iPad App Helps Musicians Turn Page, Hands Free

Nicole Martinelli ()

Unable to walk and chew gum at the same time, I’ve always admired how musicians can play and turn the page on sheet music without losing the plot.

They may need a little less coordination now thanks to a new iPad app and a Bluetooth foot switch called BT-105.

Still a prototype, maker Airturn says this Bluetooth version of their wireless, hands-free automatic page turner will be compatible with Bluetooth-enabled computers including the iPad.

With the tap on a foot switch, you turn to the page forward, if you hit it too soon, another tap turns the page back.  On the demo, the musician flips the switch using a third-party app with a zoom feature,  moving the sheet music half a page at a time.

Expect to see start seeing this page-turning app in late 2010.

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Via Wired

6 comments »

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

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Posted in iPad, iPad apps, News |

  • Jaime R

    A higher tech option would be if they could use the microphone to detect the notes being played either by the solo artist or by the orchestra, with some sort of karaoke-like pointer that would follow the current note, and automatically switch to the next page when it is necessary. That would be awesome.

  • http://Techinmusiced.com Chris

    Actually, Aitrurn uses existing switches (they sell Korg units with their device), and what they make is a unit that translates the switch input to a Bluetooth signal that can be recognized with the iPad. There are several developers working with the company, and this will be a nice addition (although perhaps a bit costly) for instrumentalists.

  • Composer

    Not all music pages are neatly divided into half pages. So the problem of staves not being completely visible, especially with systems of multiple staves will be a large issue.

  • Shane

    Similar to the app, I’d sent to CoM a month or two ago:
    http://www.itunes.com/apps/planningcentermusicstand

  • Yargo

    Whoa, at first I thought, “That dude from Hangover can really play the piano!”

  • William

    Or the app could monitor what you are playing, and turn when you get to that point in the music.