Klarinet Archive - Posting 000186.txt from 2010/01

From: "g" <kahngr@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Great idea!
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:04:15 -0500

Roughly six years ago I purchased the real McCoy -- the Music Pad Pro --
and it has my highest endorsement. Any scores scanned vis my home
computer scanner will work, as well as "electronic" format from pretty
much all the most popular software programs may be directly copied in.
I have no less than two dozen USB Flash Drives with music, and I'd guess
the number of pieces through the years is well over a couple of
thousand! Burned to CD "back-ups", too. Music is readily
user-programmed in terms of DS's, DC's, Codas, repeats, et cetera;
also, by touching the screen pages advance, or go back. A tap at a spot
near the top goes to either very first, or very last page. You can
"write" on music, adding notes, practice queues, or "whatever". I
personally have but two issues with _my_ unit. To wit, playing outdoor
venues on a sunny day -- hey, my screen could not be readily seen by me
-- even when rigging an impromptu sun-shade. And, on another occasion
we played in an arena sans electric outlets. I turned the screen
brightness down to minimum battery consumption, and by golly just made
it -- BUT -- had we an encore -- the battery would have been depleted
just a few bars into it. (I "immediately" bought an out-board battery
pack to alleviate future stress, should this again occur.) In several
groups I am at the keyboard, and most piano parts are many, many pages
long. Hence, just to eliminate the page-turning hassle has more than
"paid" for the unit. For clarinet parts it, too, is a delight. I think
they're still be made and sold (at a much lower price than I paid,
too). Two foot pedals, too: one to advance a page with each tap, and
the other to go back a page with each tap. A slick device, and my
six-plus years of use attests to its durability!

However, even owning and using this, I last evening purchased one of the
stands Mr. Fobes posted as worth looking into. Yes -- while I just
wrote a small chapter on the Music Pad Pro's virtues, I am a member of
three groups, all of which "ended" their season with the Christmas
holiday. All three will be resuming this, and next week -- with new
charts. Further, I often pack a horn on non-music related business
trips. The stand Mr. Fobes told you and me surely looks like it will be
lighter, and pack better than one of my Manhassets. Sure, there isn't a
mousetrap out there that might be better built, or an ingenious musician
who can conjure up a better portable stand facsimile or design. But,
for me, I think it surely -- if nothing else -- will bestow a bit more
'class' than using an open clarinet case with a rolled up hand towel to
keep my music from folding....

Just a couple of "cents".... hopefully rhetorical.

g :-)>

Tom Servinsky wrote:
> There's a foot pedal page turner. My other life is that of a concert
> piano technician and I've done a number of events with Christopher
> O'Reilly. Chris travels with the notepad and carries all of his music
> with him in the computer. He has a foot pedal to advance the page
> turns. Pretty slick.
> Tom Servinsky
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hausmann"
> <bhausmann1@-----.net>
> To: <klarinet@-----.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 12:29 AM
> Subject: RE: [kl] Great idea!
>
>
>> At 11:06 PM 1/26/2010, Kevin Fay wrote:
>>> Bill Hausmann posted:
>>>
>>> <<<The bass player in our big band devised his own private MusicPad
>>> Pro out
>>> of an old laptop (the guy has his own electronics firm as a day
>>> job). All
>>> of his music, and we have a LARGE book, is scanned in and stored
>>> there. On
>>> the gig he does not need a stand light, either, since the screen
>>> provides
>>> its own illumination. With his numeric keypad he can pull up tunes
>>> much
>>> faster than the rest of us with our old-fashioned paper charts. He
>>> is happy
>>> with it.>>>
>>>
>>> This could be a really cool thing, I think. How does he turn pages
>>> - tap
>>> the space bar?
>>
>> I'm not sure exactly, but you can bet he has a system for it!
>>
>>
>>
>>> Further:
>>>
>>> <<<If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!>>>
>>>
>>> . . . or your sax player needs to get a Beechler . . .
>>
>> I recently got a new Cannonball Vintage tenor and the Berg Larson
>> mouthpiece I got with another horn (and never liked) just SINGS on
>> this new one. Lots of output.
>>
>>
>>
>> Bill Hausmann
>>
>> If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!
>>
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>>
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>
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