TubaForum.net

I mentioned this in a now locked iPad thread, but one of my biggest issues is having to pay for the device, and more importantly, the app to read music.

I grew up very poor (as I say, I survive now), and I remember my father did not want me in band. I started on trumpet, and one of the things we had to buy besides the instrument was a metronome. My dad was furious having to spend that and he said “pro musicians don’t use these”—apparently a guy he worked with had a distant family member in the Philadelphia Orchestra and saw a video and they didn’t use metronomes in a performance. Growing up with less made me appreciate what I had. Going to undergrad, not owning a tuba for nearly 2 years, being told by people at other schools on social media I would never make it without my own horn in CC, later an F tuba, might have prompted decisions then that I could have . I don’t regret my purchases, and I use one as my main horn, but when I see students now feeling they need certain Chinese made 6/4 York style CCs (a sound concept I personally am not a fan with for the majority of students or players), it takes me back down memory lane and the importance of free resources (since I had to make cutbacks like having a beyond crappy car and couldn’t take auditions or do summer festivals if I had known about them. Yeah, one guy in undergrad laughed at me for my car, said I should have invested into a decent looking car instead of a new tuba and how my priorities were off).

So one of the universities I teach at has a policy where we cant make students pay for software or additional fees besides books, and over the years I have had students whose parents won’t even let them download apps on a phone.

Something I have personally done for the past decade is that I refuse to pay for an application or program to make music. Why? I want to prove it can be done just as effectively, and students will see the possibility when someone they trust (or at least a hack like me) can make progress without spending a ton. Many will buy an app, like tonal energy (which smiles when out of tune, but whatever…), but the longer I do this, the more important it is to me.

The only app I use that costs is a drone app—which I got for free when it came out, but have gone to YouTube to find drones for students, but did get this one for free. My phone video records with decent enough audio to help in my practice sessions when I am brave enough to record. When a parent won’t let a kid use their phone on grounds then, I suggest a korg tuner (which mine from 2009 is still doing its job and I use more than my phone), or a computer, but they normally let them have their phone back for this.

With my ramble of a back story done—what are some free apps and programs do the job well? Yes, please include iPad reading devices:

I use on iPhone:

—n-track tuner (which shows overtones and frequencies)
—MetroTimer
—Decibel Meter (very rarely use but for tonal evenness)
—scale master (drone app, was free when I downloaded, or YouTube recordings of drones if I don’t have my Korg).
—built in video and audio recorders

Also YouTube and Spotify if I am in a listening mood.

Some of these have pro versions. Should probably look for a good practice log and task apps.

What apps or other programs that are 100% free are you using that supplement music making.

I use Android devices, and have a strong preference for applications released under an open source license. My personal experience is that these apps tend to do one thing, or just a few things, very well, without the bloat and ads and required network permissions and spyware of the commercial apps.

That said, the Universal Tuner app doesn't appear to be released under any sort of license at all. But it's "free", works well enough, and the only permission it needs is microphone access. It has a big list of supported instruments, but also has a chromatic mode. I installed it after my daughter swiped my Korg tuner on the way out the door to college. I have since purchased another Korg along with a contact microphone and don't use the app much anymore, but it is handy to have it on the phone just in case I forget the real thing.

Universal Tuner
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... uitartuner

Metronome - I use this every day. It's wonderful and simple. I don't even know where my real metronome is at the moment. Probably in a box in the basement, or the back of a desk drawer. GPLv3 and no permissions required.

Metronome
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... .metronome

The IMSLP app (yes, that IMSLP) is a great free score reader with metronome and markup tools.

For some, the direct link to the IMSLP library is a big plus, but I expect most tubists will just be improving PDFs. Either way, very well-made app and works with most page turning buttons.

Tuning:
I use "Tuner -Pitched!" On my android phone, it has a nice simple interface, I have Tonal Energy, but I don't like it, way to cluttered
On my laptop I use FMIT (https://gillesdegottex.github.io/fmit/index.html), a lot of analysis options available but that can all be turned off

Notation:
Lilypond with Frescobaldi as editing interface
Text based input, but with realtime preview of what you are doing.

For a free metronome, there's an app called "Soundbrenner" that's pretty capable. Soundbrenner sells some watch gadget that's supposed to interface with the app, but the app works pretty well on your phone by itself.

I really like the Soundcorset tuner. Its available on all platforms

I stumbled across a new (to me) program last night called LilyPond, along with an editor called Frescobaldi. LilyPond is an open source music notation application that takes a text file containing markup and produces printable sheet music. The tutorial is easy to follow and the documentation is superb. I spent about 2 hours with it last night, including installation on my Debian machine, part of the tutorial, and then creating the tuba part from a quintet score. Once I had some of the basic markup under my fingers, it started to go really fast.

It appears to be freely available for Linux, Windows and x86 MacOS.

https://lilypond.org/

Frescobaldi and other editors.
https://lilypond.org/easier-editing.html

Documentation and tutorials.
https://lilypond.org/manuals.html

Here's the Markup for the first few bars of the tuba part I worked on last night:

\relative {
\clef bass
\key bes \major
\numericTimeSignature
\time 2/4
\tempo "Adagio" 4 = 52
r2
\time 4/4
r4 ees2.\p~ees2 f g a a d,\<~d1 d2 d,2\! \break

And here's the output:

sdloveless wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 9:01 am I stumbled across a new (to me) program last night called LilyPond, along with an editor called Frescobaldi. LilyPond is an open source music notation application that takes a text file containing markup and produces printable sheet music. The tutorial is easy to follow and the documentation is superb. I spent about 2 hours with it last night, including installation on my Debian machine, part of the tutorial, and then creating the tuba part from a quintet score. Once I had some of the basic markup under my fingers, it started to go really fast.

It appears to be freely available for Linux, Windows and x86 MacOS.

https://lilypond.org/

For the academics and students there is a LaTex package (specifically LuLaTex) that integrates LilyPond compilation directly into your LaTex document for typesetting. Perfect if you want nice typesetting AND engraving in a thesis document or paper.

The package is called lyluatex
https://ctan.math.utah.edu/ctan/tex-arc ... luatex.pdf

Github
https://github.com/jperon/lyluatex

The big caveat is it doesn't work with online latex tools like Overleaf because they typically don't support execution of 3rd party software during document compilation. You would need to run it from a Tex distribution on your own computer.

It is neat in that it lets you do things like insert arbitrary notational fragments in-line with text.. and do dynamic cross-referencing to music notation in the same way you would do for figures, equations, tables etc and they can appear in a table of contents or as a separate table of "music".

Had I not walked away from my PhD mid-dissertation, I would have been VERY interested in that software, @gocsick. I had been using very clumsy screen captures and Finale snippets converted to .png and things like that.