How to stop losing your Airturn

Like a growing number of musicians, I've finally made the switch to digital scores. Storing PDFs of my music on my iPad eliminates a bevy of worries - backaches from carrying around a giant stack of music, forgetting which score I need for the day, not having a pencil to put in markings, losing my scores with my markings, etc. Clearly I am a forgetful person who loses things. 

The process I have now works super well - buy the score, copy it, scan it to PDF (or just download public domain music from IMSLP), and upload to forScore (probably the most popular music reader for iPad). All I need to remember to bring with me is my iPad! I can categorize all of my music in the app, annotate with a finger, and download new scores from the web at any time. I'll take paperbacks over the Kindle any day, but this music setup has greatly simplified my life.

One of the best advantages of using an iPad is hands-free page turns. I finally got an AirTurn Duo, a bluetooth-enabled device which allows you to turn pages with your foot. This took some getting used to, as I'm already occupied with the three pedals underfoot ... Trying to coordinate the two extra pedals with my left foot without screwing up the other foot definitely had a learning curve - like a friend said, it's like learning to play the organ (and I sure have had some epic organ fails). You may flail about and feel clumsy at first, but the only way out is to practice until footwork becomes second-nature. So I did. And now I can turn my own pages at my own pace! No more asking friends to turn for performances or strategizing what notes to leave out so I can do it on my own.  

The only problem ---

I keep leaving my AirTurn under the piano. Remembering to check down there is kinda like driving a car for decades and then suddenly having to check under it every time to retrieve a critical piece of equipment. Just wasn't happening.  

After many embarrassing trips back to rehearsal spaces and lost and found centers, I decided I needed a fool-proof solution. Get a better memory you say? Nah. Enter the SMALL DOG COLLAR. $5 off Amazon. 

Loop the noose around the airturn and clip the other end to something you WILL NOT forget.

Hasn't failed yet.