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Suggestions/experiences with computer based setups?



 
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khedger
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 11:53 am    Post subject: Suggestions/experiences with computer based setups? Reply with quote

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, I wasn't exactly sure where to post this one, but here goes.

I'm getting older and my eyes are going. I simply CANNOT figure a way to get the proper angle/magnification to be able to read anymore. I keep telling the eye doctor this and he keeps telling me my glasses prescription is correct

Anyway, what I do to practice is try to get electronic (usually PDF) versions of practice materials so that I can zoom them and actually see what I'm trying to read. I've been doing this on my iMac, but I need something portable.

I own an original iPad (I know, but hey, money's tight). It works fine. It seems like several people here use a pad based setup for their practice including jazz stuff like real book material and Aebersold material.

So, can some of you describe/recommend apps and configurations that I might consider for my iPad to help set up a practice environment?

Thanks.

keith
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beagle
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My solution to this problem has been to learn everything well enough so that I don't need the music. Having the music on the stand is a crutch that you should be able to do without. It's hard work at first but gets easier with each tune. It's also less to cart around and doesn't cost anything.

Did you ever see a music stand on any video of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, etc?

Rob
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benlewis
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Keith,

I'm in your boat; eyesight is bad to begin with and now I have vision loss due to pigmentary glaucoma. Fortunately, it's under control, but the damage is done..

I have a great opthamologist that takes the time to work with me on this; after my normal exam, we spend another 15-25 minutes working with a stand and music at a compromise distance. I now have a set of single refractive lenses specifically for music reading.

I also use an iPad Pro and Forscore. With careful croping, the image is equal to US Letter size, but the backlighting and lack of shadows or hotspots make the music so much easier to read. Also, if you're really in a pinch, turn it landscape and it's even bigger; you just need to turn pages more often and you lose the half-page feature.

It can get monotonous scanning music, but if it extends my performing life, it's worth it.

I guess if you didn't mind the schlep, you could get a 24" HDMI monitor and mirror-display it with your original iPad; that should be plenty big enough...

HTH

Ben
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BeboppinFool
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 2:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know about anybody else, but if I practice only things I have memorized (and hence don't need to read), I'm not really practicing. I'm reciting.

So, Keith, I hear you, man, and I can relate. My 62-year-old eyes are definitely not what they used to be, and I am glad to be able to use my iPad for reading PDFs.

I do still have all my books and prefer to read those under really good lighting. You ought to see all the lights in my practice studio. It's bright enough to be an interrogation room.

I remember reading once that much of the difficulties in reading as we get older is because our eyes require more light to distinguish what we are looking at, so using my old-fashioned hard-copy books with good lighting seems to work pretty well.

Anyway, I hope this helps.


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khedger
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the answers so far. For those of you who might answer this further, I'm also interested in the software apps that people are using any references to practice aids (forescore, irealbook, et al???) would be appreciated.
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Don Herman rev2
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My wife has special glasses for playing (piano/organ). For me, for now, my contacts plus mild reading glasses allow me to see the music clearly and keep an eye on the conductor. We are lucky that our eye doctor understands the issues of musicians and works with them to make sure they can see at "music distance", which is neither far away nor reading distance (really close). Bring in some music and sit with your doctor so s/he understands your needs and it will probably help a great deal. The prescription that is "right" fr everything else is probably not right for reading music.

HTH - Don
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cheiden
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 5:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used forScore once with an iPad Mini and it was perfectly usable. I would think in your position you might be able to use the original iPad in landscape mode. It doubles the number of page turns but that's surprisingly easy to manage.

Regarding your optometrist, I'm told you really need to take a music stand and horn along with an appropriate stand light so they can really dial in the prescription.
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Last edited by cheiden on Sun May 27, 2018 2:33 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Speed
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PostPosted: Fri May 25, 2018 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wear progressive bifocals, except when playing the trumpet while using a music stand. The problem with those glasses was that the music stand was outside the range of the lower part of the bifocals, i.e., the part of the bifocals that allow me to read a book.

The upper (long distance) part of the lenses allowed me to see the music on the stand, but it forced me to point my trumpet at the music stand, rather than above it where it needed to be.

To hold the trumpet at the angle I needed to for projection, I had to look downward a bit to read the music. With my eyes at that angle, I was looking through the "close up" range of the bifocals, but the prescription was such that the music was blurred unless I got WAY too close to the music stand.

I went to a glasses shop and we followed a trial and error routine, trying different lenses until we found a pair that allow me to hold the trumpet at the appropriate angle, but look down at the music and be able to read it clearly.

With my "music" glasses, I saw no reason to make them bifocals. They focus on the music stand and pretty much nothing else. The audience is a blur, and I could not read the label on a bottle of valve oil holding it in my hand, but by George I can read what's on the music stand!

I had the glasses shop put those lenses in some inexpensive frames and I was good to go. They've worked perfectly.
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beagle
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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 11:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BeboppinFool wrote:
I don't know about anybody else, but if I practice only things I have memorized (and hence don't need to read), I'm not really practicing. I'm reciting.


Hi Rich,

Not sure if that comment was directed at my response, but to clarify, I also learn nearly all of what I need to perform by transcribing rather than reading so this is equivalent to reading (actually I think it is much better!). Memorization comes naturally as a by-product of the transcription process. By the time I can play a song, I also have it memorized.

This is something suggested in a masterclass I went to years ago, and I didn't really get it at the time. At some point I decided to give it a try and it has freed me from the real book. Nowadays I often transcribe all the other parts too so that I get a full arrangement.

Yes, I do read studies and etudes etc (including those from your books - I am a satisfied customer!), but only in the practice room and not while performing. Here I can take more time and take advantage of better lighting and magnification.

Rob
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BeboppinFool
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PostPosted: Sat May 26, 2018 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

beagle wrote:
BeboppinFool wrote:
I don't know about anybody else, but if I practice only things I have memorized (and hence don't need to read), I'm not really practicing. I'm reciting.


Hi Rich,

Not sure if that comment was directed at my response, but to clarify, I also learn nearly all of what I need to perform by transcribing rather than reading so this is equivalent to reading (actually I think it is much better!). Memorization comes naturally as a by-product of the transcription process. By the time I can play a song, I also have it memorized.

This is something suggested in a masterclass I went to years ago, and I didn't really get it at the time. At some point I decided to give it a try and it has freed me from the real book. Nowadays I often transcribe all the other parts too so that I get a full arrangement.

Yes, I do read studies and etudes etc (including those from your books - I am a satisfied customer!), but only in the practice room and not while performing. Here I can take more time and take advantage of better lighting and magnification.

Rob


Hey, Rob,

Yes, I saw the word "practice" four times in Keith's original post, and I was focusing on the practice room environment. When I'm practicing I'm usually reading stuff that pushes the limits of my ability rather than coasting and playing stuff I've played millions of times.

Just distinguishing the difference between practicing something and doing a recitation of something else, that's all.
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cheiden
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PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2018 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

beagle wrote:
My solution to this problem has been to learn everything well enough so that I don't need the music. Having the music on the stand is a crutch that you should be able to do without. It's hard work at first but gets easier with each tune. It's also less to cart around and doesn't cost anything.

Did you ever see a music stand on any video of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, etc?

Rob

I think there's great utility in memorizing performance material and that a very useful habit to develop. But I've there's also tremendous value in learning to read really really well. I've done an awful lot of gigs where there was exactly one rehearsal. Then there was that time I had to sightread West Side Story in front of a paying audience.
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Jerry
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PostPosted: Sun May 27, 2018 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cheiden wrote:
....Regarding you optometrist, I'm told you really need to take a music stand and horn along with an appropriate stand light so they can really dial in the prescription.

That's exactly what I did, and the optometrist made a separate pair of glasses for seeing perfectly at 33inches. These glasses live in my trumpet case.
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