Fabulous use of the iPad as a performance tool, and more indication of how we can go from using tablets as replacements for paper, and towards augmenting and extending tasks.

Like dozens of other apps, it offers digital sheet music, so musicians can keep their libraries on one device rather than several fraying pamphlets. But unlike its competitors, Tonara takes advantage of the astonishing power packed into an iPad, for which it is specifically designed, and in doing so sets a model for app development well beyond the world of music.

Tonara doesn’t expect its users simply to follow the tempo they set. Instead, it uses the iPad’s built-in microphone to listen to the music, even if there are multiple instruments playing, showing the musician where she is at any given time—and where she should be.