PlayScore 2 – Sheet Music Scanner and More!
By Elizabeth Knaub
PlayScore 2 is a sophisticated optical music recognition (OMR) app available across multiple platforms that allows musicians to digitize and play back printed sheet music by simply taking a photo or importing a PDF. The app’s core strength lies in its ability to handle complex, multi-staff scores—such as piano music or vocal arrangements—and generate accurate MIDI playback, which helps students learn their parts or practice sight-reading with a reliable accompaniment. For teachers and advanced users, the Professional version offers the invaluable ability to export music as MusicXML files, enabling seamless integration with notation software like Noteflight or Michael Eskin’s ABC Transcription Tools for easy transposition and editing. While users are encouraged to use high-quality scans for the best results, the app remains a powerful, time-saving resource for instantly converting physical scores into flexible, editable digital formats.
Scanning Sheet Music to MusicXML with PlayScore 2
By Michael Eskin
The video demonstrates a seamless workflow for digitising physical sheet music using an iPad by combining the capabilities of PlayScore 2 and ABC Transcription Tools. The process begins by capturing images of the sheet music within PlayScore 2, which then uses optical music recognition to play back the score and export it as a MusicXML file. This file is subsequently imported into Michael Eskin’s web-based ABC Transcription Tools, where it is instantly converted into ABC notation. Once the conversion is complete, the music can be easily edited, transposed, or saved for further musical arrangement.
PlayScore 2 | Photograph a Song and This APP Will Play it For You!
By Riverton Piano Company
PlayScore 2 is a sheet music scanning application available for iOS, Android, and Windows that allows users to instantly hear how a piece of music should sound by simply taking a photo or importing a PDF . The app recognizes full music notation and offers a suite of practice tools, including the ability to adjust playback speed, loop difficult passages, and even connect to digital pianos via Bluetooth to play the score through the instrument’s speakers . For ensemble players and singers, the app serves as a digital accompanist by allowing users to mute specific parts to practice their own or hear a soloed part for clarity . While a free version exists for single-page scores, a subscription unlocks multi-page processing and the ability to export files as MIDI or MusicXML for further editing in other music software.
ABC Transcription Tools – Creating a Complete Website from a PDF of a Score
By Michael Eskin
In this webinar, Michael Eskin demonstrates how to create a complete, interactive website from a PDF of a musical score using ABC Transcription Tools and PlayScore 2. The process begins by importing a PDF into PlayScore 2, which uses optical music recognition to convert the notation into a MusicXML file. This file is then opened in the ABC Transcription Tools, where Eskin orchestrates the piece with specific instrument sounds, such as recorders, and adds professional audio effects like reverb. He shows how to automatically split a master score into individual parts and create “music minus one” versions, which allow musicians to play along with an ensemble by muting their specific instrument. Finally, the tool exports these arrangements into a standalone, mobile-friendly HTML website that includes an interactive player, transposition capabilities, and the option to generate practice PDFs with instrument-specific fingerings.
PlayScore 2: The Essential App for Music Educators
By Nuno Figueiredo
In this video, Nuno Figueiredo, a music teacher and composer, highly recommends PlayScore 2 as an essential tool for music educators. He explains that he uses the app daily with his students because of its ability to scan and instantly play sheet music. By demonstrating the app’s intuitive interface, Nuno shows how a user can simply take a photo of a musical score and have the app play it back immediately, making it a valuable asset for both teaching and practice. He encourages fellow music teachers to incorporate PlayScore 2 into their curriculum and asks for their feedback on the app’s performance.
Modified Note Tutorial using Playscore 2 and Flat.io
By Sarah Batchelor (Neuro-spicy Music Teacher)
This tutorial demonstrates a streamlined workflow for digitizing and modifying sheet music for students by using Playscore 2 to convert a PDF into a MusicXML file on a mobile device. Once the file is airdropped to a computer, it is imported into Flat.io, where the creator identifies and fixes potential rhythmic or rest errors that occurred during the transfer. The core of the lesson focuses on customizing the score for accessibility, specifically by changing note head colors to “Boomwhacker” styles and adding note names as lyrics underneath the staff to assist learners. The process concludes with the generation of a clean, printable PDF, showing how complex notation can be modified for educational purposes in under five minutes.
