What does a wind or brass player need from a music stand?
Flute, clarinet, saxophone and trumpet all take both hands. Even a trumpet player's free hand is holding the horn. A page turn means a bar where you do not play, and in a part with few rests there may be none.
Winds also play in rooms where a tablet is awkward: a band room with a stand rack, a pit, a church loft. The stand has to be low-fuss. You want it to hold the page, not to ask for attention.
Parts are long single lines, so one turn that lands in a rest is a gift and one that lands in a phrase is a mistake.
How does SheetScroll turn pages for winds and brass?
SheetScroll follows woodwinds and brass by ear, and it moves only when you do. It turns two beats before the end of the page, as your eyes reach for the next line. A fermata, a long breath or a stop makes it wait. It does not scroll at a set speed.
- Your parts as printed: open a PDF or photograph a paper part. SheetScroll shows it exactly as it looks on paper.
- Never early: if two phrases sound alike, it holds the page and outlines the places it is choosing between. Keep playing and it settles, or tap the bar you are on.
- Repeats and jumps: repeat signs, endings, D.S. and coda are followed.
- Back with you: restart a passage and it finds you again.
Sound is analyzed as it arrives. It is never recorded, stored or sent.
How should winds and brass set up their stand?
- Distance: bells and reeds are loud and close. Put the device on the stand, not on a chair beside you, and test it once at full volume.
- Pedals: a Bluetooth page-turn pedal frees a standing player's foot. It works alongside listening, and a press always wins.
- Page size: a tablet shows a full page best. A phone works in line-by-line or half-page view for a quick look.
- Light: a stand with a lamp, a pit or a stage light usually helps more than a brighter screen.
- Markings: write in breath marks, cuts and dynamics with the pencil. They stay with their bars in every view.
Is there a free course for my instrument?
Yes: free flute, clarinet, saxophone and trumpet courses are built in. They teach with public-domain pieces in teaching order, from the first notes. The pieces listen and turn without Pro.
The courses are a quick way to hear how the page turns before you use it on your own parts. See learn flute, clarinet, saxophone or trumpet.
What is free for winds and brass, and what is Pro?
Free forever: the complete reader, every format and view, annotations, setlists, pedal or tap turns and the courses. Pro adds listening to your own parts and automatic turns. The yearly plan is $29.99 with the first 2 weeks free; monthly is $5.99, and a lifetime purchase is $79.99.
Questions
Does SheetScroll work with a flute or a clarinet?
It follows woodwinds, brass, strings, piano, voice and guitar through the microphone.
Will it turn while I'm holding a long note?
It follows where you are in the music, not the clock, so a held note does not make it run ahead. It turns two beats before the end of the page.
Can I use a foot pedal as well?
Yes. Pair a Bluetooth page-turn pedal. It works alongside listening, and a press tells SheetScroll where you are.
Do I need Wi-Fi in the band room?
No. Reading and listening run on the device, in airplane mode too.
Can I read parts from my band's library?
Yes, if they are PDFs, or photos or scans of paper. SheetScroll opens them as printed.
Related
- String playersA sheet music app that turns the page while you bow. It listens to strings, never turns early and shows your PDF parts as printed. Free reader.
- Performers and accompanistsA page turner that is never early, with half-page turns, nothing over the music, a pedal and a swipe, and no network needed. Free reader.
- BandsPlay together: one device listens and every band member's pages turn with it over Wi-Fi. Setlists, chord charts in any key and Nashville numbers.
- StudentsFree courses, free sheet music, loops, hands-separately practice and tempo history. A sheet music app for students that listens and turns the page.
- FluteFourteen free, public-domain flute pieces in teaching order, from the left-hand notes B, A and G to a whole minuet. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- ClarinetFifteen free, public-domain clarinet pieces in teaching order, from three low notes to a minuet across the break. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- Alto saxophoneFifteen free, public-domain alto saxophone pieces in teaching order, from B, A and G to Grieg and a whole minuet. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- TrumpetFourteen free, public-domain trumpet pieces in teaching order, from E, D and C to Handel. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- Transposing instrumentsWhat concert pitch is, why clarinets, trumpets, saxophones and horns are transposing instruments, and how to convert a part, with a table of intervals.
- Automatic page turnersEvery way to turn sheet music pages hands-free, from pedals to apps that listen, with the pros and cons of each and how a listening page turner decides.
- Bluetooth page turn pedalsHow a Bluetooth page-turn pedal works, how to pair it with iPad, Android, Windows or Mac, which mode to pick, and notes on AirTurn, PageFlip and Donner.
- Page turning appsSheet music apps that turn pages by listening (SheetScroll, Newzik, Smartleggio) or by face and eye gestures (forScore, MobileSheets, SightTune).