Bloomington resident Bill Bishop’s latest project, Cue Page Turner, is a device which turns sheet music so musicians can keep both hands engaged without pause.
The Cue Page Turner is essentially a robot, Bishop said. It’s controlled remotely by button located either on a foot pedal or cuff worn on the wrist. Every time a button is pressed, a motor-controlled arm flips a page, moving without making any noise.
“The idea came to me decades ago,” he said. “I thought of it all in one shot, in my head. There it was, and I knew exactly how it worked.”
Though Bishop had the idea for a page turner for years, he said he only began work on it once he had access to more advanced technology. To create some of the parts for the page turner he used a 3D printer, a cheaper method than the molds he would have used in the past.
And despite having only started work on the project recently, he said an invention like this is a long time coming.
“People have needed a page turner for centuries now,” he said. “It’s absolutely ridiculous and an embarrassment to the human race. Five centuries of written music and still no page turner.”
He said he projects the cost of the Cue Page Turner to be at $70 to $75.
Bishop has opened a GoFundMe page to help finance the page turner. Of the page’s $5,000 goal, $1,931 has been raised.
Bishop lives his life project to project, he said. For him, he said taking on one endeavor after another is an addiction.
He went all in with the page turner but said he doesn’t doubt his investment.
“I’ve never wanted to be a boss and I’ve never wanted to be an employee,” he said.
Bishop said his concept of inventing for music began during high school marching band camp in 1973. He said he and his best friend packed up an ounce of Colombian Gold marijuana and some Dexedrine and invented new field choreography.
“The conductor had us marching off in a block ... and I thought that was stupid and I rebelled,” he said. “Every 5-yard line I’d do a pirouette with my sousaphone.”
Bishop said he could have used a page turner, especially as a child. He said most future customers will probably be parents buying the page turner for their children.
“My mom was constantly screaming at me because I’d reach to turn the page and smack my instrument against the stand,” he said.
Bishop said his nature is to work out solutions to problems that he sees.
Britt Rossman, a first-year graduate student studying geology, met Bishop several years ago at the Runcible Spoon, he said. Bishop approached him for help with the project around two years ago, and since then, he’s spent hundreds of hours on the project.
Even though the Cue Page Turner is a simple device, Rossman, who contributed knowledge of electronics to the project, said the process of making it has been frustrating at times. In working with Bishop, Rossman said he’s learned a lot about himself.
“It’s showed me what it takes to undergo a project like this and taught me what goes into this kind of work,” he said.
The Cue Page Turner could be widely available for purchase in six to 12 months.
Sophomore Benjamin Huang, a piano performance major in the Jacobs School of Music, said he usually memorizes the music around a page turn, but a device like Bishop’s would be convenient for more spontaneous performances.
Bishop said he never had a plan for life after he was 29, but he feels solid.
“I feel like I’ve done things right, at least for myself,” he said.
