magazine.icareifyoulisten.com: At the start of a recent concert in Seattle, pianist Christopher O’Riley strode onto stage with an unusual accessory tucked under his arm. Rather than the typical book of sheet music, O’Riley carried an Apple iPad, which he handily placed on the music rack. A pair of electronic pedals on the floor interfaced wirelessly with a musical score app on the iPad, enabling O’Riley to electronically flip through the music during his performance.
10 comments:
This is a great idea and it will definitely make playing in concerts a lot easier for performers. I played percussion in band when I was younger and I did not have trouble turning pages in my music because I had more breaks in my music, but I know a lot of other people had difficulty. In long concerts or a score for a musical there is usually long pieces being played with few breaks. It is very difficult to turn a page in your music while both hands are on your instrument. It is much easier to just tap an iPad or swipe to turn a page. Having foot pedals is an amazing idea because it does not require your hands at all. It definitely would take some time to get used to because it needs to be perfectly in time with the music so you do not miss a note and it could mess up your rhythm. I think it is worth practicing and learning how to use because in the long run it will be a huge help.
This is one of those things you scroll past and say, "Oh, how cool! Technology really is something." But I have to tell you, as a recent graduate of an iPad Initiative school, it is not all it's cracked up to be- in fact, I'd argue it's regressive from paper. We did, in fact, have a few students who decided to keep sheet music on their iPads for concerts and things, and more often than not this would cause problems that did not exist before we had the iPads. It was always something: "I need more battery," "I hit the wrong side and went to the wrong page," "HELP MY IPAD JUST RESTARTED AND I CAN'T GET MY MUSIC TO OPEN." And my usual response to these problems (in my head) was, "So? You could have printed the damn thing out." It was quite frustrating. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. You know what app is never going to let you down? A good old musical score, printed on good old fashioned paper. Crazy, right? I know.
I am totally for integrating iPads in theatrical and entertainment industry practices. During this past playground week I worked on a piece that was a thirty minute rave in the Wells video studio. The piece was modeled after Feurza Bruta and Sleep No More where there is no clear stage, so the actors are interacting with the audience in addition to their blocking. Basically people are always moving. The piece had ten principle dancers, 4 actors that would make sure that the dancers had enough space by moving the audience. I was the production stage manager for the piece. I need to call cues for sound, media, lights, as wells communicate with my assistant who was supervising things on the floor. Due to the short amount of tech time and the whole process of playground I knew everything was going to keep changing up until the second the house closed. By calling the show from my iPad it was super easy to make updates and scroll through my cue sheet. I would highly recommend iPads for everyone!
Here we are, at the intersection of technology, the arts, and plausibility. The arts are great. Technology is great. So why do the two often have some sort of barrier during execution. I think it’s something that as a generation of students that grew up with technology that we should be investigating. There are a few observations I would like to make that this article raises. First, it is great that the disassociation with art and the development of apps and mobile technology is fading. There are people in both fields that want to bridge the gap. Secondly, take the example of what Tomé was able to do with choreography, technology, and “The Wiz”. I heard mixed thoughts on this however the fact that we are attempting these things is right because we are students we should experiment, failing, and learning. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to study this technology that is becoming available and we should be testing to see if we would be willing to use it in the real world.
I remember back a few years ago that some company had developed a mechanism that would turn pages for musicians with the same kind of foot pedal and set up, but it of course included wires and had these weird arm things to turn the physical pages. But it’s great to see technology stepping into musical traditions like this, because it really is something that could use a jumpstart in advancements. I also really like the fact that music scores can be imported into these programs because musicians constantly have to be making notes in their scores about changes made during rehearsals or reminders that the conductor might not be able to cue every time. As usual, any advancement comes with concerns and the main one that comes to mind in this topic is battery life of these tablets because some orchestra movements are so long and oftentimes traditional performance halls don’t have a copious amount or supply of power sources.
This is such a simple idea and at the same time, genius. With the growing integration of technology in replacement of paper- whether that is having online documents to fill out for applications instead of physical ones, using a Kindle or iPad to read books, online resources like Google Docs making it easier to share and edit a document- it’s no wonder that sheet music is the next to go. I both agree and disagree with Kat though- you never know when technology is going to fail you when you need it most, however, I find that having to always know where a printed copy of something is- say my ticket for a flight home- gives me an undue amount of stress. No matter how many times I check to make sure that, yes, I did fold the ticket and put it in my wallet, I always, always worry that somehow it has disappeared. That’s why I love that airlines are starting to allow you to have your ticket on your phone and to scan your phone as you go through security and on the plane. I’m not going to loose or forget my phone because I use it all the time and it’s an easy check to feel my pocket and make sure it is there.
Page turning for is very annoying indeed, and having to follow alongside someone else who is playing is also a hard feat. When I was in orchestras, I would always hate when a piece was more than four pages, because that would mean I would need to make it into a booklet to turn the pages. (I had a very large stand so that I could avoid turning pages.) It is especially hard when playing the violin because both hands are being used at all times and so you have to miss a note when you turn your own page. When playing the piano, it is also hard, but can be slightly easier. I often will play the notes I would potentially miss an octave lower so that I still hit them even though it is wrong. But that’s where artistic license comes into play! Although page turning is such a hassle, I hate reading from screens more than turning pages. I personally prefer paper because I like to write notes on my music and I hate back-lit screens as they hurt my eyes. Although I have the personal preferences of an old lady, this is a really cool app and I hope it evolves more so that notes can be written on the music too.
This app seems like a really cool idea, and it was something that I was thinking about just over spring break. I shadowed someone mixing a musical, and they had to keep turning pages of their binder while also mixing the show. There were parts that he would actually do from memory instead of turning pages because there was no time to turn them. I think these sorts of innovations are going to very useful, but I wouldn’t trust them just yet. I’d worry about them crashing or other dying. Something that might be cool is if everyone in an orchestra had monitors set up in front of them and they were all seeing the same music that was being turned and controlled automatically by either the conductor or a manager. Of course, that brings with it its own set of problems, like some musicians wanting to be able to flip around freely. It’s not as good as a solution as the iPad in that sense, but I think that if those types of issues were worked out it could be a much more reliable way to have sheet music turn on its own. Also, there’s still the issue of the backlight, which could be super distracting for both the musicians and the audience. I know I’d have trouble focusing on a concert if there was a weird blue glow on everybody’s face the entire time.
These apps are a great idea. I have not played an instrument since the beginning of high school, but I do remember what a pain it was to have to take the time to disengage your hand from your instrument to turn the page while constantly keeping up with your place in the music and your band mates. It was especially hard for me because I lack that level of coordination. I thought it was great that coordination, as it pertains to these new apps, was brought up by the article. While it is hard to turn sheet music the traditional way once you have learned it becomes another part of playing your instrument properly. Changing the system you have built, even if it is for something supposedly easier, would be a challenge for even the most dexterous of people. I do hope that all of these products turn out to be helpful to the musicians using them.
Though I will frequently bemoan the loss of old ways and classic methods, I think this is such a valuable and precise use of technology. This ultimately will simplify the process of page turning, and allow the audience's focus to remain - uninterrupted - on the performance. Too often, I have been watching a musical performance and have been jarred pages fly from a stand and hit the floor. An, as is often the case of amateur musical performances, dropping a page not only disrupts the audience but often also the performance itself. This allows the perfect coordination of page turn and playing, putting the performer in absolute control instead of compromised, pseudo-control.
Though there is a poetic elegance to the attentive page turner, I think this advancement is for the best. Outdoor concerts can carry on, unhampered by windblown scores. And middle school bands (and the incredibly tech-adept kids who perform in them) can no longer be derailed by a dropped page.
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