Hints for turning pages?

[JohnBrooking]

Hello, everyone,

  My first post here! I have played since childhood, and continue to play for various things, but have no formal training other than lessons and a few college classes, where I majored in computers. I've occasionally been able to use my keyboard skills for money, in church and community groups.

   I'm currently accompanying a community choir, and one thing I'm finding difficulty in is turning pages for myself. Since I don't have a teacher to ask about this, I thought I'd turn to the Internet for hints about how to make this easier. I'm surprised I haven't found very much about it. One the one hand, it's not like it's really hard to do, yet I'm sure there must be some tips and tricks to doing it as unobtrusively as possible. I'm kind of perfectionist, so I'm going for as few missed notes as possible!

   I've occasionally photocopied at smaller sizes and taped pages together, but that's a pain too, both the preperation and the usage. Sometimes I can memorize a bar or two before or after in order to find a better place to turn, but there isn't always one. Usually I just have to combine some memorization with dropping a few notes that aren't very noticeable, but it still always feels dicey.

   Any other hints? What do you do?

[bachmaninov]

Couldn't you just simply find a somone to turn for you when you 'nod' your head. Or find a friend or somone who can read music, and have him turn for you. Thats how you are SUPPOSE to turn pages for ANY ensemble.

[Waldszenen]

If it's absolutely impossible to get a page-turner (and it shouldn't be), then unfortunately you'll just have to wait for a part where one of the hands is free and turning the page at that point. That means you'll have to memorise a few lines or bars that might occur before the page turn.

[Skeptopotamus]

this may be an assumption, but if you're playing with a choir, can i assume these arent really very challenging pieces?  maybe you should just memorize them.  i think you will probably play better if you do this also; instead of looking up at the sheets all the time, you can really play from the heart.

[Grane]

I've seen two techniques that seem to work.

The first is turn the lower right page up at the corner -- you bend it so it protudes.  This leaves perhaps a 1 inch corner to grab when turning.

The second was used by a Julliard student.  They photocopied the piece and inserted each page into transparent plastic and put in a 3 ring binder.   The player was able to very quickly and efficiently grab the plastic page without fear of tearing.

Good luck.

Ed

[Triton LE 76]

I have always memorized the pieces that i play...Played for 6 years.
Try to do it yourself also..I think you play it better when you remember things, that is what i've experienced when i have listened to others
Memorize everything!

Joern

[stephane]

Hi,

Earlier this month I was on the Music Messe in Germany. This is a huge exposition with everything that has to do with music, instruments, music related software, music books etc.

There was a stand with a new product that turned the pages for you. It was a small wheel mounted on a handle. The wheel rolled onto the page so to get behind it and the handle would then turn that page around.

The whole thing was activated by a pedal and was available for uprights and grands.

I have filmed it with my digital camera and I think I have a leaflet of the company. I'll try to dig both up when I'm at home (currently living on two places).

Kind regards,

Stephane

[Phillip]

I should be very interested to hear about the mechanical page turning device.  I believe that Charles Halle invented such a device in the 19th c.  There are also some adapted notepad computers coming onto the market - with these you scan your music in and (I believe) use a pedal to shift to a next page.  These devices are only viable if they will also deal with repeats, da capos etc.

I do both accompanying and solo playing and always turn my own pages where at all possible, as I think having just one person at the piano looks better to an audience - and the page turning becomes part of the act.  However, it is a real limiting factor in choosing repertoire.  I recently did a recital diploma exam for which I was not required to play from memory (something which I have no aptitude for), and my choice of pieces and editions was strongly influenced by page turning considerations.  For any situation other than an exam (where an examiner is following the performance on a score) I would usually slightly rewrite the bar(s) before a turn to enable me to do them with one hand, and also use the odd photocopied page.

Phillip

[stephane]

At the exibition I mentioned there were tabloid PC's on which you could display your scanned music sheets.
There was a person playing with two of those on the piano. They basically are like thick A4-size (~letter format) books. You could go to the next and previous page with a pedal and you could even write with a special pen onto the screen to put your comments and notes into the scanned document.
This was the good news.

Bad news is that the tool had no clue that it was displaying music, so forget about your repeats etc. (unless you start copy paste..., which leads you back to the paper cut and paste).
Also you had quite a lot of wires (power, the pedal, the pen) which made it pretty messy.

Personally I think the basic idea is great. But if you start using complicated /expensive /high-tech material, it should be a music program following you. Maybe even better with a mic following you and turning the page/moving forward automaticaly.

Best regards,

Stephane

[pianowelsh]

yeah the plastic pockets idea works ok i did it a couple of times but it can be clumsy and EXPENSIVE if you have a long piece (maybe 10+ pages). The idea of memorizing it (if you cant get someone to turn for you) is not so daft. I have done this with difficult pieces and easy pieces - especially if the music is rapid (eg at the moment i am doing mendelssohn Dmin trio and it moves so fast you simple havent time to turn  sometimes for a whole page or two) It can be risky though if you are doing in concert it means you need to be well prepared (if you try it  you should have plenty of practices infront of your friends first).

[squinchy]

I use the plastic sheet covers.

My schoolteachers who accompanied the choir would usually turn pages when they could get away with skipping a few notes or play the same notes, simply transcribing the ones in the left hand up an octave.

If the music isn't too long, you can tape them so they're all one big, long rectangular sheet. This only works for pianos with a really long music stand, though. Also, it's advisable to mount each sheet on construction paper, then glue--it makes them less prone to falling down.

[possom46]

There are also some adapted notepad computers coming onto the market - with these you scan your music in and (I believe) use a pedal to shift to a next page.  These devices are only viable if they will also deal with repeats, da capos etc.


Phillip

Wow! Was talking to my husband about this "great idea of mine" the other day, looks like I was beaten to it again!!! Glad it's in the pipeline 

[stephane]

Hi folks,

Any idea how I could add yhis movie about the page turner.
It's a 2.13MB mov file. I have now webspace of my own at the moment.
Maybe someone who has space where I could send it to?

Regards,

Stephane