Page-turner

A page-turner is a person employed to turn sheet music pages for a soloist or accompanist, often a pianist, usually during a performance.[1]

For other uses, see Page-turner (disambiguation).
Piano sextet rehearsal with page turner

While some music is arranged so that the pages end at places where the musician can spare one hand to turn them, this is not always possible. A page-turner is often necessary for musicians who are playing complex pieces and prefer not to play from memory. A page-turner needs to be able to understand the musician's signals and follow the music to know when to turn the page, and to do so quickly and unobtrusively. Page-turners are sometimes acquaintances of the performer or members of the accompanying orchestra doing a favour. Professional page-turners are often freelance casual workers, not associated with any given concert hall or orchestra.

Mechanical page-turners are also available,[2] sometimes controlled by the musician via a foot pedal.[3] Charles Hallé is said to have invented the automatic page-turner.[4] Foot pedals to turn pages are also available for music displayed on computers.[5]

See also

References
  1. Stamberg, Susan (2009). "Turning a Page? Better Consult a Professional". Morning Edition. NPR. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. "Automatic page turner could help musicians and the disabled". MIT News. 13 May 1999. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  3. US patent 5962801, Tim Bowman, Ben Shepard, "Page turner", published 5 October 1999
  4. Siepmann, Jeremy (1998). The Piano. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 181. ISBN 0-7935-9976-8.
  5. Dobrin, Peter (22 April 2016). "Classical music page-turners turn the page into the modern era". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
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