Guide · Rehearsal and stage
How do several musicians or singers share one tablet?
By NoteStand · updated
In short
Put the tablet on a stand, at reading height for everyone, and show the score without highlighting one voice, with lyrics large enough to read a metre away. Give the pages to one person, ideally with a Bluetooth page-turn pedal, and run the programme in concert order, so nobody has to search.
When to share a tablet?
Not every musician has a tablet, and a choir doesn’t equip each member. One tablet on a stand can serve three or four neighbours: in rehearsal for those who forgot their score, in concert to avoid turning paper pages in the silence.
Placing it well
- On a stand, not in hand: everyone keeps their hands free for the instrument or for breathing and posture.
- At the eye level of the shortest reader, tilted to limit stage-light glare.
- Plugged in or charged before the concert, with the screen set not to sleep.
Showing every voice
On a shared screen, highlighting one voice gets in the others’ way. Show the score equally for all, or the lyrics in large type if the singers follow the text. Lyrics must stay readable at stand distance, often a metre, and under the hall’s lighting: a dark background and reduced brightness tire the eyes less and don’t disturb the audience.
Who turns the pages?
One person, always the same: whoever is least busy at the page turns, or the reader closest to the stand. A Bluetooth page-turn pedal leaves their hands free. Prepare the programme in concert order: at the end of a piece, the next one opens, without searching.
Starting notes
With several voices on one screen, each must be able to take its note. Have each voice’s starting note, or the full chord, one tap away before each piece.
With NoteStand
- The first time the run opens, NoteStand asks whether other sections read the screen: “Yes, other sections”, and no part is highlighted. The “Highlight” setting on “None” then applies to that device.
- Lyrics show at a real physical size, readable a metre away, once the screen is calibrated.
- The run opens in stage mode: dark background, reduced brightness, larger buttons. The Bluetooth pedal turns the pages, then moves to the next piece.
- At the bottom of the screen, each part’s starting note, the chord and the arpeggio, at the real octave.
- Installed, the app keeps the screen on during the run, and works offline.