This makes me love music even more

Choral Net recently featured a posting by John Brough entitled, “Will the Apple "iPad" Revolutionize Music Publishing?” This gadget - and the article got me pretty jazzed. Like most musicians, stacks of music surround my organ bench. Staying organized is always a goal, but being able to find what I need when I need it seems impossible. To end the struggle I’ve been scanning my music and storing it in a database. In the old days, I’d have to rely on my memory to know what I’ve got in my library and where to find it. But as my music library grows, this is becoming increasingly difficult. With the help of a database, I can do a search for, say, the tune “St. Flavian” and come up with a list of all my preludes on that tune. I can then browse through the corresponding pdf files, and print out the pages I need. Subsequently, my stacks are a lot smaller these days.


But imagine the day when a thin device such as an iPad will store your music,allow your own digital markings, AND provide an “app” that will allow you to scroll through it…. in tempo. For the musician, a gadget like this is pretty smokin’.


 Unfortunately, besides a few on-line distributors such as Sheet Music Plus or Selah, the majority of publishers have yet to travel down the path of selling the works of say, a Gerald Near or Michael Burkhardt - electronically. However, as book publishers and record companies increasingly rely on electronic media to sell their wares, I believe music publishers will follow. St. James Music Press currently allows you to purchase anthems on a disk for a set price. The purchase price allows you the right to “share” the music with your choir. This is similar to iPod’s “family music sharing”.

While the technology is here, the battle over who will dominate is uncertain. For a while, Adobe appeared to be the leading provider of written and flash media. But, as companies such as Amazon and Apple begin creating their own proprietary delivery systems, it’s still unclear who will remain standing once all the smoke clears.

-LB