9 reasons to switch to digital sheet music
We all know that paper scores are impractical, but we all learned music using them! We can't help but remain attached to them, at least sentimentally. By reading this article, you'll discover nine reasons to keep them preciously in your library so as not to damage them... and to switch to digital scores when it comes to working and playing on stage.
Reason #1: To have clean, unscribbled sheet music
Working on a score means, above all, annotating it so as to see it more clearly, to highlight pitfalls or elements that need attention. Every musician has his or her own way of annotating scores, which is why Newzik offers a wide range of professional, customizable tools.
On a paper score, the musician is more or less obliged to make annotations in pencil so that they can be erased if need be, which greatly limits the possibilities and, in particular, prevents the musician from creating his or her own color code. Yet it has been proven that using a color code (and sticking to it) makes work more efficient and memorization easier. Indeed, it's estimated that 80% of information reaches the brain through visual channels: in this context, using colors to categorize information enables your brain to cut it up better and remember it faster, which is a big help when it comes to remembering during a concert that complicated passage you've been working on for hours. Find out more about the link between color and memory here (article in English).
On the other hand, annotating, erasing and then rewriting (and so on) on your score damages it very quickly, and can quickly render it unreadable. This problem simply doesn't exist with digital scores: in a matter of seconds, you can annotate, then erase without affecting the quality of your score.
What's more, annotations can be copied and pasted, selected and moved with ease. These seemingly basic tools radically change your approach to annotations, opening up new possibilities and saving you time and legibility. So you can be sure you're always working in the best possible conditions, whether on stage or in rehearsal.
For the best possible experience, we recommend using an Apple Pencil, but there are of course cheaper cheaper alternatives.
Reason #2: To make page-turning easier
Every musician knows: turning pages in the middle of a concert can quickly become a nightmare. Of course, there are ways around the problem, such as gluing pages together and ending up with a score 1m20 wide... but there's a much more effective solution: go digital!
First of all, you can turn the page with your finger. There's already a difference here with paper, as you simply tap the iPad with your fingertip, without worrying about aiming right, grabbing only one page, or turning too hard and dropping your score. This saves time and reduces the risk of error. Far from being a detail, this advantage changes everything in use. Just give it a try!
What's more, you can connect a Bluetooth pedal to your iPad to turn the page with your foot. This is a considerable advantage of digital scores over paper ones, and eliminates a major stress for the musician on stage, who no longer needs to "let go of his instrument" to turn the page. On this subject, we've put together a guide to the best page-turning pedals available on the market in 2020.
Another key feature generally offered by digital score media is half-page turning. You may have to play several lines of sixteenth notes and turn the page in the middle. With half-page turning, you can display the upper part of the next page while keeping the lower part of the page you're on, thus anticipating complex turns and avoiding the need to memorize several lines that are already difficult to play.
The advantage of digital over paper is clear in this respect, as it removes a major source of stress for the musician, who can now concentrate entirely on his performance when he takes to the stage.
Reason #3: Because paper is heavy and takes up a lot of space.
One of the most glaring problems with paper scores is that they take up space. An enormous amount of space. Who doesn't have a cupboard full of sheet music at home that you can't bring yourself to sort out?
In addition to taking up space, paper quickly becomes very heavy. Today, it's not unusual for a musician - or worse, a conductor - to find himself carrying kilos of scores to every concert: you could say that the switch to digital is good for the back. That's what interview Tom Hammond, conductor of the Yorkshire Young Sinfonia and a great fan of digital scores:
The first beneficiary is my back, because being a conductor means constantly traveling with very heavy luggage.
The great advantage of switching to a digital library like Newzik for your scores is that you can centralize them all in one place, and access them anytime, anywhere, even offline, on a device weighing less than 500 grams. What's more, thanks to the Newzik Cloud, your digital library is synchronized across all your devices: simply log in to your account from any iPad or iPhone to find all your sheet music! This also means that even if you lose your device, you won't lose your scores. Securing musicians' libraries was one of the first reasons we developed Newzik.
There's no longer any need to sort through that huge cupboard of scores: all you have to do is digitize them. And to do that, we've put together an article on the different digitization methods from Newzik.
Reason #4: To easily organize your library
Paper sheet music also means binders, folders, notebooks... all of which require an acute sense of organization. Rather than spending hours organizing your scores in different binders, a digital score reader lets you sort them in a variety of ways.
First of all, your library lets you sort your tracks alphabetically and by composer, with just one click. You can also quickly create setlists for your next concert. Last but not least, Newzik lets you store different scores within the same song: either different instruments, different versions of your song or different arrangements. This keeps your organization as clear as possible, and saves you precious time when it comes to finding a specific score among the hundreds or even thousands in your library. Think about it when you're planning your next jam: renting a studio is expensive enough, so you don't want to waste time looking for the next song's grid in the middle of your 150-page binder!
Reason #5: Because it's cheaper
A few years ago we carried out an in-depth study of paper costs for a symphony orchestra made up of 80 musicians and two librarians. The study's conclusion was striking: the orchestra in question spent over €35,000 on paper alone over the course of its season. We identified four main areas of expenditure: paper costs at the partothèque (printing, photocopying, etc.), interim external resource costs (for manually copying bow strokes), sheet music ordering costs, storage costs (renting additional space to store sheet music).
Simply using paper costs an orchestra tens of thousands of euros. While the initial investment is significant, converting to digital brings real cost savings for orchestras over the long term. Many ensembles and orchestras have already understood this, and have asked us to help them make the transition.
If you're interested in this issue and would like more details, read our our full study.
Reason #6: To easily collaborate with your band, students or entire orchestra
During the creation of Newzik, we noticed something fundamental in the way an orchestra operates today. When a concert program is received, the library teams have to copy all the bow strokes by hand onto all the individual string scores, which can be a colossal task even when the scores are short.
We wanted to make this tedious work easier, by creating new features for sharing scores and annotations in real time. Thanks to this unique system, there's no need to spend days copying out bow strokes: all you have to do is write them down on a single iPad, and share them with the rest of your section. The same principle applies to distributing the scores of each member of the orchestra: once imported into a single iPad, all musicians can access them immediately.
More and more music teachers are using this feature to work remotely with their students, a trend that has accelerated since the health crisis. It is now possible for a teacher to annotate his or her pupil's score live and remotely, to point out passages to be worked on, possible pitfalls, and so on. It is also possible to work simultaneously on the application and in videoconference via split-screen mode (viewing two applications on one screen).
That said, any musician can find interest in this system. Planning your next jam? Use Newzik's collaborative functions to jot down a grid or riffs and share them with your band members for their own personal touch. For greater clarity, each musician can work on a dedicated layer, which you can show or hide on the fly. Think Google Docs for your scores!
Reason #7: For enhanced partitions
An "augmented score" is a score that has been artificially enhanced to give you a better musical experience. You can add an audio file and synchronize it with your score to automate page-turning, for example, or add an audio accompaniment for play-along, or a video file or YouTube link to follow your favorite tutorial channel directly from the score.
For example: to work on your jazz improvisation skills, you can use a grid and accompaniment. Integrating audio content (rhythm, accompaniment) into your score or grid is a real step forward for those wishing to learn or perfect their improvisation without needing resources external to the score.
Reason #8: Access to the catalog of major publishers without having to wait for the post office to lose your parcel.
Although we don't offer scores directly in the app, the simple fact that the publisher goes digital reduces the cost of printing, distribution and storage, and therefore the cost of the purchase. In addition to paying less, there's no need to wait for scores to be physically shipped, so the process is much faster.
The purchase cost is reduced above all by the disappearance of shipping costs, which can make up over 30% of the final price!
The transition from paper to digital has greatly simplified this transaction, making it easier for musicians to access the world's largest catalogs and for publishers to reach musicians.
Here's a little anecdote to illustrate the benefits of digital technology. Carl Fischer, a major publisher of educational materials, cannot send paper scores to Guatemala because UPS (Carl Fischer's delivery company) does not deliver to that country. A few months ago, we launched a partnership with Carl Fischer, enabling customers to receive their scores directly in the Newzik application at the time of purchase. So, for the first time, the people of Guatemala have access to Carl Fischer's catalog via our app, thanks to digital technology.
Once again, the simple act of switching from paper to digital simplifies and smoothes out an unnecessarily costly and time-consuming process. If you'd like to visit the catalogs of some of our partner publishers selling digital scores, click here:
Reason #9: To preserve and promote our musical heritage
For several years now, Salzburg's renowned Mozarteum has been digitizing its entire Mozart catalog. This represents over 25,000 pages of scores, many of them manuscripts. But why have they embarked on such a massive project? The first reason is to facilitate access to their library. Easier access, but also better score quality, facilitating the study of this mythical composer.
What's more, the Salzburg Mozarteum is quite simply the world's largest repository of scores by the famous Austrian composer: digitizing them also means protecting them. If the Mozarteum were to be destroyed or burnt down, and the scores not digitized, humanity would lose some of the greatest musical works ever written. If you're interested in this major project, we recommend reading this this article.
On a different note, the Centre de Documentation de la Musique Contemporaine in Paris has embarked on the same digitization project. This institution holds a unique collection of scores written by major contemporary composers. However, as contemporary music is not easily accessible to the uninitiated, these composers (although extremely talented) and their works are little known. For the CDMC, digitizing its collection is a means of promoting the works of these unjustly anonymous composers.
The existence and protection of this heritage is absolutely fundamental for mankind. By switching to digital scores, you not only benefit from privileged access to thousands of scores, but also contribute to the preservation of the legacy of the greatest composers.
