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If you have tried this combination, can you comment on what works and what doesn't for sheet music?

I am a super slow page turner and am wondering if the bluetooth pedal is easy to use. We have an iPad, and I was surprised to see how large the notes looked when someone used it recently to play, which had been my hesitation in using scanned pages in the past.

Thanks in advance for any opinions you have!

Hi Nancy, good to hear from you! I've been using an ipad and a bluetooth pedal for several years now - works great! I have the biggest ipad. I use forscore for the software. I started with a lighter pedal (firefly?) but changed to something heavier with metal switches - the airturn BT200 - since I had some trouble with my clumsy left foot. I also set the pedal so both switches go forward so I couldn't accidentally go backwards. If I have music that requires going back I just use the feature in forscore that lets you copy and duplicate pages in the score. Always forward for me.

Forscore works great. I have hundreds of score in it now. I'll either buy the music as a pdf file, or scan the pages and send it to the ipad. I also have the Henle app, so if there is something I want from them I buy a digital copy in their app, and there is a way that can be transferred to forscore.

Lately I have had some trouble seeing some scores with my old eyes, so I started turning the ipad on it's side to landscape mode. More page turns, but the music is really big. Also the brightness of the screen is great for old eyes.

The other drawback is using the una corda (left) pedal. I was playing a modern piece that called for una corda for the entire piece, and lots of sustain pedal. So if I did that, I couldn't turn the pages with the left foot. I tried the mode in forscore where you could get it to turn pages with a nod of the head - too much trouble - so I ended up tapping the screen to turn.

The biggest drawback - if your ipad breaks what do you do? I broke the screen on mine, and had to buy a new one - turns out the cost to replace the screen was half the cost of a new one.

So I have been very happy with it - works great for me.

Sam

Thanks, Sam! It's good to see so many familiar user names still contributing!

I'm not sure how big our iPad is relative to the options they offer, so I'll check that out. But with a pedal page turner I could do what you do with landscape mode.

I'll check out the AirTurn model you mentioned. There are quite a few different options, including one that you keep in your mouth and bite down on to turn the page!

Right now we're about to have a Dampp Chaser installed, so I may have to replenish my piano account before I buy the page turning gadget if they are more than about $100!

Nancy

I can second Sam’s advice - the biggest iPad, forScore, and a Bluetooth AirTurn pedal served me well for years. But I had the same trouble when I wanted to use the una corda pedal: I needed a third foot.

My newish iPad supported face tracking, so I decided to go for a forScore Pro subscription ($US9.99 per year) and try out the ‘face gesture’ page turner.

Initial callibration is a bit of a pain, but with practice, face gesture page-turning really is a game-changer and I’ll be renewing that subscription each year. No extra hardware to lug around, no slipping pedal, no recharging, no cable, no re-pairing with Bluetooth, and my left foot is available once again.

I recently donated my Airturn to a local community orchestral group.

(By the way, thank you for starting that amazing Einaudi thread!)

Sam, I had very little trouble with face gesture page turns when at the little Kawai, but they were completely random and unreliable with the iPad on my C3s much-higher music desk. I turned the iPad upside down, lowering the camera’s line of sight: problem solved. It works fine either way - I didn’t know that it was possible.

Forscore user here too and just loaded several scores from the digital Pianist Magazine this weekend. I'm very happy with this setup, but what I really have now is a bunch of books around the piano, and an Ipad, haha.

I also use facial gestures, but it can be funny at times. I'll have to try turning the ipad upside down, and see if that helps any. Thanks for the tip!

Sam, how did you change the configuration so that both pedals go forward? I recently tried to do this and couldn't find anything on their app or instructions.

OP - I have the same set-up as Sam (iPad is 12.9 inch btw), but use two different Bluetooth pedals - Airturn and Pageflip Butterfly. I like the latter for its size/response but the former for it's charging and app If I was insane enough to buy a third pedal I'd probably go for the Firefly.

In the Airturn app - Switch Actions - Mode 2 - set switch 1 and 2 to be keyboard code down arrow.

Sam

I just checked out Forscore, and it sounds great! I hadn't heard of it before. I also see that I can use my Apple Pencil with it, which immediately eliminates one of my concerns. We bought that Apple Pencil when my husband was tutoring remotely, and we haven't had a need for it since. Thanks for the tips!

Hi Nancy!

I also use forScore with an iPad Pro (recently upgraded to the 12.9 inch one) with an Apple Pencil and a PageFlip Butterfly page turner. I LOVE this set up.

Here's the pedal I have: PageFlip Butterfly
I've had it for two years and it works very well, so I can definitely recommend it.

I used to have an AirTurn PED model (the one where the pedals taper so that they are very thin on side closer to you) and I do *not* recommend this model. I could make a shopping list of why, but suffice it to say that the design is not good (at least not for pianists who can't see their feet) and it also was never reliable and eventually broke.

OTOH, I've never heard anything negative about the one Sam mentioned (AirTurn BT200 IIRC).

So you have some options there.

Good luck!

Thanks, ShiroKuro!

That PageFlip was the first option that came up as I was searching online for bluetooth page turners, and I like the foot-shaped pedals. I'm going to buy/download forScore this week and start playing with it.

Our iPad is the 9.7 inch size, but hopefully it will still be workable.

And it looks like the PageFlip and AirTurn models are right around $100, so they won't be breaking my budget!

Great to hear from you!

Nancy

Ah nice on, Sam, thank you! I had played about with the switches but I wasn't clear which switch the foot pedals were and I never selected down arrow previously (think I selected right arrow). How come down arrow?

Doesn't make much sense - I don't know why.

Sam