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I want to switch to some type of electronic sheet music display (pdf). The iPad screen seems too small, but I'm wondering if the brightness of the display might make up for the smaller-than-paper size?

Anyone happily using an iPad? Other recommendations? (I'd rather not use a standard computer monitor which has too much depth and weight I think.)

I recently spoke to a friend that uses one. It's supposed to be great, some apps can even track your playing (through a special MIDI in link) and tell you where you go off from the sheet music.

If you're reading sheet music I think the glare of a glossy screen such as an iPad or most laptops would be a bit troublesome, at least it was when I tried to do that.

My current laptop has matte finish screen, so not much glare but the resolution isn't good enough.

I just replaced my iPad1 with the new iPad3 -- I had worn the first one out from overuse and abuse. The screen on the new model has terrific resolution (not that it was bad on the original).

Anyway, I have the Steinway Etude sheet music app, and it works pretty well. I was using it last night for sight-reading practice. After a bit, I stopped thinking about the music being on a screen rather than on paper -- it became pretty natural.

There is a bluetooth footpedal available for turning pages, but I'm not committed enough yet to reading from the iPad to try it. I understand that Joshua Bell's accompanist uses the iPad (with the bluetooth foot pedal) exclusively.

I played with a friend's iPad yesterday. I really WANTED to find reasons to need one, it's an appealing gadget. But I couldn't find any. It's too big for "always in my pocket" convenience. It's too small for reading music. It's too expensive for simple media storage and playback. It doesn't have the power of a real computer. The camera's good for well-lit snapshots, but can't take the trickier shots than my proper camera manages.

I guess I'm just not a believer :-(

Reading from a small screen is quite different from reading on a real A4 score sheet. Readability, clarity, size of fonts, etc.

Unless there is a bigger screen available which looks like paper (like the Kindle), hardcopy sheets are still going to be used.

I'm using ForScore (for regular sheet music) and also iReal Book (chord charts only). I admit the screen is a little small, but the display and brightness is fine for me. It especially works well in low-light situations. There are also wireless pedal accessories to make page turns, but I'm not currently using them. I quickly/easily turn a page by touching the right or left side of the screen. I can honestly recommend both of them for use on the iPad...

Cheers!

As long as you can use a bluetooth page turner, maybe you could use the iPad in landscape mode, and create separate scanned pages out of the top and bottom halves of a score. Twice as many page turns, but the image could be much bigger than if trying to fit an entire page of a score into the vertical orientation.

As for readability, the new iPad's higher resolution screen might better display higher resolution scans.

(For at-home use, I'm not sure what advantages this offers over paper, though... maybe just the hands-free page-turning?)

If you're already using a computer tied to the piano, you could just plug-in a 20" flat-panel display. They're only about $100.

If you don't already have a computer at the piano, you could buy a netbook. They're only $200. Then add the $100 flat-panel.

Either way, the big flat-panel gives you more viewing area, as big as two pages of sheet music.

Even if you have to buy BOTH the netbook and the display, it's as cheap or cheaper than an Ipad or other tablet.

The issue there, according to the OP, is depth and weight.

I'm waiting for the OLED slim monitors, a 20" should do the trick..

Ipads bah.

I use a 28-inch LCD monitor and it's amazing--two full sheets at a time are displayed and the music is nice and BIG. It is not very deep at all, and I don't see why weight would be an issue if you are not gigging with it. I think you would still be better off going that way than trying to put it on an ipad. Ipads are not even as big as a single sheet of paper.

Wouldn't that be awesome! Let's lobby Amazon to make one of those!

Thanks for the very good responses. It seems like the opinions are mixed on the iPad. I'm worried it would be too small. Some of my thoughts based on the various responses ...

1) I too was looking for good reasons to buy an iPad since it is a cool gadget, but I haven't found any other good applications for it (I have various Macs all over the house, including an iMac next to my piano, and I don't want an iPad for mobile use). But if it solved the sheet music problem I would buy one instantly.

2) I was aware of the bluetooth foot-switch to turn pages and I would definitely get one.

3) The idea of flipping an iPad on its side in landscape mode would solve the "print" size problem, but I don't think I would like seeing just a half page at a time. However, that may be the best idea to try. It means tapping the foot switch more often but I suppose that would be ok, although turning "pages" back would be more cumbersome.

I had expected to just scan my sheet music into pdfs, and then page forward and reverse through the pages. I didn't know if I would need any special iPad "Sheet Music" program or not. Landscape mode would mean scanning the pdfs into half-pages which would be more work. Or do any of the existing iPad "Sheet Music" programs just work in landscape mode to solve this problem without scanning into half-pages. Seems like they would.

4) Yes, I would prefer to just use a 20" or so computer monitor. But my mini-grand style keyboard (CVP-409GP) isn't well suited for a computer monitor.

If I tried to set a monitor on the piano using the monitor's normal stand, I would have to remove the existing music stand from the piano (unscrew it because it doesn't lay down flat when not in use) and even then the 6" wide piano surface isn't flat where the bottom of the sheet music normally rests. That area is elevated a little. i.e. the monitor stand wouldn't sit flat so I would worry about it getting bumped and the monitor tipping and falling on the keyboard. Disaster!

I thought about removing the monitor's normal stand and simply setting the monitor panel on the existing piano music stand. However, when a 20" monitor rests against the existing music stand (which is at an angle) I don't think the back of the monitor will clear the front edge of piano's elevated top board, and I don't want to close the piano top board because that seriously affects the piano sound (enclosing its speakers that face upward on the "soundboard"). The monitor would also have to be chosen to not have any air vents or connections on the bottom or on the back that rests against the piano's music stand. Then there is the weight of the monitor panel on the music rest, the possible topple factor, and unsightly video and power cables to the monitor to consider.

So I don't think a conventional computer monitor would work for me although I would love to have the larger screen.

Yep, a Thunderbolt powered OLED flexible 30" computer monitor weighing less than a pound that rolls up into a tube for storage when not in use is a perfect solution. I will certainly get one in about 5-10 years when they are available. But for now ...

As I mentioned above in my long-ish reply, this might be the best idea for my situation. I just wanted to add that one of the advantages of electronic display over paper that I'm trying to achieve is the elimination of clutter. I currently copy my most frequently used sheet music onto 8.5x11" pages that are mounted in mylar sheet protectors in loose-leaf binders. That reduces the sheet music clutter around the piano, and makes it much easier to quickly flick at pages to turn them in the notebooks. But even so, I still seem to end up with sheet music, sheet music books, and the loose-leaf binders all around my piano every few days. If I implement electronic storage and display I think I have better chance of eliminating the clutter.

Have you considered wall mounting a computer monitor or small flat screen TV. If your piano isn't by a window, it is very easy to mount a screen on the wall. You could get one of the swivel mounts that can move away from the wall and sit over your piano.

I appreciate that suggestion (and everyone else's - please keep them coming) but my piano sits out in the middle of a living room. I'd need about a 100" front projection screen on the wall, which in reality is actually all windows in front of the piano.

I use a 22" monitor. I cut down the depth of the plastic monitor base to fit. I also cut down the music stand so it rose just to the bottom of the monitor screen. Thus the monitor screen functions as the back of the music stand when paper scores are used. You might do something similar by removing your music stand (it looks too pretty to just cut it up) and placing something in front of the monitor to hold scores. It would only have to be a 1" high ridge to keep the scores from slipping backward while they lean against the monitor.
It may all seem like a hassle, but it's worth it. You are right about eliminating clutter. Not only that, you can keep multiple scores open and ready to view at a mouse click, so the time lost rooting around in the clutter is also eliminated. Then there's the pedal-operated page turning.

Jack

I have a 22" 1080p monitor that's quite light, but I would be scared to set something unstable and bulky like this on a piano stand. With a true piano, the sound is quite overwhelming indoors and closing the lid and setting stuff on top of it would work fine, but I imagine part of the reason you bought that grand piano cabinetry was to have it open.

I think a media box in slideshow mode could be connected to a panel display. That's quite a neat solution. I'm not sure if any of the media boxes support PDFs.