PDF Annotations: Mark Your Sheet Music Like on Paper

Professional Annotations for Digital Sheet Music

The Chorilo app offers a comprehensive PDF viewer for musicians. With professional annotation features, you can edit your digital sheet music as flexibly as on paper – and even more. From simple markings to real-time collaboration during rehearsals: discover all possibilities.

Drawing Tools for Every Need

The Chorilo app provides three specialized tools perfectly tailored to musicians' needs:

Pen - For precise notes and annotations. With a fine stroke width, you can write detailed hints directly into your sheet music. Perfect for fingerings, dynamics, or technical notes.

Marker (Highlighter) - Highlight important sections like on paper. The marker works with a wide stroke width and transparency, so the notes underneath remain clearly readable. Ideal for highlighting entrances, difficult passages, or important lyrics.

Eraser - Intelligent erasing. The eraser automatically detects which drawings are under your touch and removes them precisely. Even individual parts of a line can be deleted without removing the entire drawing.

All tools support variable stroke width from 50% to 200%, which you can adjust via a convenient slider. This gives you full control over the appearance of your annotations.

Ten Colors for Clear Markings

Organize your annotations with a well-thought-out color system. The Chorilo app offers ten carefully selected colors: Red for important warnings, Orange for attention points, Yellow for classic highlighting, Green for completed passages, Cyan for special notes, Blue for structural annotations, Violet for harmonic hints, Magenta for expression marks, Black for general notes, and White for markings on dark backgrounds.

By combining different colors and tools, you can develop a personal system that immediately shows you what to focus on during practice and rehearsal.

Music Symbols: Professional Notation

A special feature of the Chorilo app is the integration of the Fughetta Font - a professional music notation font. You can place real music symbols directly in your PDFs: Dynamic signs (piano, forte, crescendo, diminuendo), articulation marks (staccato, legato, accent), ornaments (trills, mordents, grace notes), bar lines and repeat signs, fermatas and rests, and many more professional notation symbols.

This feature is particularly valuable when creating your own arrangements, supplementing parts, or adding pedagogical hints for students. The symbols are rendered in perfect quality and are barely distinguishable from printed sheet music.

Jump Points: Navigation Like in Concert

A revolutionary feature for complex pieces with repeats, Da Capo, or jumps: Jump Areas. You can define start and target points that take you from one place to another with a finger tap.

How it works:

1. Activate jump point mode
2. Tap on the start location (e.g., "D.C. al Fine")
3. Navigate to the target location (e.g., beginning or Fine sign)
4. Tap there to set the target point

Jump areas are displayed as blue, semi-transparent rectangles. In view mode, you can simply tap them, and the app automatically jumps to the correct location - even across multiple pages.

This feature is particularly helpful for pieces with complex form (Rondo, Sonata form), repeats with different endings, Da Capo and Dal Segno instructions, and multi-movement works with cross-references.

Zoom and Pan: Every Detail in View

For precise work on difficult passages, the Chorilo app offers professional zoom functions:

Zoom Slider - Enlarge your sheet music using the zoom slider from 1x to 4x. This way you can recognize and edit even the smallest details.

Pan - After zooming, you can move the enlarged view smoothly across the entire page. Navigation is intuitive and precise.

Zoom Lock - A practical feature: lock the current zoom level and position. The setting is saved for the entire piece and automatically restored the next time you open it. Especially practical when the sheet music has too much white margin – this way you see the notes optimally on all pages. The zoom setting is saved together with your drawings and synchronized across all your devices.

These features make digital sheet music more practical than paper in many situations - you no longer have to bend over the page to read small notes.

Live Marker: Real-Time Collaboration in Rehearsal

An innovative feature for practice sessions: Live Marker Mode. When you create a practice session as a choir director or conductor, you can set markings in real-time that all participants see immediately on their devices.

Application examples:

Point out problematic sections during rehearsal, mark entrances for individual voice groups, clarify musical phrasing, or give visual hints while singing.

Live markings appear as blue, semi-transparent lines and automatically disappear after 5 seconds. This keeps the view clear, and participants can focus on current hints.

This feature distinguishes Chorilo from all other sheet music apps and makes digital rehearsals significantly more effective. All participants see exactly what you're talking about - without you having to announce measures and lines.

Audio and Video: Multimedia Sheet Music

The Chorilo app goes beyond pure PDF annotations and integrates multimedia content directly into your sheet music:

Audio Files - Listen to recordings, practice tracks, or learning aids directly from the sheet music view. The app supports all common formats (MP3, WAV, AAC, M4A, OGG, FLAC) and streams files directly from the cloud - without wasting storage space on your device.

Video Integration - Link video recordings of concerts, tutorials, or rehearsals with your sheet music. Perfect for self-study or preparation for performances.

Metronome - An integrated metronome helps you practice difficult rhythms. You don't have to leave the sheet music app to start a separate metronome.

Piano Keyboard - A virtual keyboard serves as a pitch reference. Especially helpful for singers who want to practice difficult intervals.

This multimedia integration makes the Chorilo app a complete practice and learning tool.

Share and Export

Your annotations are valuable - that's why Chorilo offers flexible export options:

Share Original PDF - Share the unchanged sheet music with other musicians or your ensemble.

Share PDF with Annotations - The backend automatically generates a new PDF containing all your drawings, markings, and symbols. This allows you to archive your personal practice notes, pass annotated sheet music to students, share rehearsal results with the ensemble, or document your interpretation.

The generated PDFs are full-fledged documents that can be opened in any PDF software. Your work is not tied to the Chorilo app.

Automatic Filenames - The app automatically creates meaningful filenames based on the sheet music title, e.g., "Mozart_Requiem_with_Annotations.pdf". This keeps your files organized.

Offline Functionality: Always Available

All your annotations work even without an internet connection:

Local Caching - PDFs and drawings are automatically saved on your device. You can work during rehearsal, concert, or on the go - even without internet.

Automatic Synchronization - As soon as you're online again, the app automatically synchronizes all changes with the cloud. Your annotations are available on all your devices.

Page-Specific Storage - Each page saves its own drawings. The app only loads the required data and therefore works very efficiently.

Undo Function - Undo the last stroke if you made a mistake. The function works offline too.

Cancel Without Saving - If you want to experiment, you can discard all changes and return to the original version.

This offline capability makes the Chorilo app reliable - even in rehearsal rooms with poor reception or in churches with thick walls.

Who Is This Feature For?

The comprehensive annotation features of the Chorilo app are valuable for various user groups:

Choir Singers - Mark your entrances, difficult passages, and text changes. Use different colors for different rehearsals or concerts.

Choir Directors and Conductors - Create detailed scores with notes on interpretation, dynamics, and phrasing. Use the live marker in rehearsals for effective communication.

Instrumentalists - Note fingerings, bowings, and technical hints. The music symbols enable professional notation.

Music Teachers - Create annotated practice materials for your students. Export PDFs with your pedagogical hints.

Students - Analyze works with colored markings for harmony, form, and themes. Your analyses remain digitally organized.

Ensembles - Share common rehearsal results and interpretation hints. All members work with the same annotations.

Conclusion: New Standards for Digital Sheet Music

The PDF annotation features of the Chorilo app set new standards for digital sheet music. From simple markings to professional music symbols and real-time collaboration - the app offers everything musicians need for their daily work.

The best part: all features work seamlessly together. You can draw, set jump points, play audio, and collaborate with your ensemble in the same view. The intuitive operation makes the app accessible to both tech-savvy users and beginners.

Try the annotation features yourself and discover how much more efficient and pleasant working with digital sheet music can be. You won't miss your paper sheet music.