V.com weekend vote: Do you use a tablet for sheet music?
After my adventure last week, ditching my sheet music for an iPad to perform in an orchestra concert, I thought the topic would make for a good vote!
Me with my stand partner Paul Henning, who convinced me to try using the iPad for a Long Beach Symphony Orchestra concert. It was fun!
Do you use a tablet (iPad) at all for sheet music? And if so, do you perform using a tablet? Do you use a tablet just to perform solos or chamber music? Has anyone been in a full orchestra in which the entire orchestra is using tablets? Please participate in the vote, and then share your thoughts about tablet usage in general, and specifically for orchestra or other performances. Those with more experience with using the tablets, tell us how it's going and what are the new practices evolving with this technology?
Replies
I've used an iPad for years now to the point where if I have to use physical parts I really don't like it. That usually only happens if I'm sitting inside for a concert and my stand partner doesn't use an iPad themselves.
I have a monochrome laser printer on which I print everything I can from IMSLP so that I can write on it as much as I want. I often laminate stuff I want to keep.
I started using an iPad during Covid when my network of chamber players were playing from home using Jamkazam. Now I use it for practice and I use it for orchestra rehearsals and concerts. My orchestra allows us to have our own stand and I need the extra light that the iPad provides.
Only for practice IPad at home!
I've been using an iPad for performances since 2017 when I was on a 6-week tour and didn't want to lug around 3 heavy volumes of string quartet music. I've never looked back. That original 2017 iPad Pro now has 2 other friends (same model, bought refurbished in 2024) and a 2024 iPad Air (my new main tablet), so now I can hand tablets to the whole quartet for gigs. I have found that for orchestral music, you really do need the large, 12.9" screen, but the iPad model doesn't matter so much, as ForScore really is only a fancy pdf reader. I do limit the other apps I have on the machines, pretty much only things I would need for music performance and a browser. I set ForScore to automatically go into work mode everytime it's opened, so I can't get any popup notifications.
I don't own a tablet.
If I ever get a tablet, I'll probably start using it for music. At the moment I don't feel that I can justify buying a tablet for music.
I have an A5 tablet. I've examined music on it, but it's too small to put on a music stand to play from. One day I'm sure I'll get something bigger.
As from ~ An Original 1 of 7 'Artist Pupil's' of Jascha Heifetz, in disbelief re iPad Use??? {#9}
I am astonished to read of this new and It Is New using an iPad in Concert and for public attended Concert Performances of a Full Symphony Orchestra, and btw, the Long Beach Symphony, which my late father, Ralph Matesky, helped Found with their 1st President Leonard Erickson, & was always available to offer advice to then Head of the LBS based in Long Beach, California ... I mentioned this New to me 'Trend' to many of my London and UK itself very well established string colleagues who are/were to be candid, Shocked and those with whom I shared all of this could scarcely believe it!?
If a Violin Soloist must use an iPad for public performance of the Concert Violin Repertoire and including the Brahms; Beethoven; Bach both Violin
Concerti (not Double Concerto for Two Violins); Max Bruch g minor; Lalo Symphonie Espagnole; Petr Tchaikovsky; Sibelius and Shostakovich #1 in a minor, then IMO one is in deep trouble and should Not Ever try to present themselves as a Concert Artist on Violin and certainly Not in such Grand Masterworks Violin Concerti Repertoire, Period!!
Term me "Old School" but it is Not 'Old School' to honour Standards long held for Concert Soloists to Know the Score: and I mean the Full Orchestral Score of Every Major Violin Concert Concerto and if one cannot perform a Masterwork without Music one is Not Qualified to stand before any major Symphony Orchestra to use an iPad with the Music of the Violin Concerto to play as a bonafide Violin Soloist. This, dear people, is stretching the Limit and it is, indeed, against all highest standards set by the GOAT Violinists and Two of whom I studied with for over a cumulative 6 Years namely Mr's Heifetz & Nathan Milstein! 'Not Shabby' as is said in the UK!!
If there are musicians called upon to play violin concerti who are not concert soloists usually, it will then depend on a specific situation and the orchestra one is engaged by so thusly this may be accepted in smaller hamlet places. But truly, if playing in major venues in this country or in All Continental Europe or South American major Capital Cities, Do Not Do This! I rest my Case and strongly encourage every string player whether the Violin, Viola, Violoncello or Double Bass, to Fully Learn the Entire Score of any Violin or on your String Instrument Concerto Score to then sincerely know the Full Symphonic Score because the Solo Violin or other string cousin Instrument is on Full Display by the Composer who did create the Composition as a Solo Violin or Violoncello Concerto to show off the possibilities of the Instrument honoured and used to display to both the public & more importantly, The Musical Content Itself!!!
~ With Musical Greetings from Chicago, I reman ~
~ ~ ~ Yours Sincerely ~ ~ ~
...... Elisabeth Matesky ......
Fwd ~ dmg {Save: Book File, V.com Weekend "iPad" Music 5.10.25}
Some are blessed with fabulous memories, and some of us are cursed with Swiss cheese for brains. As I ponder some of the page turns I've had to make, I begin to think that a footpedal would be ideal.
At home while exploring the neglected chamber music repertoire I play from a large PC monitor displaying 2 pdf pages at a time. Hopefully saved a few trees that way but I've never been encouraged or felt inclined to try it in public.
The money for sufficiently large tablet is simply not in my budget, whatever the advantages of a tablet may be. I have a pretty large collection of paper sheet music and I can print from IMSLP, so I am cosy enough.
I’ve seen soloists use music in situations where it made complete sense — whether they were playing a brand new or rarely performed piece, or stepping in last minute for a concerto that wasn’t entirely under their fingers because they weren't playing it anywhere else that season. Personally, I didn’t feel that having the music took away from the performance — though of course, others might feel differently. In fact, I think it was the better choice to avoid the risk of a memory slip, which would have been far more disruptive than me noticing a score on stage.
In those cases, the music stand wasn't a crutch — it was just there if needed, and the performers weren’t glued to it. They still played with conviction.
As for me, I generally find I play more musically and convincingly from memory — but I see no reason I can’t achieve the same depth of expression with the music in front of me, if needed.
If I were younger or were a pro, I would try to make the switch. However, at my advanced age, the costs of the switch seem to far outweigh the incremental benefit. I also prefer what I refer to as the "large print edition" of the music, i.e., significantly larger than an iPad would provide. So, no intent to switch now.
I've been using an iPad Pro since January 2018. I love it! I use it every day for practicing, teaching, and performing. I can annotate, enlarge pages, use my foot pedal to turn pages. I've never had it overheat in the sun or fail to function correctly in orchestra, chamber music, or solo settings.
I don't - but I intend to!
I haven't tried using one yet. But I'm quite tech savvy and adapt easily to new tools, so the subject does pique my curiosity.
My main worry would be the risk of device malfunction during performance. When practicing or playing, I do a lot from memory, preferring not to look at the music unless I really need to. And I like being free of electronic or high-tech devices during practice sessions - the exception being the SmartPhone I use to audio-record items I'm working on. This, to me, is the next-best thing to having a teacher, because the playback really shows up those spots needing improvement.
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October 5, 2025 at 12:49 AM · I voted tablet for practise. Almost exclusively for orchestra until I get the hard copies at first rehearsal.