To Download, or Not to Download? 3 App Reviews for the Modern Day Singer

*Disclaimer: These apps do have a couple of other features, particularly the upgrades for the Musicnotes app that I did not get into below, because I have not upgraded my musicnotes app. These reviews are based off of my personal experience with the apps and the tools in them that I have used.

As someone who is always on the run, I've learned there are ways to make learning music more efficient when you're in a time crunch. As a singer, ideally I'd like to sit down at a piano and learn my music on my own. However, that's not always possible when you're balancing a tight schedule, or learning multiple sets of music at once and get music last minute for a gig (oh the joys of sight-reading). Below, I've highlighted three musical apps that I have used and given my personal review of each of them. To download, or not to download? Its ultimately up to you, but here's my quick rundown of them.

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App #1: TURBOSCAN

I'm not lying when I say this is probably my favorite app on my phone. I absolutely love this scanner!

Pros: This app is perfect for scanning sheet music, but it also works great for scanning just about anything else, music or non-music related. Long gone are the days of trying to align your music books "just right" on a printer scanner so as not to cut off any parts of the accompaniment (let me tell y'all I used to have such a headache with those scanners.) With Turboscan, you can take a picture of your music (or any other document) and frame the scan exactly how you want it. You can also email sheet music scans as a PDF, text, or print them from the app.

Cons: None to name.

Price: There are different levels of Turboscan that you can upgrade to. I use the Premium which is a one-time purchase of $6.99

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App #2: MUSICNOTES

Ahhhh, the Musicnotes app. I have mixed feelings about this app and website as a whole. Let's get into it below.

Pros: Just like with the desktop version, you can find music (if they have it), transpose it to the key of your choosing, and purchase it. An added benefit of the app though is that once you purchase music, it goes into your music library which then has an audio feature that will literally play the song(s) you have purchased. This built-in player also allows you to adjust the tempo making it helpful to act as a guided accompaniment when learning music. This can be especially helpful when you can't find an instrumental version anywhere and you want to get comfortable singing through your piece with a makeshift accompaniment track.

Cons: Musicnotes can be expensive. If you don't purchase music too often, it's not too bad. However, if you're learning new music every week or at least needing to purchase music pretty regularly, it may be better to look for more cost-efficient options. One option is to just go ahead and purchase books. This can be especially helpful if you're looking to add more rep in general.

Price: The app itself is FREE, but the music of course isn't. There are also options to upgrade your Musicnotes app which also vary in price.

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App #3: MUSIC SCANNER

I downloaded this app for the first time about a week ago, and already have mixed thoughts about it....

Pros: As the name implies you can only scan/upload pictures of music with this scanner. The purpose of this scanner is to play the music for you. Similar to the Musicnotes app, you can also adjust the tempo, and the benefit of using this app is you don't have to purchase your music from musicnotes.com to be able to use it. Instead, you can literally take a picture of or upload whatever sheet music you already have on your phone (as long as the scan is clean and clear). You can also separate "voices", meaning you can choose for it to play the accompaniment only, the melody line only, or all of it. I usually prefer to play through my music when learning new pieces, but decided to downloaded this app because I was in a time crunch to learn new music and thought I'd give it a try. I loved the idea of an app that could scan my music and play it for me, but I felt like it sounded too good to be true, and while it was helpful in aiding my learning of new music, I did have some issues with it which brings me to...

Cons: It was indeed a little "too good to be true". While the app does play the music you have scanned (which in itself is really cool!) the rhythm can be faulty at times. I noticed the rhythm was on point most of the time, but when the accompaniment and melody were played at the same time, the rhythm was at times skewed. Additionally, it has a button called "multiple voices" which allows you to separate the voices, but there is little flexibility in this. For example, if you're learning an SATB piece, it may only allow you to separate it into SA or TB voices. This "multiple voices" option works out well for solo pieces (separating the melody line from the accompaniment) but there is not much flexibility outside of that. If you have a good ear and you're comfortable with reading music, this isn't really a problem. If however, you need to be able to hear just your part separated from the rest of the voices (say for example in an SATB piece) then this may be a challenge since the app does not separate the voices individually.

Price: $3.99

As with any other music app, these are essentially tools to aid you in your music learning and making, but they can't take the place of really getting in and doing the work. They each have their pros and cons but I decided to list them because I think they do have the potential to be useful. Out of the three I mentioned, I would definitely recommend Turboscan because it's been a game changer for me convenience-wise, and living in a digital (and virtual) age as we are- having a scanner app for your music (and other documents) is really an essential.