Sheets vs Tablet?
We love a bit of technology at TBQ Towers. After recently busting our quartet gig back because of the sheer volume of sheet music we now cart around with us to bookings, we’ve been having a look around on the internet for an electronic alternative. Our hope was that, with tablets and ipads getting far more mainstream and therefore going down in price, how long until we can realistically be playing off tablets instead of sheet music?
The advantages are wonderful in concept
Can have a full catalogue of music at our fingers (at the moment, there is a lot we simply can’t take with us to every gig)
Could pre-load up music in a customised order before the gig – less time spent flicking between music trying to find the next piece to play
Could operate page turns with a little foot button
Could easily sync between all four tablets so that all upload the right music easily
Of course, with any technology there are downsides too – rubbish battery life meaning tablet switches off mid-gig, syncing problems, getting rained on, dropped, crashing etc etc
We think we’re a long way off going completely to tablets just yet – but it’s certainly an area we are keeping our ear to the ground about. If anyone has any tips or experience of using tablets for reading music, please share them here! Read up about Music Reader here.