Episode #17 - Cleartune & Forscore (iOS Musician Apps)

SHOW NOTES:

Cleartune App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cleartune/id286799607

ForScore App Store Link: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forscore/id363738376 

Airturn DUO500 Bluetooth Pedal: https://amzn.to/3J6E6YJ 

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TRANSCRIPT:  (full transcript link)

Hello and welcome to episode number seventeen of the one-five. I am your podcast hostess - Tricia Louis - the self-designated tech goddess and I will be coming to you weekly in this audio podcast format with great edtech tools, tips, and tricks.

In this week’s episode, I will be talking about two apps I utilize on my iPhone & iPad - Cleartune & ForScore.

Let’s get started with Cleartune. Cleartune is a tuning app for your iphone/ipad. I have been using cleartune for 15 years now and what makes it my choice for a tuner is that it has zero latency - which is key to knowing if your instrument is in tune or not. The precision of the app allows you to tune any instrument (including guitar and timpani). I keep my cleartune set at equal temperament, but if you are playing music/instruments from different time periods, you can even choose from a wide variety of temperaments. The app is built to be used on either an iPhone or an iPad and can be a great teaching tool if you mirror your iPad to a display or projector. This app is $4 and well worth the purchase price because of its precision and the purchase cuts out any other ads that might appear in other apps.

Now let’s learn about the ForScore app. The ForScore app is the ultimate app for your sheet music. You can upload PDFs of any type of music (from the web, email, or via other cloud services), organize the scores into playlists, annotate on the score with a variety of drawing tools and musical symbol stamps, and even link audio tracks to the score (like accompaniments, or others) and be able to hear & play the music at the same time. There is so much in this app and it has evolved over the 13 years it has been around - and I have been using it for that length of time. The interface for using forscore has an easy learning curve and there are so many powerful tools included in it. Here are just some of the amazing tools in the app:

Score Sync - so if you have a couple of devices, your scores stay up-to-date no matter which device you use

Half-Page Turns - so you can see the bottom of a page and the top of the next page at the same time

Repeats - link pages so you can handle repeats with one tap on your ipad

Scanning - if you get sheet music, you can scan it immediately into the app using the camera on your device

View options - you can choose how you want the music displayed on your device

Built in Utilities - If you don’t want a dedicated tuner app like I mentioned before, there is a tuner, metronome, and pitch pipe built right into ForScore

Hands Free - if you pair a bluetooth pedal or bite switch (which is an adaptive device) to your iphone or ipad, you can turn the pages of music without taking your hands off your instrument. I use an AirTurn pedal with my ipad and it works flawlessly. There is a link to the AirTurn bluetooth pedal in the Show Notes, so be sure to check that out along with the app links.

Recently, ForScore has added a Pro option to the app which is a $10 yearly subscription…I have not felt that I needed this subscription as the full app cost at $20 has so much included with it…and that is $20 one-time purchase NOT a yearly subscription for the app. 

I highly recommend these apps for your iPhone or iPad if you are a musician - they make “making music” so much easier!

Do you want to learn more? Check out my website - tricialouis.com. There you can explore my resources, subscribe to my weekly email newsletter, and contact me. And if you like this podcast, consider supporting it by going to buymeacoffee.com/talouis and pledging your contribution to the one-five.

Keep in mind the information shared on this podcast may take additional clearances from your tech department to work properly in your district, school, or classroom. I have vetted all of the information shared on this podcast and it is available and/or correct on the date the podcast is originally published. But, remember that services, sites, or products can change or become unavailable without a lot of notice. 

Thanks for listening and join me next week for another episode of the one five!