I have a few favorite apps that I use when I plan worship service music. Since I typically use my iPad for most tasks, apps are key. But many of these apps will also sync to your home or work computer, making them an invaluable cross-platform resource. Here are a few apps that I seem to use the most.
Evernote. I love using Evernote for worship planning, admin tasks, and just about everything else that needs to be organized or filed. In high school, I had a wire notebook for every subject, with the topic clearly labeled on the front with a Sharpie. Evernote is the digital counterpart to a host of notebooks. With it, you can create pages or notes that contain text, photos, media, and web clippings. These notes can then be grouped together in notebooks, according to subject. You can copy, paste, share with others, chat, and organize just about everything. I have a notebook for worship planning that contains notes for each month. I list all the pertinent details as they come to me: topic, preaching pastor, Scripture passages, etc. Then I prayefully fit the music needs into the framework like a puzzle. I also use Evernote for everything from household chore lists, doctor appointments, my personal prayer list, as well as corporate needs. The simple notebook system ensures that I don't lose anything!
I also love to use Dropbox. Dropbox is great because I can upload any pertinent file - such as a music file - and save it on to Dropbox. Then I can access that file from anywhere, any computer. I just need my login information. I often use Dropbox to keep music files for the week so that I can easily retrieve them or share them with another musician - it's great for PDF's, photos, MP3s, etc.
Another fav app is simply YouTube. With YouTube, I can create playlists of worship songs for the praise team to watch, or share videos of techniques, worship services, and devotions. Plus you can learn to do just about anything if you can search for it on YouTube.
ForScore is a great app for music reading. I keep copies of all my scores in ForScore so that I can pull them up at a moment's notice. With this app, I can create set lists, organize, rearrange, and save music. I can annotate PDF's just like I would mark up a score in pencil. I can share these scores, print them, and add notes, genre, key, and style information. This cool app includes a built in metronome, dark room for taking pictures of other scores, and works well with blue tooth capable pedals such as the AirTurn.
I like the Tempo metronome app, the Pearl Guitar app which turns your iPad into a guitar, and Pages for writing sermons and song intros. The next app I intend to try is "Remind" - an app that lets you text reminders to your team's cell phones without divulging your number. Naturally, I would be lost without my calendar, messenger app, Safari, and Facebook. But the best app of all - the one I need to use the most- is the NIV Study Bible App, complete with reading plans, additional translations, and lots of great notes. With the power and flexibility of all of
What about you? What apps do you like to use for worship planning?
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