Help Please - Putting it all together Workflow.

[rmodel21]

Hello all
It's great to be a part of this group!
I recently bought the Yamaha psr sx900 which is my first arranger keyboard. I am classically trained and can and need to read sheet music for lyrics melody, chords and vocals. I need help in trying to develop a consistent way of playing songs with the sheet music in front of me , and the ability to use the many features of this arranger Keyboard and would love to know how other keyboardists do this. Do you use the app Forscore for the sheet music or Ultimate Guitar for the chords and lyrics? Do you load a midi or an audio file into your arranger that already has chords and lyrics and then use an external monitor to view it and then play along with the file . I am trying to accomplish being a one man band. I love this arranger and its ability to create an entire band around me. Thank you for your help.

Bob
Roland Juno DS 88, Yamaha PSR sx900
Thanks Mom and Dad for the piano lessons since I was 5 . The best gift ever !!

[travlin-easy]

For versatility and easy viewing, I use a 9-inch netbook PC that sits upon a specially designed console atop my arranger keyboard. Now, because I was a full time entertainer, I needed to maintain eye contact with my audience, which this allowed me to do. Just a slight glance down at the lyrics and chords allowed me to do this. After a while, I had the lyrics and chords memorized therefore, the netbook PC was just used for reference when I forgot a part of the song, which was rare. Also, my performances were mainly as a singer - not strictly a player. Therefore, I downloaded all my songs from tabs.UltimateGuitar.com, which is a fantastic site for this purpose.

Good luck,

Gary 

[EileenL]

Pushing buttons and reading music is something that comes with practice. There is no easy way. Get to know your keyboard and how it works first.

[alanclare]

...and if you haven't read, learned and inwardly digested the excellent lessons in the tutorial pages, I recommend that you start with those.

psr tutorial

Alan

[JohnS (Ugawoga)]

Hi
If you have been playing since 5 years old you have no problems.
I usually use a tablet for music reading or print the sheets off for quick use.
If you want to record , go Cubase and get a decent set of monitors .
This way you will learn lots , but will have to spend the pennies.
If you just want live play, all there is a need to do is learn the Keyboards in's and out's.
Being classically trained you should be up there with Rick Wakeman. Skies the limit.
With workflow , it is best to make your own registrations and also learn how to put Styles together and pads.
Once you have a style or make one ,make the registrations and then off you go.
You will get there  in no time being a trained player.
Me I started at 35 learning Kenneth Baker books!!
It has been a long uphill struggle for me as i was more interested in Pushing dinky toys around the carpet at 5 years old

All the best
John

[mikf]

Many people will use registrations for gigging. That way everything in the set up can be stored against the title. However, if you start to get into multiple registrations to change the set up for different parts of the song, then you also need to mark up the music in some way so you know when to change, and what is happening. Typically gig musicians will organize their registrations in some easy to find way, - alphabetic, genres, tempos whatever works best for them. 
There are other ways, which some prefer. For example some musicians like to store favorite voices and styles in a permanent set of registrations which they label on the keyboard and can call up for a wide range of songs. This suits people who don't like to get too structured. Its also possible to use the old MusicFinder and the new equivalents. That is one of the beauties of the arranger, there is nearly always more than one way, and what you have to do is find out all the possibilities and what works for you.
As far as music is concerned, some people probably still use paper, usually in a ring binder with all their repertoire in it. That is how ai always worked in my gig days, and still like that. I played a gig a short time ago and the vocalist still preferred that old fashioned way - and honestly so do I.
A small point about reading music that Gary alluded to. Most gig musicians I worked with had some kind of cheat sheet around, with lyrics and maybe chords. But they only are there as a crutch/memory jogger, and I never played with a single pro musician that actually needed to read music as a matter off course while live playing. I think its pretty difficult to be an effective and relaxed entertainer linked into your audience if you are having to read every note. It might be OK in an orchestra,or big band, but not a small group or OMB.
Mike

[rmodel21]

Thank you all so much for your feedback.  I am beginning to get the concept of arranging my own registrations for different songs .  Just need to dive in and get dirty to learn what this keyboard can really do .

Bob