5 Apps that make a singer's life easier

1. Virtuoso Piano Free 3

appsto.re/gb/w5vxx.i

Or any piano app for that matter. The benefits are obvious - you always have a piano in your pocket. Good for warm-ups before auditions, note-bashing on the go, sneaky note grabbing in the wings or even in a choir.

2. forScore

appsto.re/gb/iuJRv.i

THE pdf viewer/editor of choice for musicians. Designed for sheet music, it lets you scribble on your score, type in legible text, listen to recordings of an audition piece or role you're learning while following the score, and it even comes with a built-in piano keyboard (which is handy, but not as quick to access as a dedicated piano app). 

3. Avid Scorch

appsto.re/gb/GPTaA.i

For anyone working on new music, this app plays Sibelius files. You can adjust playback speed and the built-in mixer allows you to pick out your part and make it louder, or make it the only thing you can hear. It won't sound like an orchestra and it has its quirks, but for those of us who get a migraine at the thought of sight-reading a modern score it is a godsend. And experience suggests composers are more than happy to make .sib files available (especially if it saves them having to note-bash with you).

4. Voice Memos

Built into iOS, with equivalent apps available for other platforms, this is what you probably should have running throughout your lessons. As painful as it is to listen back to oneself singing, there really aren't any excuses left for not recording them, as well as coachings, practice sessions, language sessions, recit rehearsals, etc. Couple it with a superior microphone that attaches to your phone and you have the equivalent of a Zoom recorder for basic demos.

5. iQBoxy

itunes.apple.com/app/iqboxy-receipts/id804152735

Accounting is a pain. There are a myriad of receipt management apps, and here's our pick. Take photos of your receipts and forget about them. When the time comes to do your taxes, the OCR text recognition employed means that your expenses will end up in a manageable spreadsheet. It even syncs to some brands of accounting software. Watch your wallet shrinking with the app's beautiful graphs and see how much you actually spend at your favourite coffee shop (for this reason we advise against storing Wetherspoons receipts though).