Song storage

[B381]

I know, most of you will say memory, but for the others...what do you use to store your sheet music?

I have mine two ways, printed papers in a the ring binder and using my kindle 8" and storing on the Amazon cloud.

Thinking about ordering a 10" kindle just so I can see things easier, my eyes are growing into middle age, lol, I had a 7" , now 8...you see where this is going?

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Ideas?

[Sherry Cadenhead]

I like paper so I can make notes, such as count!, rhythm, high/low finger, tremolo, etc. Maybe one of these days I won't need this.

[JeffD]

I have several/many/a lot of three ring binders of music copied over the years from tune books, saved hand written notation of tunes I learned by ear, pages printed from on line sources, etc., lining my shelves. I started when paper was the only choice and I have continued with paper because I am used to it.

So imagine - I have a seven foot tall seven shelf book shelf, almost three shelves devoted to these three ring binders, and the rest of the third shelf with manila folders and piles with loose sheets. I have three more shelves of published tune books, and an ever growing collection of mandolin methods and exercises. And another shelf of paperback and hardcover books of tunes.

And that doesn't count what is stacked on the floor in front of the bookshelf, sits on my many music stands.

When organized and picked up, it doesn't look extreme, but when I describe it I have to admit to some embarrassment. A bit like having 14 cats I suppose.

[JeffD]

One should not conclude from this that I have a bad memory for tunes. Quite the opposite. One time, to win a bet, I played as long as I could one tune after another, three times through each, entirely from memory no repeated tunes, with less than a few seconds hesitation between tunes. I went four hours, and only stopped to use the bathroom. Seems more impressive to non musicians. I think many of us can do this and maybe haven't tried.

Actually try it and see how far you can go. Its a heck of a lot longer than you think and kind of enlightening. It certainly is not a musical feat, its more like reciting all the phone numbers you can think of.

[Louise NM]

Definitely a paper person. As Sherry said, markings are important! I also spend 40 hours a week staring at a computer monitor at work, and find paper easier on the eyes when I get home.

I finally went through and organized the stacks in my house. Various household members, current and past, have played violin, viola, cello, bass, and dabbled in winds and guitar. There were method books and etudes, orchestral and chamber music parts, and solo repertoire. Commercially printed music is too big for a standard filing cabinet. I found a metal unit with 10 drawers at an office supply, and got most of it sorted into there. The Vade-Mecum of the Oboist doesn't fit.

As for the stuff that gets used regularly, I have a separate folder for each orchestra I play in. One group, where all the repertoire is printed out on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, I just use one of those plastic pouches with the velcro closures. The mandolin music is piling up, stacked in the room where I usually practice. (I'm usually just playing the mandolin at home right now.)

If you go out to play, it's important to have what you will need together, easy to grab on the fly so you don't get to the bar gig with music for church, or to church with the sheets for the bluegrass jam.

I have seen people set up with iPads and a foot pedal to turn pages. I guess there are ways to put in markings, and there are even music stands available to hold a tablet. I would worry about an untimely low battery, or a crash that would destroy my entire library. Cloud storage would lessen the risk of permanent loss, I guess, but I'm sticking with paper for now.

[dhbailey]

I buy some on paper and some as PDF files. I use an iPad Pro, the large version, so it's easy to read the music. I use the ForScore app and currently have over 6000 pieces of music, including over 450 full orchestra scores, trumpet parts for over 450 orchestral works, a large number of fake books, a ton of mandolin/fiddle music. When I buy paper music books, I scan them so I can carry them around with me wherever I go. When I perform it's a 50/50 tossup whether I'll use paper or my iPad. For the concert band I conduct I only use paper. For a music camp orchestra I conduct I only use the iPad. For my personal practice, when I'm home I use mostly paper and when I travel I use mostly iPad. When I play duets with my wife we mostly use paper.

I am on my 3rd iPad (had an original, then an iPad4 and jumped at the newer larger iPad Pro when it was released) and am constantly amazed at how large the music library is that I can carry around with me and be able to use when desired.

I've never had an iPad crash but I don't trust cloud storage at all, since one can never be certain of being in range of fast internet hookup.

Regarding markings, ForScore has a great method to put in markings, either hand scribbles, neat text with clear fonts, musical symbols (add a flat, add a fermata, whatever) and it also has two different ways to make working with repeats easier. The first way is to add markers so that one sort of marker is where you jump *from* and the other marker is where you jump *to* so all one has to do is to tap the marker to jump from and it will take you to wherever you defined the other marker as the target. You can set them up to go back or forward -- takes time to set up but once it's set up it stays in place with no need to flip pages back and forth. The second way allows the user to define the page layout for a piece (or a book), making copies of current pages and then placing them where you want. So if a piece of music has you play pages 1, 2, 3, then repeat back to page 1, 2, 3, again, you can have the program duplicate pages 1, 2, 3 and place the copies after the original page 3, so the file now has pages 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 4. Takes less time to do it than to describe it. That way you simply keep turning the pages forward and the song form flows like it's supposed to.

Any method, paper or electronic has its good and its bad points. With paper we're limited to how much we can travel with, so we need to plan in advance which music to bring with us. If we're performing while on the road, that makes it harder to fill requests or to change the programming as the mood fits. With electronics we need to either have a source of electricity to plug into or make certain our devices are charged up before we start playing. And with electronics there's always the potential for glare making it harder to read the screen, whether from overhead electric lighting or from the sun if playing outdoors.

[maudlin mandolin]

I find a 10" tablet is fine for notation but tab is too small to read easily. I think Samsung do a 12" tablet, but it is a bit pricey.

[trabb]

I store all of mine as PDF files on my tablet. I read and edit them using mobile sheets pro. What I love about it is that I can easily mark up a song but then erase some or all of the markings if we arrange the song differently the next time or if I play it worth different people. For someone who plays primarily in church settings often enough that memorizing songs is impracticak, it works well. It's also nice to have the entire repertoire available at any time for when we need to add/change a song at the last minute.

Fiddle tunes and the like that I play at home just for my own enjoyment get memorized.

[Trav'linmando]

I am a paper person (as well as books). Currently I have 2 binders 1.5 inches thick. I sorta have fiddle tunes in the red one and all else in the blue. Different versions of tunes are grouped together. Thus, I can find ,for example, 5 versions of Soldiers Joy in the same area. In my truck, a fairly crowded Peterbilt the binders work well. By placing the binder on the steering wheel I have the tune at eye level.

I'm not a techophobe by any means. Earned a Computer Science degree in 82. Just believe in moderation in most cases.

[Dave Martin]

I use both, and use Mobile Sheets Android and Windows app for digital. I have also put pdf of instructional and reference music into the app, and it is quite handy. (Also computer science in 82 -- Hollerith cards and character cell terminals, assembly language, etc. My how things have changed.)

[JeffD]

The problem of travel.

Well for the most part I travel for jams, and there I don't need the music. For concerts and rehearsals and such I bring paper.

In a pinch I guess I could take pictures with my iPhone of the sheets and pages I might need.

[allenhopkins]

I have a huge file drawer with alphabetized copies of different songs -- sometimes the standard notation plus words, sometimes just the words. I also have a shelf of reference books, different collections from Sandburg's American Songbag to several volumes of Reprints from Sing Out!

And now I do all my looking up on YouTube. Go figure.

[Brian Harris]

Collaboration among Several People: Digital, saved to shared drive. Everyone is always up-to-date and on the same sheet of music... literally!

Individual-Only Use: Paper

I use both equally. Songbook Chordpro is the platform we use with editing done in Notepad++

[Br1ck]

I'm at the point where I can't take all my binders with me when I want to. I just want to have the lyrics with the chord notation above. I have everything on my computer (Mac mini)in Word. A friend has just converted, but his app needs pdf and he says it's a pain to do. I use an iPad mini for general use now but realize I need a bigger screen, so I'm starting from scratch. I just need to port word format.

I'll never use notation or tab, just the lyric and chord notation, and the ability to get word documents from my computer. Suggestions?

[mandroid]

File Cabinets, & 3 ring binders , plastic page protectors ..



OP wanted a tablet recc, .. there are some made for musicians, with a foot pedal to turn 'pages' for you.




...

[Louise NM]

For those of you using tablets, what age group are you all in? I'm wondering if the vision changes that start between 40 and 50 affect people's preferences.