Photograph by Paul Myers

Debbie Tanner (left) and Curt Walton are siblings who started their own company, FreeHand Systems. Here they use one of their products, MusicPad Pro.

Siblings take their frustration and turn it into a new music business

By Shari Kaplan

Necessity was the mother of invention for the Walton siblings of Los Gatos. As children, Debbie and Curt took piano lessons. As an adult, Debbie (now Debbie Tanner) still plays, while her brother got involved in singing with choral groups. He also plays the trumpet.

Something that always lessened the pleasure of playing, Walton says, is a simple but critical distraction: the need to turn pages of sheet music.

In May of 2001, the musical brother and sister did something about it--they founded FreeHand Systems Inc., which is located in Los Altos.

"The idea came out of Debbie's frustration and branched out from there," Walton says. When Tanner first broached the idea of creating a product to aid musicians, Walton was busy doing marketing and promotions for high-tech firms.

His participation in the Santa Clara Chorale provided a propitious connection that would lead to the start up of FreeHand. While in England last year for the Coventry Music Festival, Walton sat next to another Chorale member from the South Bay, who was a venture capitalist and was interested in the idea Walton shared with him.

Thanks to this benefactor, other investors and a skilled technical team, Tanner and Walton launched FreeHand and its first product, MusicPad Pro. It's a touch-screen, backlit device that runs on battery power or electricity. It can hold up to 10,000 pages of music, which can be entered via a scanner or imported from music software or from the sheet music available as free public domain online. Musicians can "turn" pages by tapping a pedal--like a mouse for the foot--or by quickly touching the screen.

Complementing MusicPad Pro--and compatible with it--is an even newer device, called Lyric Viewer. FreeHand must customize them for each client, Walton says, based on the computer systems involved and the clients' needs. Lyric Viewer can display both lyrics and tablature and also uses a touch-screen. It, however, is run by an off-stage assistant.

Earlier this month, Walton and Tanner introduced FreeHand at a convention of the National Association of Music Merchants in Anaheim.

"It was a huge success," Walton says. "Every fifth person said that they've been wanting to do something like this forever, but they never got around to it."

"This is groundbreaking technology for the music industry. You're letting the musician play the music, rather than messing around with turning pages. Plus, they can concentrate better," he says, adding that the San Diego Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony are starting to use FreeHand's devices. Lyric Viewer is already in use by Jon Anderson of the classic rock band Yes on the Yes Symphonic World Tour.

"There are some people who probably will never change from paper [sheet music] to digital. Some of them like the ability to hold the paper, or they might not trust computers," he says. "But if you can get some of the more progressive bands or musicians to try it, the word will get out in the industry. You can easily hold a whole concert's worth of material in one place."

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More information about FreeHand Systems is available online at www.freehandsystems.com, or by calling 650.941.0742.

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