How I use my iPad in a Day as a Master of Music Student

You know I love sharing musician’s tech, and today I’m sharing how I use my iPad in a day as a musician! If you’re wondering whether an iPad might be right for you, I hope this blog helps! Watch the video on Youtube, or read about it here!

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

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Using my iPad for Practicing

The first way I used my iPad on this day was for practicing the viola. I started by tuning with the app Tuner Lite by Piascore. This has always been my go-to tuning app for iOS.

Then I opened up Andante Practice Journal. I recently bought the premiere features, and I’m loving them! I started logging a practice session, then began my usual scale warmup.

After warming up, I finished logging the session and labeled it as “Warmup.” Then I started a new session and began working on Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, since I’m playing it on my final masters recital on April 30th! I focused on the hardest movement, the Tarantella, and worked on small chunks in two-minutes increments, building the tempo up from quarter note = 110 to quarter note = 120.

I love using Andante for this type of practice, because I can start both the timer and the metronome directly in the app. It works perfectly!

Using my iPad for Teaching

I always use my iPad when I teach! It’s especially come in handy for online lessons, because I can share my iPad screen through Zoom to fill out worksheets together. I also use my iPad to write up practice assignments and tips for my students in their own Google Doc notebooks.

I use my bluetooth keyboard to type easily. I love this setup because I can watch my student on my laptop, and type up their practice assignments on my iPad! I also use my iPad to follow along with my student’s music if I don’t have a hard copy of it.

Using my iPad for Rehearsals

I had a rehearsal for Ottava Bassa Duo that evening, and I always use forscore on my iPad for my sheet music. I generally use the metronome within the app during our rehearsals, because it’s so quick to access.

Using my iPad as a Dual Monitor with my Macbook

One of my favorite ways to use my iPad is as a dual display with my laptop! If you have a Macbook released after 2015, you can connect your iPad as a second display natively with Sidecar. My Macbook is from 2015, so I’m not able to use Sidecar. Instead, I use the paid app Duet Display. It works nicely, but you do need a wired display unless you want to pay extra for a subscription.

Using my iPad as a Planner

I used to love my paper planners, but since I got my iPad in October, I’ve used only Goodnotes as my planner. I enjoy the handwriting experience with my Apple Pencil, but the ease of cutting and pasting rather than erasing or using white out is what makes me love it so much. It’s also so easy to insert pictures or “stickers.”

I finished out my day by making a To Do list for the next day.

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Have any questions about how I use my iPad? Let me know down in the comments! I hope you enjoyed learning a few of the many ways I use my iPad as a musician!