I have issues with the longer, more involved songs I am now doing. The Suzuki songs are really not as involved in books 1-3 as the songs we are now doing in class. I have issues becoming familiar with the fingering, the bowing, etc beyond the first few measures. I break it down into sections, but it still blows my mind. I tried starting from the back and working my way forward. Worked with smaller less page filled pieces, but not now. I and my instructor know I can do it, but I have issues learning material that is filling up a whole sheet.

I was thinking about this. What was the difference between this and the shorter pieces, other than there is no shifting? Shifting is really not an issue, it is quite fun. I don’t always hit the mark, but I am getting better. The difference is that the sheet music, itself, is not as busy. The measures are not as crammed; there are not as many notes on a line or lines on a page on the Suzuki pages as there are on one 8x10 piece of sheet music paper.

My solution was to take that music, on my Pro. Turn it horizontal. Take a screenshot. It will not get the entire length, but that is fine. I move it up to contain the last line shown before and take another screenshot. I do this 4 or 5 times. If it is shorter, I only need to do it 3 times.

Now, I take that and open into iBooks from my photos. It turns each photo into a PDF. Then I can import it into my forScore app. After it is on my app, I take each page and paint over the lines I do not need with white, because the paper is white. That leaves two lines of music. Being horizontal, it is wider and larger sheet music. It is no longer as busy looking to my mind. 

I do this with each screenshot PDF. I eliminate the lines I do not want or need. At the top of each page, I write the name of the song, composer, arranger, and the now new page number. I also date it so I know when any edits or playing info notes were made.

I used these new wider, shorter versions of the current song today. Wow, it made so much more sense. The sections were so much easier to concentrate on. I think it is because I am not seeing the entire piece. The full sheet just looks too busy to me, most people probably do not have that issue, but if you do, and you are using public domain music, or from a source that allows copies to be made, you should try this.

I was even able to go from page 1 to page 2 fairly easy. I still need to work on page 2 on its own, but I wanted to get it into my mind it goes with page 1 before I associated it as its own song, I also went through all 5 pages once to keep the continuity so I did not get to thinking each page was separate.

I hope this helps some of you. This is just the way I learn, and it might help you, also. Too much on a page is too busy for me to absorb, even if broken down. The rest is still in my vision.