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ELECTRONIC MUSIC DISPLAYS

This page preserves BBCG members’ research, experience, and discussion about replacing paper music with electronic displays, including software, hardware, costs, advantages, and limitations.

On This Page

Introduction

Compiled, written, and edited by Al Lowe and David in Mississippi

This article is a summary and compilation of a question asked on the Big Band Charts discussion forum and the responses to the question. The question was cross-posted to the Community-Music forum, and some of those responses are included here as well.

Group Member Research 2021

The article in this section was submitted by our own group member Oliver Hagerman in June 2021. He does a marvelous job of explaining the whole thing, so I'll let him tell it.

How to use a DELL Inspirion 2-in-1 17inch as an eReader for Big Band parts

INTRODUCTION

Since 2015, for lead sheets (fakebooks) I have been using the Apple iPad Pro with these apps: iGigBook, iRealPro, and ForScore.

This works well for combo gigs, jamming, and learning tunes. The iPad display is 7.75in by 10.25in (195mm by 262mm), which is nearly a standard Letter-size (8.5in X 11in) page. For viewing two pages at once, rotating the device to landscape view switches the display to “two pages up” at half page size. At this size, it is difficult (but not impossible) to read. The ability to carry a filing cabinet filled with fakebooks in a tablet computer has been valuable.

For big band parts, many of which are more than two pages, with page turns, I decided to look for a solution that can display two Letter-sized pages in portable tablet form, and with a touchscreen for page turns. (I have experimented with Bluetooth wireless page turning footswitches, but for simplicity, touchscreen page turning is adequate).

At this writing, Apple does NOT offer a Ledger-size (11in X 17in) iPad, which would be ideal! On the other hand, there ARE foldable notebook computers with 17" displays and a touchscreen that run Windows 10. So I decided to look for eReader app with page-turning function for that type of computer.

DELL INSPIRION 2-in-1 17 inch COMPUTER running MobileSheets

I settled on a DELL INSPIRION 2-in-1 with a 14.75inch by 10inch (372mm by 254mm) display, which is close to 2-Letter-page size. The computer folds over to act like a tablet. It has a touch screen. It weighs just under 6 pounds (2.6kg). Minimizing weight is always an issue when loading-in and -out of gigs in one trip. The computer can also run Finale, Abode Acrobat, BandLab, LibraOffice, etc.

The battery life is at least seven hours. Plenty for a 4-hour gig. Or you can always plug in the power supply.

The keyboard is back-lit, with shiny keys, which reflects the screen, which makes it hard to discern the keycap symbols. To fix that issue, I turned off the keyboard back-light by pressing F5, which cycles through off-half-full brightness, until back-lighting is turned OFF.

Installing Windows 10 Pro went smoothly. I opted-out of everything. I set Desktop background to black.

I installed LibraOffice, which is a free office suite. It is able to read Microsoft Office formats. It is very useful for making index spreadsheets and exporting them to CSV (Comma-Separated Value) files, for input to eReader apps.

I installed Adobe Reader, Google Chrome, and a backup client I use with a Synology file server.

I installed Finale 26, with some my existing templates and project files.

MOBILESHEETS PRO

The eReader software is MobileSheets Pro. It cost $12.99 in the Microsoft app store. It is geared for compiled books of sheet music in PDF format, matched to an index file that you create. Unfortunately, there was not a way to specify PDF filenames for a batch load, so while individual part PDFs can be managed, entering the filename and metadata is a manual process. It is more effective to compile one big PDF of all the parts, and provide an index CSV file to bulk-load the data.

Incidently, index files for most of the popular fakebooks are available as sharware in the MobileSheets user forums. Some are of varying accuracy, so be careful.

The approach I took for big band purposes was to collect all the Guitar parts for each band book into a large PDF for that band. In MobileSheets terminology, each band book can be designated as an “Album.” I prepared an index for each Album in the form of a CSV file. I play in five big bands, and occasionally the same chart appears in multiple bands, but the disk space wasted by a few duplications of a part is insignificant.

For chart number, I used MobileSheet's field “Custom.” In the app, you can rename this field to be called “Number” or whatever you wish. The MobileSheets fields named “Title,” “Composers,” and “Pages” are exactly what you expect. The Pages field can be a single page number, or a range of pages.

  • 43 — a single page
  • 45-46 — two pages
  • 48-48 — a single page

In MobileSheets, you can search on Title, Composers, or Custom (i.e., Number). You can create Setlists. You can format the MobileSheets menus, title display and so on. It has proven to be flexible and works well.

This was a BIG project, requiring collecting scans of all the parts and creating a spreadsheet of the parts with all the information for the index. Helpful apps were TinyScanner on the iPhone to capture PDFs, DropBox to transfer PDF files from the iPhone, Adobe Acrobat to prepare and assemble the parts, and LibraOffice to prepare and generate (“Save As->.csv”) CSV index files that are an input to MobileSheets.

Quick sidebar for any fellow computer geeks out there: The Python programming language has some interesting tools for processing PDFs. The pyPDF4 function library can count how many pages a part contains, watermark pages (with band book numbers), and merge parts into Albums.

Another tip is, at the gig, to preserve the computer's battery and eliminate radio noise coming out of any nearby amplifier, you can quickly disable WiFi and Bluetooth by clicking the WiFi symbol in the TaskBar, and clicking on Airplane Mode. Same idea as with iPhone (use Airplane mode).

Hope this was helpful.

Oliver Hagerman
Guitar Jazz
Cincinnati, OH, USA

Pros & Cons Summary

Here are the pros and cons gathered from various responders. There may be more than these; if you know of any, let us know.

PROS:

  • Whether for a player or the conductor, having the music on a tablet means you don't have to lug around a folder or many folders full of music. One responder said his paper-based library weighs more than 500 pounds.
  • Tablets are becoming more and more available. Many people already have them.
  • Large enough to SEE. The larger tablets display music at nearly the same size as an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
  • The light comes from inside the tablet.
  • Can hold all needed music. Even smaller capacity tablets can hold thousands of charts.
  • Digitized music means no more lost parts.
  • Battery life on most tablets is several hours.
  • No wind problems.

CONS:

  • COST. Even the least expensive tablets cost about $300, and it is easy to approach $1,000 per tablet.
  • Not Good in Bright Sun. Reading music off a tablet in bright sunlight can be a challenge.
  • Glossy Surface. The display surface is highly reflective.
  • Needs some technical proficiency.
  • Requires a Digitized Library. There are copyright issues and a substantial initial workload.
  • Vulnerable to water. A plastic zip-top bag can provide protection while retaining finger-swipe capability.

Software and Hardware Mentioned

Software Mentioned

This section lists all the various music reader software applications mentioned by group responders. If you know of other music reader software, please let us know.

Hardware Mentioned

This section lists the various tablet computers (hardware) mentioned by group responders. If you know of other tablets good for music reading, please let us know.

BE CAREFUL: a standard size sheet of music has about a 4:3 aspect ratio. Many tablets advertising as being 13" have a 16:9 aspect ratio, which means they are tall and narrow (or wide and short), and might have a screen width of barely more than 6". DO NOT buy one of these without being able to hold it in your hands and seeing if the display is large enough for you to read when you put it on a music stand.

  • SCORA — Very Large Touchscreen Displays
  • iPad Pro — 4:3 aspect ratio, large as a sheet of paper
  • Dell 17" Inspiron 2-in-1, combo computer/foldable tablet
  • Large tablets on Amazon and eBay
  • Samsung Galaxy Pro 12.2" tablets
  • RCA Galileo Pro 11.5" touchscreen tablet computer
  • Microsoft Surface Pro with Windows — a full computer, not only a tablet
  • Bluetooth foot-pedal page turners

Group Discussion (Anonymized)

Below is most (but not all) of the discussion we had on the group. The responses have been anonymized for privacy.

The Question

I have managed a big band for over 25 years and, over that time, have accumulated a library of over 500 physical charts. It’s no longer practical to lug 500 pounds of music to gigs. I’d like some sort of digital way to manage the library.

This means, I think, scanning to PDF, then obtaining some sort of reader that can be placed on a regular music stand. The reader would contain all the charts in the library and be able to access them quickly by number or title. It must be able to turn pages easily.

Does such a thing exist? I’m too old to wheelbarrow these charts from gig to gig, not to mention the storage required.

Responses

We keep our archive digitally and have the players decide whether to use a physical book or a tablet. Only 2 of us use tablets and I’m one of them. I only load my own parts onto my tablet. I also keep a band tablet with all the parts in case someone has lost a part.

The scanning to PDF was a huge project but, once done, it’s easy to keep up with new ones purchased.

I use an iPad Pro, regular 8x11 size. There are multiple options for score management. I’ve tried 3: DeepDish Gigbook, iGigbook and PiaScore. They all have plusses and minuses, but I mostly use DeepDish for big band and iGigbook for fake books because it has built-in indexes for the tunes. You can write on all 3, which is critical for personal notes.

I’ll come clean: I invested money and considerable time to make my lead sheets digital. Bought a big tablet, scanned charts, bought a foot pedal and mount. But when all was done, it was easier to use paper. I have several notebooks, but these still work best for me.

I know several other musicians who have reverted back to paper after trying to go digital.

The several bands I play in have a lot of people using tablets. They all use Android 13.3" tablets with displays very close to 8.5x11 paper. They use an app called MobileSheets. It does everything other apps do and more. If you can afford it, it will handle two 13.3" tablets like one, displaying two pages at a time. One finger or foot pedal press causes both displays to advance.

This is a very cost-effective way of going digital. If you hunt around, you can find a 13.3" tablet in the $200 range or cheaper, if you buy used.

I believe it is the way of the future.

Every method has its potential weak spots. I’ve had members of my band show up for a concert having forgotten to bring their music.

Shiny glass tablets are horrible to use in bright sunlight or bright indoor lighting. However, I love my iPad and can’t believe how much music I can carry around on it.

There are still many times I prefer paper. When I conduct my community band, I use paper scores (mainly due to the bother of scanning them into PDFs). More bother than benefit.

As a performer, though, where I might have 20 pieces in my folder, each between 1 and 3 pages, I would definitely be tempted to rely on my iPad.

My name is RM and I conduct two community bands, GCB and The Broad St. Concert Band.

As to your question about the use of tablets. Let me first say that our band(s) have totally digitized its libraries. We never lose music anymore because of the PDF files we have electronically stored. In each band there are about 10 players who use tablets to read their music. I too use two iPads for all my scores. The ForScore app on the iOS platform combined with Cue permit two-page view on two tablets simultaneously. With a Bluetooth foot pedal I don't have to even touch the screen to advance the pages.

We are in the process of determining a way to push parts to players who use tablets. My goal would be to see an all-tablet band. I know there are a lot of things to consider in getting there, but the technology has been ready. (Legalities and cost are two main concerns.)

RM

Testimonials

Here is some feedback we have gotten from users of these displays.

I have now done two full rehearsals with my iPad and Firefly foot pedal, and I LOVE it. I am using Dropbox to transfer files onto the iPad and ForScore to access them on the iPad. Once again I want to thank David B, David M, and a host of others who provided a wealth of information. A special thanks also to Don C who turned me onto the half page function in ForScore. Took a few moments to get used to using it, but now it is great.

I have had a number of people (some younger than this 74 year old) ask me how I can read the music since it is so small. Well, it is only very slightly smaller than an 8½ by 11 piece of music, and is much brighter, so I actually find it easier to read than the sheet music.

Although my iPad and the foot pedal are Bluetooth, I found that using it wired rather than Bluetooth was more reliable, and not at all inconvenient. We did a concert order rehearsal last night. Since I had moved all of my music into concert order in a set list, the only time I had to touch the iPad for 90 minutes was when I made a note on the music with my finger using the “annotate” function.

I am a believer!

Bill Perry
Communities in Concert Band, Rockdale, Texas
Brazos Valley Community Band, College Station, Texas

Electronic Music Displays (2016)

Posting by David in Mississippi, January 2016

For the entire history of the Big Band Charts Group, there has been discussion about how best to handle paper music.

We have had discussions on how best to print PDFs, how to tote the folders to and from rehearsals and gigs, how to tape paper parts, how to clean up paper parts, what are the best kinds of folders to buy and use, what kind of stand lights to use, how best to run electric cords to all the music stands, and many other discussions of this nature.

There is one solution that will take care of ALL of these discussions, with just one not quite so simple solution. Electronic Music Stands, or more accurately, storing and displaying the music for each player in a tablet computer that can sit on a music stand.

For people who have TONS of music to tote and track and repair and replace, this would be an ideal solution. With each tablet computer weighing between 2 and 3 pounds, carrying all the music for all the instruments would weigh less than 60 pounds, and could be easily packed into a single case. Better yet, have each musician be responsible for his or her own.

THE POSITIVES

SOFTWARE. There is currently excellent software available for Apple, Microsoft, and Android operating systems. This software allows you to load thousands of PDF files into the computer and find any of them almost instantly. The software allows you to organize your uploaded files into play lists or set lists so that when playing through the list, each tune comes up in the proper order after the previous one.

Additionally, this software allows the musicians to make their own annotations, such as highlighting repeats or “writing” on the music, even in color so it stands out, such as “Mike’s solo!” or circling a key change or adding a unique dynamic marking.

MEMORY CAPACITY. Even if you have a fairly small and non-expandable 32GB iPad, you can literally fit thousands of songs onto the machine. Most Android and Windows tablets have the capability to add an SD memory card for yet more storage.

NO MORE LOST MUSIC. It will be absolutely impossible for anyone to lose a part. Of course, they could lose the entire machine, but if you have your filing system set up properly, it is only a few minutes work to set up a new tablet with their entire folder.

NO MORE LIGHTING PROBLEMS. All tablet computers are lit from the inside.

ADEQUATE BATTERY LIFE. A fully charged tablet computer will easily last through even a four or five hour gig.

EASIER TO SEE! I can attest that reading music on a computer display is easier than reading it on paper.

EXPANDABLE DISPLAY. If you need a closer look at something, you can zoom in the display with an “un-pinch.”

THE NEGATIVES

COST. While you can get some Android tablets for $200 or less, you will be condemned to use smaller screens. If you are looking to outfit your entire band with tablets, you could be looking at a hit close to $20,000. The bottom line on cost is that setting up each player could cost as little as $350 or it could be more than $1,300.

SETTING UP THE BOOK. It will take a LOT of work initially to make sure you have all your music scanned, to separate all the parts by instrument, to load the required tunes onto the device and into the software, and to set up your play lists.

THE LEARNING CURVE. It will take quite a bit of learning, both for you to learn how to set it all up, and for each musician to learn how to use it.

CONCLUSION

As of today, it would seem cost-prohibitive for most big bands to make the move to electronic music displays/tablet computers.

However, it could still be done. One way would be for each musician to get his or her own. Another way would be to make sure you have your 501(c)(3) designation then apply for a grant to buy them. Another thought would be to mount a fund-raising drive and seek sponsors for the project.

Even so, I feel it is inevitable that all bands will eventually move in the direction of having electronic music displays instead of paper music. It just makes too much sense to do so, when you can afford it.