Digital flute music... is it the end of print???

[christielea]

Hey guys,

I know that heaps of conversations on FB flute groups and forums have been on the topic of how to organise your sheet music. It seems like so many players are drowning in a way to easily catalogue, safely store and then re-find the music that they want, quickly...There's lots of great suggestions but once your collection gets TOO BIG and TOO DISORGANISED, it sounds pretty painful to scan to pdf or index by hand...

I've done a quick review on four online digital sheet music providers and compared some KEY CRITERIA for each. It seems like a new age has dawned and I can see so many advantages of buying, storing and accessing your music this way.

Find my review using the link below, and I'd love to hear what you think... Digital music... Do you use it and love it or are you a lover of print?!
https://www.theflutecoach.com/digital-f ... eet-music/

[malc]

Both are O.K .Having digital stuff to hand either on a laptop or stick means that where ever you are you can access your faves .There is nothing better than sitting in your special comfy chair with a score on the stand , a cup of coffee on the mahogany hand carved table , and warm slippers .Lovely !

[pied_piper]

I also see a need for both.

Storing and cataloging printed music is easy. Buy a filing cabinet and manila folders or envelopes. Place said printed music in a folder or envelope, write the title and composer on the outside, and place it in the file cabinet in alphabetic order. Easy, peasy. Libraries have been doing something similar since the advent of printed text and the Gutenburg bible.

For digital cataloging, create a folder where you can store your scores. Copy the files there. If desired also create a spreadsheet and enter the name, composer, instrument(s), grade (if desired), and any other information/comments you want. The spreadsheet can be sorted on title, composer, or any other column. Again, it's not rocket science...

Digital is great when you need immediate delivery rather than waiting days for it to be shipped and arrive. However, once I receive it I print a hard copy to file away. The biggest drawback to digital scores/music/photos is people. People don't backup their files. One of these days, when least expected, everyone will have a hard disk failure and without a good, reliable backup, all your digital scores/music/photos are toast... If you are lucky, you might be able to pay $500-$1000 to have a recovery service get most of your files off of a dead drive, but you probably won't get back 100%.

[SylvreKat]

I seem to prefer printed still.

Having written that, my iPad is indispensable for playing the piano parts for the Civic Jazz. There are several songs that are 8-10 pages (that's 2-3 for the rest of the band, fyi). Even with two stands, there wasn't enough real estate to hold all that. And since many of our gigs are outdoor events, it just wasn't working--move the plexiglass, remove the first 4 pages, replace the plexi, and figure out where everyone now is having spent several measures doing all that. As opposed to tap the Firefly pedal and turn the page. Otterbox-strap it to a stand, and there's even no fear should the wind blow it over. A total God-send.

And having written THAT, I still prefer print for everything else. I've arranged songs for my flute quartet, but use the printed versions rather than my own pdf on the iPad. Could be 'cause I started on print and am now just old enough to dislike that change. Or could be it's just bigger and easier for me.

And my filing system is, there's a pile of my currently-preferred books where I practice, and the rest are tucked away upstairs with the piano music. With The Rose & the Nightingale for the treble on the top as that's hopefully next up at church after this Sunday's Jesu Jesu.

>'Kat

[Chris Carr]

Space is at way too much of a premium for physical sheets here in Hawaii. Also, humidity can be really hard on physical sheet music. I am down to two small bins of sheet music and exercises that I rarely use. Most of that is piano stuff. If I need sheets, I'll either read it off of a screen, or print a disposable hard copy if I can't memorize it quickly.

[christielea]

Excellent point about backing up digital files. I can imagine the utter devastation to find your 100% 'safe' files suddenly gone. I'm absolutely guilty of not backing up!!!!

[thirdnote]

Not the end, just another option.

When MIDI keyboards came out, they thought it was the end of pianos.

Pianos are still as popular as ever.

Technology just helps give you more options in the music world.

Even real sound samples today (Used by Synths / Midi controllers) are recorded from real pianos.