Fiat Lux!

[billroper]

I don't know if it's a new pair of contacts or just aging eyes and bad lighting, but I was having a heck of a time reading my lyric sheets at FKO.

In an attempt to stave off the use of reading glasses, I just bought a two-stalked LED lamp for my music stand. We'll see if that helps at Marcon. :)

Comments

[tarkrai.livejournal.com]

You know, Bill, you have a tablet. You have all your lyrics on your computer.

Using available software, you could put all your lyrics on the tablet, and then you not only have your lyrics automatically backlit, you can also get them to autoscroll, or even display in a larger font if needed.

Just sayin'...

[billroper]

I do indeed.

But that would require a lot of reformatting work. And a different (heavier?) music stand. And probably a pedal to make me actually happy with the solution.

This solution required a five minute trip to Amazon. :)

[tarkrai.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply. :) We were traveling..

I would challenge both of those assumptions (reformatting and requiring a different music stand).

First of all- last I knew all your lyrics were in PDFs. There are a wealth of PDF readers, and (I believe) several scrollers for Android. If your lyrics aren't PDF- what are they?

Secondly- I've seen your filk books. I guarantee that they are heavier than a tablet. If your music stand will hold the books, it will hold the tablet.

Why would you need a pedal?

[billroper]

The problem is that only the first exemplar for each verse, chorus, and bridge has the chords over it. Once those scroll off the top of the screen, I am at the mercy of my memory. Honestly, I am more likely to remember the lyrics than all of the chords. :)

Also, if my filk book falls off the music stand, it is an inconvenience. If my tablet falls off the music stand, it is a potential disaster. :)

The pedal is what I consider a "nice thing", in that it would let me control the scrolling speed dynamically.

[tarkrai.livejournal.com]

Ah- I have the opposite problem. The chords are generally burned in, but the words aren't. Therefore I generally only do the first verse/chorus with chords, because I don't need them elsewhere.

And, yes- falling off a music stand is a potential disaster. However, now that we're five years into the 'tablet age'; I have to admit that about 50% of the tablet users I've seen in filk are using the same music holding options that they used with paper- chairs and music stands. Which, in a pinch, I do as well; but yes, I do prefer the custom stand.

Regarding the pedal- don't make assumptions. Yes, the pedals are out there. The software to drive them the way you want is highly dependent upon the application you choose for displaying lyrics (so, yes, if you went to the effort to convert everything to ChordPro text format, I'd be confident that you'd get what you need. For PDF readers, I'm not so sure...).

So, in the end- yes- an LED is the fastest, simplest solution that takes the least amount of effort. But trust me, my luggage REALLY appreciates that all 1000+ songs that I know fit on a device that weighs less than a pound, and my aging eyes appreciate the ability to change font size on the fly and to *always* have the text backlit...

[tarkrai.livejournal.com]

and on further thought- yes- the only time the weight thing comes into effect is when you're flying to a con- which is an occasional, not a regular, thing.

[qnofhrt.livejournal.com]

Getting older is not for wimps!

[ladypoetess.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey - I'll have another happily familiar face at Marcon then! :) Not being a con I have frequented in the last ~10 years, I was a touch nervous about going this year, but there will be at least 6 familiar musical faces, which helps.