[bphigginsmoe]

I am trying to figure out the best page-turner for the organ.  There is no way to lay a pedal type on the floor because of the pedal board.  I had someone tell me they mounted a pedal style on the underside of the keyboards and then used their knee to hit it to turn pages and also saw someone mount one vertically on the console above the pedal board and then kicked it with their toe.  These might work but I play at a couple of different churches and not sure how I would mount one either way so that it could be moved from instrument to instrument.  There are some programable buttons I have seen that are for the camera apps on smartphones and I am wondering if they are that specific or if they could be set to turn pages.  I welcome any other ideas as well!

[Rey_a]

Heve you considered using face gestures?
Then you can turn pages by blinking an eye or by raising your eyebrows ...

[Geoff Bacon]

or mouth open?

[bphigginsmoe]

I have tried the facial gestures but I have not had much luck getting them to work reliably.  For some reason, they either don't work at all or they are so sensitive any movement turns the page.  Since they work for others, I think it must be an issue with either my settings or my tablet.

[samibe]

I'm an organist as well and have been trying to find a good option for several years. The facial gestures are nice but I don't want to take the hit in battery life. My current workaround is to use two-page display and single page turns. If I can find a spot on the right page where I can free up a hand (a rest or close chord), I can use my free hand to turn the page. It works reasonably well if the music I'm playing isn't too crazy.
I've tried a few shutter buttons. The cheap ones trigger a volume up or down button press. Which isn't great if you're using the metronome or a backing track. I don't know if there are any that can be reprogrammed to some other input command.
I've wanted to try the Flic button but I'm not certain that it's compatible with my devices. The Flic button would work just like a piston and could probably be temporarily attached to the piston rail with something like sticky tack. Historically, the Flic button has only worked with iOS and Forescore. I have no idea if (or how well) it would work with MobileSheets and other operating systems.

[bphigginsmoe]

I'm an organist as well and have been trying to find a good option for several years. The facial gestures are nice but I don't want to take the hit in battery life. My current workaround is to use two-page display and single page turns. If I can find a spot on the right page where I can free up a hand (a rest or close chord), I can use my free hand to turn the page. It works reasonably well if the music I'm playing isn't too crazy.
I've tried a few shutter buttons. The cheap ones trigger a volume up or down button press. Which isn't great if you're using the metronome or a backing track. I don't know if there are any that can be reprogrammed to some other input command.
I've wanted to try the Flic button but I'm not certain that it's compatible with my devices. The Flic button would work just like a piston and could probably be temporarily attached to the piston rail with something like sticky tack. Historically, the Flic button has only worked with iOS and Forescore. I have no idea if (or how well) it would work with MobileSheets and other operating systems.

Thanks for the info.  Do you use two tablets, a page on each, or just a single tablet set to 2-page display?  Depending on the music I have a hard time seeing 2 pages at once on my tablet (12.7" display).  I don't want to spend another $300 on what will essentially be just a monitor so I have been looking into a 24" or 27" computer monitor.

[samibe]

Currently, my eyes are good enough that I can read two pages at a time on my surface tablet. Eventually I'll need to get another tablet. Before I bought my surface I used a 24" touch screen monitor. It worked great for practicing but involved way more stuff than I wanted to lug to performances.

[hkohne]

I'm an organist as well.  I haven't had MobileSheets long enough to really try it out on the organ, while I've used a 2-pedal unit or manual tapping while playing piano (and an upcoming handbell gig).  Using Forescore & an iPad, organist Dan Miller has taped a single-pedal unit to the organ's crescendo pedal and used that for turning pages, before Forescore had the facial recognition feature, which is what he uses now.

AirTurn makes a bite switch that you literally bite on to advance pages, but it's kind of weird.  It's also not cheap at $60 a pop.  Info here: https://www.airturn.com/products/airturn-bite-switch

I'm intrigued with the ring controllers, but I don't know if it will actually be practical for us.

I'm using a HP laptop/tablet hybrid, and the screen is wide enough that I can view side-by-side or single-page-portrait depending on how it's on the rack.  The only problem I've really had has been once I turn it off or put it into sleep mode, I have to convert the machine back to a laptop to turn it back on and log in.  One nice thing about this machine with MobileSheets is that I can do annotations in either laptop or tablet mode.

[Cajun_Organist]

I am trying to figure out the best page-turner for the organ.  There is no way to lay a pedal type on the floor because of the pedal board.  I had someone tell me they mounted a pedal style on the underside of the keyboards and then used their knee to hit it to turn pages and also saw someone mount one vertically on the console above the pedal board and then kicked it with their toe.  These might work but I play at a couple of different churches and not sure how I would mount one either way so that it could be moved from instrument to instrument.  There are some programable buttons I have seen that are for the camera apps on smartphones and I am wondering if they are that specific or if they could be set to turn pages.  I welcome any other ideas as well!

Hi! I’ve found some solutions for this, as I’m an organist as well. Since we’re accustomed to hitting pistons, the "Flic 2" buttons are a great option. I bought a set of three and found them very effective. They come with adhesive backing, allowing you to experiment with placement on your console. I positioned one near the Great pistons for my right hand and another near the general pistons on the piston rail under the left side of the Swell for my left hand.
I programmed each button to turn pages forward with a single click and backward with a double click. For the third button, I added a red sticker labeled “Emergency,” and it turns pages back with just one click. While I’m still experimenting, I find the system works well overall. The Flic buttons do have a noticeable lag compared to an iRig or tapping the screen or a mouse, but it’s not significant enough to be an issue.
Another tip: page turns can be set to slide instead of full turns. For instance, if I’m viewing pages 1 and 2, a page turn can reveal pages 2 and 3 (instead of 3 and 4). This feature was a tremendous help when I played In Dir Ist Freude yesterday. I no longer needed to turn pages at the end of the right-hand page.
I used annotations to mark where my page turns occur. To avoid disorientation when the page I’m playing moves to the left, I added large, thick arrows to indicate where I’ll continue after the turn.
I’m also exploring options for foot-controlled page turning—though not with my knee, haha! I think someone with engineering skills could create a bracket-mounted pedal that’s accessible yet unobtrusive for pedal playing. Alternatively, I’m considering adding a toe studs that could connect directly to an iRig. This way, turning pages would feel as natural to organists as hitting a piston or toe stud in a pre-designated bar.

[BRX]

Have you considered and tried face gestures as suggested above?

After (as pianist in a big band) trying foot pedals and bluetooth pagers (rings, or attached with rubber band to index finger) at first I've finally settled on face gestures after some trial and error.
Biggest problem for me were uncontrolled pages turning due to "unvoluntary head and face movements".

For me is best working head upwards movement for turning forward (like a "hey you" ackknowledgement) and mouth open für turning backwards (don't yawn while playing).
I eliminated actions for all other face gestures.

And it's better to work with half page turns so you still can repeat the gesture or turn back if the gesture isn't recognized or there is a unvoluntary gesture.
I think it's working surprisingly well after I have worked out my personal setup. I'm using an iPad pro. I don't know how good the camera detection is on Android and Windows.

[Dupe]

Would it be possible to rig something up using your heel, I use an IPad with a double foot switch I built myself. Right tap advance one page, left tap, back a page. Just thinking, if you could use your heel some how?  Dupe