Reading music from books

[f flat minor]

Why do most people prefer scores in the form of published books when there are other options? Why is it better to purchase a book rather than to read music from a tablet or print on loose A4 papers from places like IMSLP or ScorSer? If books are better, what is the significance of PDFs and print-outs for sheet music?

[perfect_pitch]

Why is it better to purchase a book rather than [...] loose A4 papers from places like IMSLP

Easy - if the piece of music you're learning is 30 pages long, loose pages are a gigantic pain in the arse. Also, a lot of the stuff from IMSLP isn't scanned very well and is sometimes askew, has pencil marks scanned in from the source, can be of a low resolution.

[j_tour]

Easy - if the piece of music you're learning is 30 pages long, loose pages are a gigantic pain in the arse.

Yeah, that's true, but I'll occasionally use print outs of longer pieces even though I have the score in a regular bound volume.

Reason?  I can tape a bunch of pages together and not worry about page turns.

Also, why PDFs?  It's true IMSLP is of varying quality, but finding different editions, including "historical" editions is, for me, a very good reason to at least have a look at as many as I can find.

I still prefer bound scores in general, but there are some uses for PDFs.  One thing PDF print outs lose in is when carrying them around in a folder, they tend to get pretty ragged looking or out of order pretty easily, whereas books are a little more hardy.

[dogperson]

If I cannot find a bound book, I put the PDF pages in a clear plastic, hole punched sleeve. The pages then go into a folder made for musicians so the binder lays flat in the piano.  When I was playing for church, I would often photocopy all of the music and put it in the binder so it was in order and I only had one thing to carry.

[perfect_pitch]

Reason?  I can tape a bunch of pages together and not worry about page turns.

Meh, I just memorise everything. I can put Stravinsky's Petrushka to memory easily, yet I'll go to the shops and forget what I was going to buy.

The brain is weird.

[j_tour]

Meh, I just memorise everything.

<snip>

The brain is weird.

Yeah, I'd say your brain is weird!  So not only do you have absolute pitch, but now eidetic memory as well?

It's OK, you're just a young boy, so your brain hasn't gone smooth yet!

Yeah, I am a bit envious of your memorization abilities:  that's pretty much the only thing I'm stuck on, aside from (more than a few!) technical deficiencies.

But, seriously, I do think exploring historical manuscripts, including 20th C editions published by some of the usual suspects is the real reason to use the PDF format.  However one might acquire them.

Especially handy for Bach, I find:  things like that where each editor has a very personal take on not just the notes themselves, but where to place them on the staves.  Helps for sight-reading quickly, I find.

I'd guess the ratio is like six to one or so of editions I scrutinize in digital form, compared to editions I purchase in bound form.  I like to have one bound, printed edition of each piece I'm working on, though.  And, yes, for something like the Beethoven piano sonatas, I prefer the breakout editions of each opus, in whatever edition one finds.  Not so much into the giant volumes that can be awkward to manipulate on the music stand.

It's almost a question of organization at some point, rather than preference, when one has accumulated a bit of a private library of scores.

In addition to the occasional rewrite using some engraving software for study purposes of, say, some fugue or otherwise contrapuntal music.

Meh, it's a toolbox:  use as directed, apply directly to forehead, and drop some science, son!

[klavieronin]

Books smell nicer

I find them easier on the eyes too. I can't look at a tablet for too long without my eyes getting tired. Plus, unless you have a gigantic tablet, an open book will always fit more music on it that a tablet screen so there will be fewer page turns. It's also easier to make notes in a book compared to a tablet.

[lelle]

Books smell nicer

I find them easier on the eyes too. I can't look at a tablet for too long without my eyes getting tired. Plus, unless you have a gigantic tablet, an open book will always fit more music on it that a tablet screen so there will be fewer page turns. It's also easier to make notes in a book compared to a tablet.

Yeah, I definitely agree regarding making notes. Having a phsyical, tactile object that you write in with a penccil is simply much easier than trying to do it digitally.