Free PDF Readers for the Music Classroom

The PDF (Portable Document Format) was introduced, promoted, and sold over 20 years ago by Adobe Labs.   What has made PDF ubiquitous is that the PDF format is independent of other software.  Each PDF document whether it be created from Word, Excel or, in the case of PDF Band Music, from Sibelius is an independent entity.   All the text, fonts, and graphics are encapsulated in the PDF document making PDF the perfect vehicle for transmitting documents over the Internet. 

  Although Adobe Labs invented PDF and offered it free in the form of Acrobat Reader, the software in the early days was considered proprietary and controlled by Adobe.  This all changed in 2008 when Adobe released a public patent license granting free rights to create PDF software.   Since 2008 many companies have released versions of PDF software.  This article will focus on the best open source PDF reader software for reading music purchased from PDF Band Music.

Most free PDF readers work well for rendering text on laptops and tablets.  In the music classroom, however, the ability to annotate music scores, to bookmark pages, to play embedded audio files and to share files is a plus.  Embedding audio files into PDF is relatively new.  The free Sound Fundamentals band method available at PDF Band Music does make use of embedded audio and having the ability to play these files is a plus.  An example of software that does play embedded audio is the app ezPDF Reader.  Unfortunately, this feature is not available in most free PDF readers.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is clearly the PDF reader leader today.  Available for virtually every computer platform, Acrobat Reader is a solid choice.  Touching the screen allows the user to access the various menus.  It is possible to zoom in and out on music.  Annotation tools include highlight, strikeout, underline as well as adding notes (not music notes).  There is even a share option to send your file via Bluetooth and email.  Embedded audio files cannot be played, however.  Hyperlinks do work well however.

If hard drive space is an issue look no further than the very lightweight latest versions of Mozilla Firefox.  This PDF plugin for Firefox doesn’t have the bells and whistles of Acrobat Reader, but offers a simple interface for reading music.  One of the down sides of some PDF software is that some of the ‘free’ PDF plugins can be a bit risky.  Malicious software can be delivered to unsuspecting users.  Mozilla Firefox may not be fancy, but it is a safe and stable PDF reader.  Firefox PDF reader can be used on nearly every device including Android phones.  Reading music in a classroom setting on a phone might not be such a great idea however.

Foxit Reader for the Windows platform is a great lightweight alternative to Acrobat Reader.  Foxit comes with great markup tools and an easy to use interface.  The ability to directly share to Facebook and Twitter can be a real plus in the classroom.

Macintosh has a built in PDF reader, so downloading other software may not be necessary.  The built in PDF previewer, however, is limited and as with the Windows operating system, Acrobat Reader is an excellent choice for Mac.  Another choice for Mac is Skim.  Skim is free and open source.  You can read and annotate music.  There are a number of viewing options and the magnification tool makes it easy to read music. 

There are virtually scores of options for PDF readers for every device.  Although Acrobat Reader dominates the market and is a great choice for most situations, do look at other options.  Be a smart consumer and beware of the possibility of malicious malware if choosing an unknown product.

Annotating Music using PDF Software

Last month I talked a bit about how music purchased from PDF Band Music can be shared and opened on iPad, Galaxy, laptops and other computers.  This month I’ll talk briefly about annotating music using PDF software.

To annotate music simply means to add notes and comments of clarification. “Mark your parts” can be heard coming from the lips of nearly every band teacher in every school. And this declaration is usually followed by “Not with ink!” or “Where is your pencil?” These reminder annotations are an important part of the learning process and requiring students to mark parts can save much rehearsal time. As a side note, I know a festival adjudicator in the Northwest that goes on stage before festival performances and looks to see if students have marked their parts. Bands with plenty of marked parts are scored higher.

Annotations using PDF software is simple with no pencils required. Let’s look at a trumpet exercise from the free Sound Fundamentals band method book and use Adobe Acrobat Reader to annotate. For these examples I am using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 device.

The exercise looks like this when opened:

 

To access the annotation tools in Acrobat,  tap the screen. The Acrobat toolbar will appear.

 

 Tap the annotation icon to access the annotation toolbar.

The annotation toolbar offers several options for annotating music. We will only be using the text tool and the free draw tool in this tutorial. 

Adding Text:

To add text to a PDF tap the “T” icon and type the text annotation, in this case, “Test - Friday.”

To edit, change the font size, change the color, or delete the text, tap on the entered text.

Free Draw Tool:

To draw on a PDF file, tap the free draw icon.

 To create the 3 dots above the note C#, I simply tapped 3 times.   The free draw tool requires a bit of practice, but students are quick to learn this skill.

To change the thickness, the color, the opacity or to delete the drawing, tap on the drawing to select the edit menu. 

I hope this article has been helpful as you transition from traditional pencil and paper to exploring the possibilities of using PDF documents in your teaching. 

Tom