No way.

Some of our TLM crew still have flip phones. Our OF cantor owns an iPad but not a cell phone.

Churches be weird.

Now wait a minute! (as Jack Benny used to say) I have a flip phone still. When I lose it or it breaks I will upgrade. I use Cyberbass and it has definitely improved my ability to read music. Since I have little formal training but a darn good ear, I would not be able to be in the local college/community choir without using Cyberbass for Mozart, Bach etc. Hearing my part highlighted, but in context with the other parts is invaluable. Our church organist pounds out just the line and often there is something in the accompaniment that makes awkward leaps easier. I have to ask the organist for the accompaniment sometimes when our section is struggling.

I am not too worried about the disappearance of print. I remember attending conferences on "The Paperless Office," in the 1970s when I was a young federal employee. You know, that paper is still with us. If anything, we have more of it.

Of course, the tablets might solve the problem of my choir hoarders who have multiple copies of every anthem in their folders. When I run out of music, I have to get in the folders and remove all the extra copies.

Follow a conductor? Surely, you jest. They can't get their heads out of the books long enough for that.

I knew that eventually this would involve the Russkis.

I would not be able to be in the local college/community choir without using Cyberbass for Mozart, Bach etc. Hearing my part highlighted, but in context with the other parts is invaluable.

You should check out "choralia.net"

Everyone here should.

Hundreds of recordings that include full pieces, as well as individual parts - alone and emphasized. And if you provide Massimo, the website operator, with the music you want the parts for (either sheet music or PDF), he'll set it up for you - all he asks is a small donation. It's a fantastic site.

New calendarist heretics, no doubt!

Charles, don't tell me that you're an Old Believer as well! Heavens, I don't think I've ever seen one of those outside of captivity . . .

Charles, don't tell me that you're an Old Believer as well!

Afraid not, although like many others our calendar is modified Gregorian with some dates for non-Christmas/Easter celebrations that don't mirror the west.

The only "Old Believers" I encounter are the ones that go to the TLM.

My understanding of the Old Believers, or "Old Ritualtists" as some call them, is that they were following the practices they were taught from 10th-11th century Constantinople. For example, two finger sign of the cross probably reflecting the God or man debates about Jesus from earlier times. There seemed to be many points of contention on something we now take for granted. Anyway, two-fingers reflecting the two natures of Christ as opposed to the later practice of three fingers emphasizing the Trinity.

Long story short, a Russian patriarch who was fascinated with all things Greek wanted rituals and practices brought in line with later Greek practices, hence the battle royal. The Old Believers were following practices from an earlier time that were probably more authentic. The Russian patriarch was a revisionist like we have seen often in recent times. They are anointed by God to lead us out of error, or so they think. The lesson is to never allow such reformers into any position of authority.

Carol, in the early centuries of Christianity, disputes raged round the Roman Empire about the two natures of Christ. Was he man with divine attributes? Was he Divine but not fully human. Could he only be divine because the body is evil? And on and on. After Christ as true man and true God was defined, the sign of the cross was made with two fingers to emphasize those two natures. If you see really old icons, you will notice the two fingers. BTW, the sign of the cross was made from right to left in both halves of the empire.

Later, anti-trinitarian disputes arose (don't those Christians love to argue?). Eventually, three fingers were used to note the Trinity. Later icons reflect this. Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) explained: "The sign of the cross is made with three fingers, because the signing is done together with the invocation of the Trinity. ... This is how it is done: from above to below, and from the right to the left, because Christ descended from the heavens to the earth..."[7][10]

The west went the way of making the sign from left to right, given their penchant for tinkering with the sacred that continues to this day. They never learn - LOL.

My St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism 0 (for 1st Communion) shows making the sign of the cross with the hand flat.

I was told that the three fingers in the Byzantine method denote the Trinity and the two curled into the palm of the hand are the two natures of Christ united.

That's how we easterners do it, but the two-fingered Old Believer method is older.

At the Latin parish where I play, they follow the Alpha and Omega method. It's a big circle.

So here's a thought that came up reading about the revisions to Russian Orthodoxy - the Old Believers had their processions clockwise, but after the changes they did it counter-clockwise. Is there any inherent symbolism to either way of processing? And for that matter, does (or did) the Latin Church have any specifications about which direction their processions were to take if they didn't just follow a straight line?

Our Church is a 'sign of contradiction', that's for sure.

Another learning tool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFYxRp9K9L4

Not destined for Chick-Fil-A!