Apple focuses on music creation, travel writing in latest 'Your Verse' iPad ads

Apple on Sunday released two new spots for its "Your Verse" iPad campaign touting the tablet's music creation and travelogue capabilities with stories from composer Esa-Pekka Salonen and travel writer Cherie King.

Along with the new tales, Apple rejiggered its Your Verse webpage layout to include more text and videos, while taking away interactive graphs and timelines seen in previous installments. In addition, Apple now includes apps featured in each verse and, in Salonen's case, iTunes exclusive music.

In "Orchestrating Sound," composer and conductor Salonen explains how he and his colleagues created The Orchestra, an app that "demystifies" orchestral music for the masses. Using realtime audio, video and an interactive score, the app lets users explore eight pieces from masters like Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler and Stravinsky.

"All of a sudden, what looks kind of odd and distant and maybe a little abstract becomes much more real and normal," Salonen said of his app. "I'd be delighted if somebody would discover classical music through The Orchestra."

Salonen goes on to talk about how he uses the iPad Air, along with a handful of select apps, to create classical compositions. The process begins by using Pianist Pro to play snippets of music into composition software on the Mac. Salonen then transports his work in progress back to the iPad via Notion and uses the app's playback function to run through the piece without needing to assemble an entire orchestra.

"I have this total freedom to go back and forth between my full studio and the most portable setup I can imagine," Salonen said.

Apple includes a link to a special iTunes page dedicated to Salonen's Your Verse story, which includes a full version of the composer's Violin Concerto and apps used in the ad spot.

The second ad, "Exploring Without Limits," focuses on travel author Cherie King, who was born with no hearing in both ears. Her work serves to inspire other hearing-impaired travelers to venture out and discover the world.

"I've met countless deaf people, and they all tell me how brave I am for traveling," King said. "But now that they've read my site, they realize they can do it too."

Travel writer Cherie King.

With the iPad Air by her side, King embraces getting lost in new places. Using AroundMe, Fotopedia, and tripwolf, King is able to navigate and discover nearby places of interest with relative ease.

Translation duties are handled by apps like BabelDeck, while King uses Apple's bundled iOS apps — Maps, Messages, Camera, FaceTime and Notes — to navigate and stay in touch with friends. WordPress is also highlighted in the ad as a way to write and upload posts to King's webpage Flight of the Travel Bee.

As with Salonen's story, Apple has included a dedicated iTunes page for King's feature featuring apps used in the ad alongside the author's favorite titles.