The Surface Pro 3 or 4 can be used as sheet music readers without special apps
By Stephen Pate – I’ve been using an iPad Air for an electronic sheet music reader but need to find something more suitable. Along with the need for a larger screen, my criteria for a sheet music reader are:
- Full page display
- Portable
- Easy to use in performance or practice
- Program or App to Read music notation and chord charts
- Use Bluetooth page turning
- Allow annotations
- Standard operating systems – iOS, Android or Windows 10
- Cost less than $1,000
A website suggested using a Windows laptop for the job and that got me thinking about the Surface Pro 3 or 4. Yes, either of them work quite well. The Surface Pro 3 was on sale at the Microsoft Store USA (Canada) and Best Buy USA (Canada), I picked the Surface Pro 3 i5 for this story, cost $940 Canadian. Update – the current model is the Microsoft Surface Pro 4.
Full size sheet music
Surface Pro 3 chord chart
Since I started using the iPad for a music reader I’ve been frustrated by the small size of the text and music notation. Sheet music is 8.5″ by 11″ or larger. The iPad screen is only 5.75″ by 7.5″ obviously too small.
To read music vertically, the page has to shrink to 32% of full size or be split into two pages horizontally.
Neither choice is preferable. When the text is smaller, it’s harder to read. Paging down for the 2nd half can be distracting but possible with a Bluetooth pedal.
My criteria for a better system are that the sheet music reader must be simple and not distract from the musical performance.
On this quest for a better full-page music reader I discovered the Surface Pro 3 or 4 solution. The Surface Pro 3 are very similar so I will call this simply the Surface Pro 3 solution.
From Paper to Pixels – Your Guide to the Digital Sheet Music Revolution
is an excellent guide to moving your sheet music to a tablet. The author has 12 years of experience that saved me months of effort. He is biased towards the Apple iPad but that’s not uncommon. Highly recommended.
The Surface Pro 3 screen is 6.5″ x 10″ with 6.5″ x 9.5″ available to display sheet music. By removing the white space in the margins, the Surface Pro 3 can display the text and music the same size as the printed page.
Surface Pro 3 full size text
Removing the margins is extra step in creating PDF sheet music files but worth the effort if you like full-sized text. Since Windows 10 takes up .5″ at the bottom of the page, the display area is actually 6.5″ by 9.5″.
I used Adobe Acrobat 9.5 to crop the 8.5 by 11″ pages to fit the screen. There are other PDF programs that can do the same thing. I used cropping of Top: .5″, Bottom: 1″, Left: .75″ and Right 1.25″. Those settings may not work for every song but you can preview and make adjustments.
Adobe Acrobat settings to crop the A4 page to a Surface Pro 3 screen
The basic applications that come with Windows 10 like Adobe Touch Reader, OneDrive and Explorer along with the Surface Pen make the Surface Pro an efficient full-page sheet music reader.
Portable
The Surface Pro 3 is definitely portable with battery power and WiFi connectivity. It’s lighter and more agile than a laptop turned sideways.
With the touch keyboard, the Surface Pro 3 weighs 1.76 pounds, about the same as an iPad Air with a case. However, it’s tall size in portrait mode makes it a little unwieldy for holding. I recommend you get a music stand holder or clamp to keep it from falling during practice and performance.
Easy to use in performance or practice
The good thing about the Surface Pro 3 is Windows 10 which is a full operating system, uses standard programs, and has a tablet touch mode to keep use simple. The bad thing is Windows 10 can be complex and you don’t want that in the middle of performance.
It’s important to be ready with the Surface and simplify the performance cycle and that can be done. Performance setup for the Surface Pro in Windows 10 includes:
- Charge the battery
- Set the Display mode in Settings, System to Text 150%, Orientation Portrait
- Turn off notifications in Settings, System, Notifications and actions
- Display turn on Settings, System – Tablet Mode
- Delay screen blanking and going to sleep for some longer interval with Settings, System – Power and Sleep. The screen can be set to something longer than the time it takes to page down or change songs and sleep should be set longer than the total performance.
Program or App to read music notation and chord charts
Music Reader apps import the sheet music in PDF format from Dropbox, iCloud or from email. The apps sort the sheet music by genre, composer, or set list. With the iPad and Android you need apps to perform the organizing tasks because they don’t have a file manager.
The apps also help with annotation but can’t do much more. Few of them can transpose the key of the song unless they support MusicXML files.
There aren’t many Windows 10 apps for reading notation and chord charts but with Windows you don’t need an app since the functions are already there. The free Acrobat PDF Touch Reader works well for display and annotation.
File Explorer sorts the sheet music in sub-directories by genre, composer, or set-list. Adding PDF meta-tags to the sheet music makes that information searchable by the file manager and some programs.
OneDrive automatically shares the music between a desktop computer and the Surface Pro 3 Most of the apps make you import the sheet music from Dropbox, iCloud or from email. All of those steps are not necessary with Windows 10.
The Surface Pro 3 is multi-tasking. You can run the reader, a metronome, a video clip of the song and other programs at the same time.
Bluetooth page turning
I tested the Surface Pro 3 with the AirTurn PED Wireless Foot Controller
The update uses an iPad which demonstrates that the iPad has been the most popular device for sheet music readers up to this point.
I hope to also test the PageFlip Firefly Bluetooth/USB Page Turner Pedal
Allow annotations
It seems that the sheet music needs changes or notes. Either a key or tempo change or something is wrong and needs editing.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 comes with a Surface Pen that is a cool device for markup of songs. The free Acrobat Touch Reader supports sticky notes, highlighting and strike through on the sheet music files. The annotations can be saved with the file and shared on OneDrive.
This is probably the best solution I’ve found for making notes on sheet music. Acrobat Touch Reader and the Surface Pen are easy to use. Most of the iOS and Android apps I tried allow you to make notes but not export your notes.
Standard operating systems – iOS, Android or Windows 10
The Surface Pro 3 comes with Windows 8.1 with a free upgrade Windows 10. Surface Pro 4 comes with Windows 10 installed.
Granted Windows can be complex for this task; however, it does give you a fully featured tablet that can do almost anything. From my experience, setting up the Surface Pro in advance can minimize the complexity during practice and performance.
Cost less than $1,000
The Surface Pro 3 costs between $699 and $999 from Microsoft Store USA (a little more in Canada) and Best Buy USA ( also in Canada). The i3 model is more than adequate for displaying sheet music. However, the Surface Pro i5 model is the sweet spot for power and price since it can do much more when you want a tablet for other programs.
The Surface Pro 4 is the newer model and has a slightly larger screen,by .3″. That is not a noticeable difference. 8.5 x 11″ sheet music still has to be cropped. It runs cooler and faster if that matters to you for other programs. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 starts at $899 and $1,179 in Canada.
I recommend getting the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Type Cover (also in Canada) for either the Surface Pro 3 or 4. It’s a better keyboard. The Type Cover costs between $130 and $170 which may put the price up or above $1,000 but it sure is handy.
If I could find a larger screen tablet that didn’t require cropping my sheet music, it would be the preferred solution. As it is right now, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is the best I can find.
(1) Review AirTurn PED supplied by Leoné MusicReader B.V. The Netherlands.
Kathy Thompson
Very useful as I am in the market for rationalising my devices and needing something that is compatible with Sibelius 7.
Jeff
I just bought an ASUS Transformer 3 Pro, which is a Surface 4 competitor – with Thunderbolt, 16 gigs of RAM, and a slightly bigger screen. I am a Jazz saxophonist and pianist. I have been using Adobe Acrobat Pro for “Real Book” Jazz lead sheets on my 24″, portrait monitor, with my older Lenovo laptop driving same. This works great, but is not portable. The ASUS, like the Surface, is usable in Portrait, BUT is still a little small for my 58 year old, typical nearsighted eyeballs. Amazon reviews of the AirTurn PED are universally bad. Have you tried the other Bluetooth Page Turners? If so, what is your suggestion of Page Flip Firefly versos Air Turn Duo (assuming the PED is too flimsy or unreliable…) I noticed especially your comment about “moving through the music a few lines at a time.” That may or may not be useful. If I pull up a tune on my Lenovo in landscape, of course, the page up/down will split the page into three sections, which is a bit wonky but perhaps useful. Any suggestions? I take it there are no other useful apps? Or any think that improves the contrast, etc. of PDF files? Most of the tunes are only one page; some are two, almost none three; they are “lead sheets.” Thank you!
Stephen Pate
I’ll try to reply to each question.
“Amazon reviews of the AirTurn PED are universally bad.” I think the reviews aren’t accurate. I like the AirTurn PED except it doesn’t have the flexibility of the FireFly and the action is more subtle. When you change pages on the FireFly there is a larger physical movement. Compare this with the new MacBook Pro keyboard which has a shallower keystroke than the previous keyboard. Some people get used to it and some don’t.
“Have you tried the other Bluetooth Page Turners? If so, what is your suggestion of Page Flip Firefly versos Air Turn Duo (assuming the PED is too flimsy or unreliable…)” I haven’t tried the others – just the AirTurn and FireFly. The AirTurn Duo is more rugged. A pedal with good reviews is the Coda Bluetooth Page Turner http://amzn.to/2gxJWlr
“I noticed especially your comment about “moving through the music a few lines at a time.” That may or may not be useful. ” That’s a switch setting that changes the switch to page up, down, line at a time, page left, right etc.
“If I pull up a tune on my Lenovo in landscape, of course, the page up/down will split the page into three sections, which is a bit wonky but perhaps useful. Any suggestions?” Experiment with the switches to see which setting works best for you.
“I take it there are no other useful apps? ” Windows apps for sheet music readers are limited. You can browse the Windows App Store and try most of them as demos. I like StaffPad for composition but it’s not a page turner.
“Or any think that improves the contrast, etc. of PDF files? Most of the tunes are only one page; some are two, almost none three; they are “lead sheets.” – there are plenty of free PDF programs – none of them is as feature rich as Adobe Acrobat. I have a copy of 9 that works perfectly at all kinds of edits including contrast, inserts, splits, trimming. I found the real thing saved me time and time is the rare commodity.
Joanna Cook
Have you tried, or do you know of any musician who has tried, using a 2-in-1 laptop with a music reader app? I am considering this right now and wonder about it.
Stephen Pate
I have seen people using 2-1’s for music readers years ago, especially classical musicians who didn’t like the small fonts on the iPad. They tend to be outliers these days.
The sheet music reader software is somewhat limited in that format. You might try the free program Muse Score 2. I use that app for composition but not for reading.
I’ve seen people reading music on their phones or iPad Mini. That’s a bit tiny for me. Try the 12.9″ iPad Pro which has a larger screen that’s almost 8.5 x 11, a full page.
Of course, that is not the full size of normal sheet music but you can cut the margins in Adobe Acrobat and make it work. The exact size of the 12.9″ iPad Pro screen is 7.87″ by 10.125″.