With today’s 4.0 version release of the music-reading app forScore, iPad-toting musicians everywhere have a reason to celebrate. Leading liturgical publisher, the Oregon Catholic Press has become the first music publisher to have titles available for sale in the forScore music library.
“More and more of our customers are asking for music compatible with mobile technology,” says OCP’s Director of Product Development, John Vogler. “Music ministers, choir directors, teachers, musicians and everyone in between have a problem: they’ve got to lug around binders full of music with different versions for different venues. By making our music available though MGS Development’s ingenious app we’re giving them a solution to that problem.”
With features ranging from score annotation — with personalized notes and stamps, to sheet music categorization and tagging, forScore has rapidly become the app of choice for musicians using iPads. Other features include the ability to make several versions of a single score, in-music links to verses and refrains and an intuitive metronome utility that automates page turns and time-keeping.
Previously, only public domain accessible sheet music has been available through forScore. With this update, OCP has made their most popular titles including octavos of “On Eagle’s Wings” (Michael Joncas), “Be Not Afraid” (Bob Dufford) and “Here I Am, Lord” (Dan Schutte) available to users. There are also keyboard/guitar vocal accompaniments for songs like “Rain Down” (Jaime Cortez), “Your Grace Is Enough” (Matt Maher), choral octavos of OCP Mass settings and more. Additionally, the publisher has added free arrangements of seasonal songs like “America the Beautiful” for Independence Day and plans to add more bonus songs in the future.
Isaac Watson, President of MGS Development said in a statement, “being able to work alongside OCP on this update is a key first step in providing our customers smart, convenient access to a broad range of digital sheet music. OCP’s track record with digital music sales and eagerness to enter into the next generation of music publishing made for a strategic fit that will benefit both and set the stage for many more publishers to come.”
“As a not-for-profit Catholic company, we seek to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all through spiritually enriching music and unparalleled customer service,” says OCP Publisher, John Limb. “This partnership with forScore is an exciting combination of these two tenants of our mission and will positively serve our friends and partners in ministry for years to come.”
For information about the partnership between forScore and OCP or interview/media requests, please contact Erin McClellan, erinm@ocp.org.