Hi, my soon-to-be music major (jazz double bass) needs an iPad for sheet music. What’s the best size/model for this? The one we have now seems too small. And any recs for the best foot switch for page turning? Thanks in advance.
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I’m not a techie person so take this however you want to.
I have an iPad. My daughter gave it to me, so I don’t know the specifications.
I think you need to look at the memory size of the iPads because music and graphics use a LOT of memory. You can go/call/ask the Apple store or online and ask their Genius team about which iPad would hold up under multiple musical assignments.
My kids both play string instruments and use ipads for sheet music (and for taking notes in class, doing homework, reading and annotating pdfs, and making artwork!) Each has an older generation 12.9" ipad pro and they love this size. So for the current ipad models I would go with 13" for the screen size. I can’t advise you on the pro vs air.
My kids don’t use a foot switch, so I can’t recommend one of those.
Sheet music is just a document, so it doesn’t require much memory. But of course the student might want a more powerful ipad if they want to use it for other things.
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My son uses a Microsoft Surface Studio laptop for his sheet music (and everything else). Pretty amazing convertible laptop and tablet. He was a mac and iPad user before that and still has an iphone and says the transition was a non-issue and is very happy with it. Besides sheet music, it’s his primary device. In classes he can write hand notes and have them saved or even converted to text. He can scan and do his problem sets on it. Etc.
A base model standard size (not mini) iPad, an Apple Pencil, and the Forscore app (or similar) for reading scores are the essentials. That’s the setup my son uses and it works great. For a singer who holds the device while using it, look at weight-a heavier model with the large screen gets very heavy by the end of a long concert (my son has complained at times about his standard sized model). A page turning pedal for an instrumentalist is good but I don’t have a recommendation for any particular one. A bigger screen is nice if it’s in the budget and holding it won’t cause back pain. PDF music doesn’t take up a ton of space, so a moderate amount of memory is fine. Beyond that, consider what other tasks the iPad might be used for.
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We use the AirTurn Duo500 Wireless Foot Pedal. Highly recommend.
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Our Ds fall teacher had recommendations… He recommended this foot pedal and it’s working well so far
Donner Wireless Page Turner Pedal for Tablets Phone Foot Pedal Rechargeable,Black https://a.co/d/24hUYeE
I would suggest waiting until he gets to the school and see what everyone else uses. Most people will also let him try it out.
Apple usually run promotions during Summer/early Fall for higher education with discounts and free gifts – historically is free air Pods or Beats headphones.
Seconding this. It’s all about the screen size. An older gen will work fine. ForScore is the app you’ll want to use for music/notes/etc., and it’s Apple-only
Bluetooth pedal is great (we’ve had luck with the PageFlip series)
The only other consideration is if they’ll be using it for GarageBand/LogicPro to record/edit on the iPad. In that case, processing power and storage become a consideration as well.
Thanks everyone, these are all great tips!
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