BookLive lets you attach sheet music and chart references to individual songs in your song library. Once uploaded, each musician can access their assigned parts directly from the Production Sheet, and the system can merge all their charts into a single downloadable PDF — the Full Part Book. This article covers how to add, edit, and manage parts and scores from the group leader’s perspective.
How Parts and Scores Work #
Every song in your BookLive library can have one or more Parts — instrument-specific assignments like 1st Violin, Piano, or Trumpet. Each part can have a Score attached to it, which is either:
- A PDF file — uploaded directly to BookLive and served to the musician on their Production Sheet
- A page number reference — pointing to a page in a physical book or digital collection the musician already has
When a musician is assigned a seat on a performance and that seat has a part designation, BookLive automatically surfaces the correct chart for each song on their Production Sheet. They can also download their entire Part Book as a single merged PDF in one click.
Before You Begin #
- You must be a group owner or administrator to add or edit parts and scores.
- Sheet music PDFs must be under 10 MB per file. If your file is larger (e.g., a full book), BookLive can extract just the pages you need — see Step 4 below.
- Parts are attached to songs in your song library, not directly to performances. Any song can carry its parts across all performances it appears on.
Step 1: Open the Song Detail View #
- Log in to BookLive at https://booklive.com/login.
- Navigate to your song library. From the left sidebar, click Music and then open Songs.
- Find the song you want to add parts to and click on its name to open the song detail view.
Step 2: Add a Part #
- In the song detail view, locate the Parts section.
- Click Add Part. A dialog will open.
- In the Part title field, select the instrument or voice part from the dropdown (e.g., 1st Violin, Cello, Piano).
- If the part has a PDF score to attach, check the PDF? checkbox. A file picker will appear.
- If there is no PDF but you want to note a page number (for musicians using a physical book or collection), leave the PDF checkbox unchecked and enter the page number in the Page number field.
- Click Add to save the part.
The new part will appear in the Parts table, showing the part name, a link to the score (or page number), and edit/delete controls.
Step 3: Uploading a PDF Score #
When you check PDF? in the Add Part dialog, you can upload a PDF of the chart:
- Click the file input and select a PDF from your computer.
- BookLive will upload the file automatically. Once complete, a green checkmark with File uploaded will confirm success.
- Optionally enter a Page number — this is displayed alongside the PDF link on the Production Sheet as a quick reference (e.g., “PDF · p.14”).
- Click Add to save.
Files must be 10 MB or less. If your PDF is larger, see Step 4.
Step 4: Handling Oversized PDFs (Page Extraction) #
If you select a PDF that exceeds 10 MB — such as a full-length book — BookLive will detect this automatically and offer a page extraction workflow instead of rejecting the upload.
- Select the large PDF using the file picker. BookLive reads the file in your browser and displays the page count and file size.
- An orange notice box will appear: This book is X MB (over the 10 MB limit) and has Y pages. Enter the page(s) you need and we’ll upload just those.
- In the Pages to upload field, enter:
- A single page number (e.g.,
15) - A range of pages (e.g.,
12-14)
- A single page number (e.g.,
- Click Extract & Upload. BookLive extracts only those pages in your browser and uploads the resulting smaller PDF — no changes are made to your original file.
- Once the upload completes, click Add to save the part.
This means you never have to re-export or manually split a PDF. Just point BookLive to the right pages.
Step 5: Edit or Delete an Existing Part #
To modify a part you’ve already added:
- Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the part in the Parts table to open the edit dialog. You can change the part type, replace the PDF, or update the page number.
- Click the delete (trash) icon to remove the part. You’ll be asked to confirm before it’s deleted.
How Parts Appear to Musicians #
Once parts are set up on a song, musicians benefit automatically:
- On the Production Sheet for a performance, each song shows a PDF link or page reference for the musician’s assigned part — right next to the song name in the setlist.
- If the score is a PDF, musicians can click it to view or download the file directly.
- The Download Full Part Book button on the Production Sheet compiles all of the musician’s assigned PDF charts into a single, ordered PDF for the entire gig.
Musicians do not need to manage parts themselves — they simply see what’s been assigned to their seat.
Tips & Notes #
- Parts are stored per song, not per performance. If you update a part on a song, it updates everywhere that song appears.
- You can add multiple parts to a single song — one per instrument in the ensemble.
- A musician will only see the part that matches their assigned seat’s part designation on the performance.
- If a musician’s seat does not have a matching part designation, no score link will appear on their Production Sheet for that song.
- Page number references work well for groups that use standardized books (e.g., a shared lead sheet book) rather than individual PDFs.
