harpcolumn

iPad for harpists

Log in to your Harp Column account to post or reply in the forums. If you don’t have an account yet, you’ll need to email us to set one up.

Home Forums Harps and Accessories iPad for harpists

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #69733
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    For those of you who’ve asked me for more information about the iPad as a gig book, I’ve been blogging about it recently. First post is here:

    http://barbarabrundage.com/2011/02/02/the-ipad-for-acoustic-musicians/

    I hope that answers some of the questions. If not, just let me know.

    #69734
    priscilla-kleiner
    Participant

    Thank you for the info! I recently got my first harp (Blevins Consort) and even more recently got an IPAD. I don’t know that I will ever “gig”, but this info is very useful even to a newbie.

    Thanks!

    Priscilla

    #69735
    catherine-rogers
    Participant

    Your blog is fascinating; I’ve read it twice and can’t wait for the next installment! It was helpful to know you feel the iPad gives enough light for the strings as that’s something I really need.

    I saw the little blue bag you now use; do you keep a set up strings in there? That’s something that takes up a certain amount of space in my music bag but I couldn’t be comfortable going to work without them. (I leave the wires in the car but the guts and nylons are with me.) What else do you carry with you that the iPad can’t substitute for? I’m wondering just how much I could pare down; I have nail clippers and bandaids and screwdriver, etc.

    #69736
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    No, there isn’t room in there for strings. That’s one advantage to gigging mostly on a lever harp–the case has a string pocket so I don’t have to worry about a string bag. The main other thing I can’t fit is the cable for connecting the pickup to the amp. (Even in my pedal harp days I left tools in the car, since they’re a just-in-case, and if you need them there’s going to be a pause anyway.) Oh, and the foot pedal for page turning. It would fit, but not with all the other stuff that lives in there. The clutch is pretty tight. I’d like it a lot better if the zipper had even half an inch more selvage, but I’ve adapted.

    It’s too bad transport covers don’t have a pocket, really. I’ve often wondered why they don’t, although I see that the covers that Enchanted Harp sells do include one for their pedal covers, too.

    #69737
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Barbara, thank you for sharing all of your experience.

    #69738
    Elizabeth Kelly
    Participant

    Your posts were so helpful! Thanks for sharing. I’m curious–is there any way to convert printed music to the iPad? (Can you scan them into a computer and then transfer them over?) Or can you only purchase pieces through the apps?

    #69739
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Hi, Rachel. Thanks for asking. Well, yes and no. I’m not doing any new stuff as other than download, but not because of the ipad, just because it’s becoming too difficult to get decent stock and a halfway decent print job these days. For now, the stuff that’s published on paper will continue to be available that way, but I did publish five new pieces last year that are only available by download.

    After all, if you have the pdf you can print it out, too. You don’t have to have an ipad to use it.

    #69740
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Hi, Elizabeth. Yes, you can just scan the pages and make PDFs out of them, although I suppose there may be legal issues with doing so. (Any of my classical stuff, feel free.) My cheapie canon scanner, for example, comes with a utility that will let you scan the pages and then it combines them into one pdf when you’re done. The forScore help files have suggestions for good settings to use when scanning for iPad.

    It’s much better to have a properly made pdf, though. You know how fuzzy a scanned pdf can be? If the PDf is properly made from finale in the first place it’s going to be a lot cleaner looking. I’ve actually found that for some of the music I have (a lot of unpublished stuff that I did in MusicTime back before I got finale so I can’t open the originals anymore), I preferred to go to the trouble of using Finale’s Smartscore (a sort of OCR program for music), making the corrections, and then being able to have the layout optimized for the iPad. I like much bigger noteheads on the iPad than I would want in print, for instance.

    #69741
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Catherine, I posted pictures of the clutch on the stand and of the inside and a complete list of what goes in mine:

    http://barbarabrundage.com/?p=511

    #69742
    catherine-rogers
    Participant

    Barbara, have you heard anything about when the iPad 3 will be available and how it will differ from the iPad2?

    #69743
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Oh, I’ve heard lots of things, but it’s all rumors at this point, so you can make up whatever you like and it’s as likely to be true as they are. 🙂

    At the moment the consensus seems to be early 2012 for the ipad 3, but who knows?

    #69744

    Barbara, I sewed a standard pillow case, open side up, inside one side of my blue L+H harp transport cover

    #69745
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Thanks, Patricia. Very clever of you.

    Incidentally, since this thread has gotten a bump, it seems like the Happy Owl people just can’t get their act together. They’re just announcing the ipad 2 version of the clutch, so maybe it will ship about the time the ipad 3 appears. Pity, because it’s such a great concept.

    #69746
    barbara-low
    Participant

    Thanks for your write-up. I found it very helpful.

    I’ve started using my iPad too. Was using iBooks for one page pieces, but found the difference in clarity and ability to see in low light situations so much better than using paper that I bit the bullet and purchased forScore and the AirTurn. Learning to use them now.

    Barbara, have you ever used forScore to write “guitar” chords above the melody line? I tried “typing” it in, but ended up scanning the piece in again with chords already written in.

    There’s also been some praise for the unrealBook app so I purchased that, but PDF’s have to be downloaded from iTunes so I haven’t played with it yet. Heard anything about it?

    #69747
    barbara-brundage
    Participant

    Yes, I have unrealbook, too. Personally I just find the way forScore is set up works much better for me, but unrealbook has its fans, too.

    I don’t really use the notations features in forScore that much. I have trouble getting things positioned exactly where I want them, but if you want to try I would consider creating stamps for the chords you use most often, or get a stylus and just write them in. It does take a lot of practice to write legibly with a capacitive stylus, though.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.