Multitasking using Player

[dflat]

These instructions using iBooks focus on the iPad which can be used to view PDF files. Its larger size works particularly well with music notation from Sibelius or Finale scores or scanned sheet music. Or in landscape orientation, you could have a chord chart on one side of the screen and lyrics on the other. I use Adobe Acrobat for preparing composite PDFs but there are other PDF applications available for your computer (including free ones.) Choose one that can create bookmarks (if you need a Table of Contents.)

Besides iBooks, there are a number of PDF viewing iOS apps designed specifically for musicians (another post to follow soon) but iBooks is free and easily used.

Possible requirements:
iBooks (or PDF viewing app) on your iOS4 (or greater) device capable of multitasking
Adobe Acrobat or other PDF software for creating/compositing/merging
Sibelius or Finale (or similar) for notation
a word processor for lyrics and title page (MS Word, Notepad, TextEdit, Apple Pages etc.)
a scanner for sheet music

Here are the steps:
1 Create your PDF page
The iPad's screen proportions are 4:3, so if your page is roughly those dimensions, you can fill/scan to near every edge (small margins) so you will not need to resize/zoom in/move at viewing time.

In Sibelius and Finale, there is a specific 9 x 12 inches (22.86 x 30.48 cm) page size called "Concert" (presumably for music!) coincidentally corresponding to the 4:3 proportion of the iPad. I use very small margins on all four sides, then maximize the title and notation size to every margin.

Run some test pages with different margins and page dimensions, depending on what information you are putting on the page (font point size for lyrics etc.) and what orientation you are going to use (for music notation presumably portrait.)

2 Prepare content
Note: I describe saving as PDFs here, but Adobe Acrobat can convert from .jpg and .png files to PDF pages if necessary at import/merge.

2a Sibelius or Finale (or similar)
Increase the size of your notation to fill the page (staff size or resize options.) The title can be small if you use bookmarks (Table of Contents) or a little larger for thumbnail view where you can see the title. Save to PDF directly within the application to create a small file, naming each PDF the title of the tune. If you have more than one page, the PDF created has all the pages.
Mac users can use the Print>PDF button.
PC users can download a number of PDF applications to do this.
Make a custom-sized page in File>Print Setup of 9 x 12 inches (although the Concert size was available within both Sibelius and Finale it was not in my computer's Page setup settings.) You need to do this if 'printing' in order to render the PDF at the correct size.

2b Prepare lyric sheets
Create these in your word processor and save directly to PDF. Again, a page size in the proportions of 4:3 will translate to the iPad.
(Or for lyrics, just put them in your Notes app, however preparing them as a PDF means you can use it with different material in a single document in iBooks.)

2c Prepare the content via scanning
This is useful for your printed sheet music. Here are a few basic tips:
-scan between 100-200dpi (spi) (depends on the size of the paper. Do some tests.)
-scan in black and white (or grayscale) - unless there is a reason not to (makes the file size smaller)
-crop out the white margins but …
-scan in a 4:3 proportion if possible (meaning you might have a larger white margin either top/bottom or on each side) or ...
-crop after scanning (a small print area surrounded by large areas of white margins on every side will require unnecessary zooming at view time)
-increase the contrast to get a dark black if needed
-straighten if necessary (use an image/photo manipulation app etc. to rotate)

Save directly to PDF. Name each PDF page (file) the title name of the tune.
The file size from scanning will be larger compared with the other methods, but if you have printed music, it is the easiest way. (I have many scanned PDF pages in iBooks and it works perfectly well.)

3 Cover page (optional)
Construct a cover page (4:3 proportions preferable.) This is what iBooks will show you in icon view on its bookshelf. I usually use text size about 80pt (or larger.) This looks big on the page but the 'book covers' on the bookshelf are quite small.

4 Prepare the composite PDF document
Use Adobe Acrobat (or similar) to composite all the PDF pages into one document. Use the Create PDF from multiple files (or similar) option. The title page goes first (acting as its cover) then the other pages can be an any order (but alphabetical probably makes sense.)

Bookmarks
iBooks will show you thumbnails of each page, so you will see the title at the top of each chart. This OK for a small number of tunes, but for a large number, create bookmarks for each tune. iBooks will then give you an alternative view for finding your song… Table of Contents, a list of your bookmarks. You will probably only need a bookmark for the first page in a multi-paged piece since you can swipe to the following page… test this before you play live!

In Adobe Acrobat in the Combine Files window, click on the Options button and check "Always add bookmarks to Adobe PDF." This will automatically make bookmarks from the filename of each PDF (which is the title of your songs, if that is what you did when you saved each tune.)
Arrange the order of the files if you need to, then merge, create and save when it has composited all the pages.
Adobe Acrobat creates the bookmarks from filename for you automatically but if you are using another application, you may need to create them individually for each page.
(Macintosh users - Apple Preview creates bookmarks but they do not embed into the PDF when saving.)

As always, run a few tests with a few pages to make sure everything works before tackling hundreds of pages.

Edit bookmarks
Delete any unneeded bookmarks like the title page or any superfluous pages from multi-paged pieces. Bookmarks can be in any order and can be re-ordered. Organize your bookmarks in whatever way you like.
Also a page can have more than one bookmark associated with it. This is useful for songs such as "On Green Dolphin Street" which could have a bookmark "Green Dolphin Street" - create two bookmarks under "O" and "G" pointing to the same page (useful for titles in different languages also.)

The attached screenshot is of a sample test I constructed with alphabetical letter headings and their titles underneath. (The alphabetical headings point to the first page title of that letter.)
(Note the actual pages of this document are not in any particular order, but with alphabetical bookmarks it does not matter.)

5 Name PDF file
Name the filename of your composite something meaningful. The filename is what you will see if you are in PDF list view in iBooks (in icon view you see your cover page on the bookshelf.)

6 Import into iBooks
You can either email the PDF to your iPad (tap and select Open in iBooks - it will then stay in there) or in iTunes, connect your iPad and drag the PDF into your iPad listed on the left. It automatically appears in iBooks.

7 View
In iBooks you can view PDF documents in either its bookshelf or as a list. And similarly, within your composite PDF, you can view thumbnails of each page (across and down) or its Table of Contents - meaning your bookmarks.
If you play transposing instruments and have several PDFs for each instrument, you could put each into a different collection (new in iBooks v1.2.)

8 iReal book player and iBooks
Using multitasking,
-in iBooks select your PDF composite document
-locate the song so it is ready to view
-in iReal book select song
-set Player at 2 bars count
-press play
-switch back to iBooks.

If playing live you would want to check Player settings (audio count in off, volumes of the instruments, reverb.)

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ref: based on
iBooks v1.2
iOS 4.2 (multitasking available on recent iOS devices including iPad)
Adobe Acrobat Professional v8