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Worship Leading From a Tablet

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We know as ministry leaders that you often don't get the chance to visit other churches on Sunday mornings. One of the perks I have is that I don't work for a church and can take time each month to visit churches in my area.

Recently, our family visited a new church plant that meets at my daughter's middle school. I immediately noticed the lack of clutter on the stage area. I also noticed that their worship leaders were leading from iPads with no sheet music.

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As a musician and worship leader myself, I've yet to have the experience to lead at a church with digital music. When AirTurn reached out to us to see if they could help educate the market on digital music, I was all ears.

Below are some specific benefits to consider when going digital with worship as well as guidelines for what equipment is needed to make it happen:

Benefits of going Digital

In the last ten years, tablet and laptop technology have come a long way in storage and reliability, allowing musicians to store the equivalent of 120,000 pages of paper sheet music on a single 1 pound 32 GB iPad. Double that for a 64GB iPad.

In addition to eliminating bulk, you’re able to pull up all your works by the name of a song, the composer, tempo, genre, or even the key signature. Annotations can be erased or altered at any time, without the hassle of printing a new copy. Need to transpose? Many apps allow you to transpose entire scores with a few simple taps on the screen.

With digital sheet music, not only do you have a wide variety of software options for viewing and working with your music, but you can get hardware for turning your pages hands free with wireless digital page-turning pedals.

How to Hold a TabletMANOS goSTAND combo 2 grande

Once you have your tablet, the next step is to figure out how to hold it. Of course, you could put it on a legacy sheet music stand but you can imagine what happens the first time you bump into it. What you really need is a device that will securely hold any size tablet or phone even if it's in a protective case. You need to be able to adjust it to any position and rotate between portrait and landscape mode on the fly. It needs to be durable to last for years.

There is only one tablet holder out there that meets all these criteria. The MANOS Universal Tablet Holder is made in the US and will serve your tablet holding needs for many years to come.

How to Hold a Tablet Holder

A tablet holder is only as good as its mic stand. You need a way to have your tablet right in front of you whether you are sitting, standing, or on an uneven surface. Even more than this, what if that mic stand could collapse and fit into your backpack and be sturdy enough extended to trust during performances?

The goSTAND from AirTurn is the convenient, compact, and durable mic stand that holds your tablet holder exactly where you need it to be. Enjoy the freedom of setting up anywhere to practice, teach, or perform.

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How to Control a Tablet

Think about it, taking your hand off your instrument to turn a page is the most unpractical way to play music. With digital sheet music applications, you are able to turn pages or scroll through your music faster and easier than ever before with a wireless Bluetooth footswitch.

The PEDpro provides an easy-to-use, durable footswitch that connects wirelessly through Bluetooth and provides freedom from the tangle of cords on stage. Its two silent foot switches allow for fast and quiet response so you can keep your hands on your instrument and your focus on the music.

Free ebook

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AirTurn is also sharing a free comprehensive ebook to help worship leaders make the transition. From Paper to Pixels is the comprehensive 366-page guide for the musician who is ready to embrace the Digital Sheet Music Revolution. Everything including selecting the perfect tablet or computer, finding the right apps and tools for reading and writing music, exploring online sheet music resources, and how to get music onto your tablet or computer of choice. Use the coupon code FREEP2P to get either the paperback or digital copy.

Additionally, many of the apps we've reviewed here at ChurchTechToday do work with AirTurn's product line for controlling digital music. We'd love to hear of successes you've had below in the comments.

Lauren Hunter
Lauren Hunterhttps://laurenhunter.net
Lauren Hunter is a writer who loves the big picture of God’s journey we are all on together. In 2007, she founded ChurchTechToday, a website for pastors and church leaders to harness technology to improve ministry. Married to her high school sweetheart, Lauren lives in Northern California with her husband and their four children. Her latest book is Leaving Christian Science: 10 Stories of New Faith in Jesus Christ. She can be found online at https://laurenhunter.net.

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