Simon Usborne writing for The Independent:
But about five years ago, Haywood caused a stir with a new approach. He reaches for an iPad and rests it against the stand. An app displays the same, scanned page of Chopin’s “Scherzi”, but I am now truly redundant as Haywood flicks his left foot on to a Bluetooth pedal to turn his own pages, wirelessly and silently.
At first, many concertgoers and reviewers were more interested in the device than the music, but now tablets are used more widely. Several similar set-ups have emerged, meanwhile, including apps that will listen to the music, turning pages automatically (the best time to turn, Haywood says, is a few notes short of the end of the page).
What does it mean for human page turners? Are they under threat? “I think maybe they are,” says Haywood, who says the ultimate solution would be a score that could be projected in front of his eyes, using a Google Glass-like device.
Maybe. On an infinite time horizon, musicians will probably use tablet computers or some other digital solution that simplify things and which may make page turners redundant. But I see this process taking a couple decades at least. As I’ve written, the current iPad suffers from some serious drawbacks for sheet music purposes even while it offers some tangible benefits. If you have perfect eyesight and the latest iPad, then things can go pretty smoothly. If you just need Bluetooth page turning, then great. But handwriting? That’s still missing unless you like deciphering illegible scribbles. There’s also the high cost of entry: an iPad isn’t cheap. And the first time your iPad or sheet music reading program crashes on you during a performance is when your trust in the system begins to break down (which happened to me once).
But who knows? New technology has a way of surprising us. The rumored iPad Pro might alleviate some of these issues. If interactions with the iPad suddenly became much more organic than they are currently, then this could become very popular very quickly.
