Calling all iPads

            By Brother Luke

 

            Well, maybe not all iPads! But we have a new development in choir at New Skete which utilizes the iPad. We are now switching over from paper copies of music to digital copies. This is happening partly due to the quarantine and even more because we are very fortunate to have a candidate, David Freiler, and a Resident Volunteer, Ralph Karow, who have been with us through the quarantine.  They both have special skills that have made this transition possible.

            David is of the generation that grew up with computers and he can take pdf files and manipulate them via Adobe and construct the order of music for each service. Ralph has both computer and music degrees and experience with both so he and David have been a dynamic duo prompting and then moving this process along. Brother Gregory is pitching in as well. He has long advocated making this transition and now that the “stars are lined up fortuitously” his efforts to digitalize our music have borne fruit. I also have a large collection of our music digitalized, much of which was written by our good friend Kevin Lawrence. Ralph Karow is entering some of our older versions of music into Finale and helping to expand that resource base. Brother Marc continues to create the ordos for each service. So, informally we have a team working to convert concept into reality.

            Putting this together is a group effort. Brother Marc sends out the ordos, then David and I work together to assemble copies of the music. Some music may be already in a digital music form, either via Sibelius of Finale, and those items are easily converted into pdfs. Some music may need to be scanned from paper copies. Then David creates the final pdf that contains all the music and cantor texts for the next service.

            As the project goes forward, many of the items that are being scanned now will be converted into new music or Word documents. So the quality of the digital copies we use will continue to improve over time.

            This process means that instead of taking time to assemble paper copies of all the music for each service by each monastic, plus copies for guests, only one digital copy will be produced and then sent via email to all the iPads. Not too far down the road, regular attendees at our services who may want to sing with us can get the pdf file sent to their email address and they can bring their own device to the church and have the full service literally at their finger tips.

            This has become an exciting project for the whole community. As brothers and sisters begin to use the iPad version of the music, they realize how the level of stress around preparing for services has been reduced. We have entered a new era and it is making our life better. It will also let more people who attend our services participate in a fuller way. The COVID pandemic is a worldwide disaster, and yet, even at difficult times such as these, little graces can come our way.

Binders containing music.

 

 

iPad with music.