Digital Music in Concert

There’s not a whole lot more to say about using a tablet with digital music on it in concert. The rehearsal precautions apply:

• Make sure the battery is charged
• Double and triple check that all sounds and notifications are off (it’s mortifying to have a calendar notification pop up brightly and loudly to remind you that you have a concert as you are standing on stage ready to start)
• Set orientation lock to portrait

The one concert-specific practice is about illumination. The tablet screen lights up your face from below in a creepy, horror-movie kind of way. It’s worse if you’re in a proper theater, not so bad if you’re in a church with ambient lighting. My solution, such as it is, is to turn the tablet brightness down as far as I possibly can and still read the music, and hold the tablet so that it’s pointing at the ceiling, not at my face (it’s easier to see the director that way, too!).

The iPad has night shift mode, slightly more yellow than blue-toned; that may help as well.