Members Telecruiser Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 One of the things that has always bothered me is performers that have a notebook in front of them when performing. It looks very unprofessional and amatuerish if you ask me. I can see using some assistance with something out off to the side for quick reference but having your face focused on the words and not with your audience is a no go for me. You? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 Sadly, I confess to this one. My goal is to eventually not need them, but I keep stupidly adding new songs all the time. And yes, it does look bad. But it also depends on the circumstances. If you're background music at a restaurant, no one cares if you're looking at them. They're not looking at you. They're looking at their dinner date. But at a bar, club, function, private party... yeah, it does look bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amx13 Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 Another offender here :-( , I keep the songs guitar settings along with the lyrics on my iPad, and have it on the mic stand with an iKlip. The goal is to learn all the stuff by memory so I wont need it one day...but for now, this thing is saving my life up there, hehe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 Sadly, I confess to this one. My goal is to eventually not need them, but I keep stupidly adding new songs all the time. And yes, it does look bad. But it also depends on the circumstances. If you're background music at a restaurant, no one cares if you're looking at them. They're not looking at you. They're looking at their dinner date. But at a bar, club, function, private party... yeah, it does look bad. +1 Pretty much same issue as music stands. I'm working on it but some songs just are elusive to my memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sventvkg Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 I have always used a songbook because my list is over 1000 tunes and if I don't play a song for a year or 2 I will flub it..Use it for reminders and my songlist when thinking of what to play. Thats it. I see no issue with using one and in 22 years of full time professional gigging no one has ever said a word to me about it. However, I will say it needs to be off to the side....Up high, right in front of the performer, blocking them is unprofessional i believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 What sven said! Only thing different is i use a mini music stand clamped to my mic stand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted September 6, 2011 Members Share Posted September 6, 2011 Another offender here :-( , I keep the songs guitar settings along with the lyrics on my iPad, and have it on the mic stand with an iKlip. The goal is to learn all the stuff by memory so I wont need it one day...but for now, this thing is saving my life up there, hehe. I'd love to put my lyrics on my iPad, but the font is too damn small to read for me! How do you get around that? Do you have really good eyesight, or do you have some type of program that scrolls for you? Or do you scroll it while playing with a finger swipe? The iPad would be way way better than the papers I'm currently using. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 7, 2011 Moderators Share Posted September 7, 2011 What sven said! Only thing different is i use a mini music stand clamped to my mic stand I hate to admit that I did this, finally, this year, for the first time (evah, I swear! ); we added a bunch of new songs during the marathon rehearsal we do prior to our summer shows. It turned out almost all of them were 'mine', and keeping the lyrics straight was a challenge; I don't have the song itself there, I use a simple crutch: what I do is print the first line (or less) of each verse/chorus only (in 14-18 point type )...if I don't have the rest together, I don't belong up there playing. I was jamming with an old bandmate this weekend, and he reminded me that I was the one who used to memorize the first line of every verse of every song on the setlist, regardless who sang it, so if someone was 'up', I could bail them out. Twenty something years later, my memory apparently is not what it was...gingko biloba, anyone Our harmonica player has taken the iPad route, and has all the songs and the set list on it...seems like too much to me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Louis Schwartz Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I don't use lyric sheets or music for the songs I sing in English, but I sing in about a half dozen other languages, too, most of which I don't speak at all or know only a bit of, and I admit I need the crutch of knowing the book is there, even if I do my best not to look down at it too often when I'm singing. Louis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I'm an offender. I set it at about waist height in front of me, and only use it for a few songs on a given night. Either something relatively new, or something I haven't played in a while. More importantly, it holds my setlist. I have 100 or so songs listed, and just scan through them deciding what to play next. I make a conscious effort NOT to stare at it. I try to only glance at it and still make good eye contact with the audience. I'll admit that it's a bit of a crutch. I could certainly play without it, but I would wind up going back to the same comfortable songs and never expand to any new material. You could argue that I need it due to lack of practice, and you'd be right. However, practice time is at an absolute premium around my house. I'd love to be able to practice every night and have 500 songs down note for note. However, that's not going to happen at this point in my life. So, I'm happier to use the stand and have 100+ songs in my repertoire than I am to leave the stand at home and play the same 40 songs every night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted September 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I noticed on a couple of concerts I saw on TV that Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney use a teleprompter. It is positioned out in front of them on the floor like a monitor, so even the pro's use it. My reason for bringing this up is the people who have a music stand at just below eye level and you can see their eyes reading left to right. They may as well just use a DJ AFAIC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Howie22 Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 people who have a music stand at just below eye level and you can see their eyes reading left to right. Yeah, I've seen that. It's pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amx13 Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I'd love to put my lyrics on my iPad, but the font is too damn small to read for me! How do you get around that? Do you have really good eyesight, or do you have some type of program that scrolls for you? Or do you scroll it while playing with a finger swipe? The iPad would be way way better than the papers I'm currently using. I use an app called "songbook", heres the link: http://linkesoft.com/songbook/iphone And this is the iPad mic stand adapter: http://www.guitarcenter.com/IK-Multimedia-iKlip-iPad-Music-Stand-Adaptor-106866254-i1996376.gc You can modify the font size, and it scrolls the lyrics for you at the speed you set up. You can also change the song pitch and get the chords modified right up there, and you get to download songs from sites like chordie and such. That app and the iPad stand have worked great for me, and since you can place it in different positions, you still can have it all at hand and still be able to look at the audience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sgt. Rock Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I can do about 1/2 of my list without the book, but I've never been able to remember lyrics well. I've had Lasik eye surgery and my right eye can see perfectly at 38.5", so my book is always on my right side. Someday I hope to be able to abandon the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telecruiser Posted September 7, 2011 Author Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I have always used a songbook because my list is over 1000 tunes and if I don't play a song for a year or 2 I will flub it. I am curious, why do you need 1000 songs? I have about 45 songs that I occasionally add to and it carries me into 3+ sets. If I need more songs I will repeat the first set song in a slightly different style. The reason for this is that 98% of the time the people that were there for the 1st set are not around for the 4th. If I get a request and I know I will do it, otherwise I just tell them I don't know the song. Touring groups have a set of songs and rarely, if at all, vary from that for the whole tour. I subscribe to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 7, 2011 Moderators Share Posted September 7, 2011 I use an app called "songbook", heres the link: http://linkesoft.com/songbook/iphone And this is the iPad mic stand adapter: http://www.guitarcenter.com/IK-Multimedia-iKlip-iPad-Music-Stand-Adaptor-106866254-i1996376.gc You can modify the font size, and it scrolls the lyrics for you at the speed you set up. You can also change the song pitch and get the chords modified right up there, and you get to download songs from sites like chordie and such. That app and the iPad stand have worked great for me, and since you can place it in different positions, you still can have it all at hand and still be able to look at the audience yep, that is what our harp player has...I told him from now on he is in charge of requests...and we will honor them all, as soon as he starts bringing a printer to gigs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I have always used a songbook because my list is over 1000 tunes and if I don't play a song for a year or 2 I will flub it. A thousand tunes? DAMN. Maybe that will be me one day. Right now my cover song list is about 100 tunes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 I use an app called "songbook", heres the link:http://linkesoft.com/songbook/iphoneAnd this is the iPad mic stand adapter:http://www.guitarcenter.com/IK-Multimedia-iKlip-iPad-Music-Stand-Adaptor-106866254-i1996376.gc You can modify the font size, and it scrolls the lyrics for you at the speed you set up. You can also change the song pitch and get the chords modified right up there, and you get to download songs from sites like chordie and such. That app and the iPad stand have worked great for me, and since you can place it in different positions, you still can have it all at hand and still be able to look at the audience Thanks, man! I will definitely check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 We do a lot of new material every week and I have a serious problem remebering sequences, be it words or numbers so I always rely on my lyric book, when I did original it was not a problem since the average show was 12/14 songs, piece of cake, always the same material 3/4 times a week. In the duo, we try to please everyone so if someone asks for a song that we haven't done in years, flip a couple of pages and ready to go! Now I am using my XOOM tablet with Lyrics Pad app, best thing ever! Very simple and easy to use, allows notation and highlighting, and you can set auto scroll if you want. The tablet is on a RAM MOUNT attached to my monitor speaker so it's very discrete and I use it as a reference only, I do not sing reading lyrics, it's there so I know the sequence of things if I get lost. Here it is: Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted September 7, 2011 Moderators Share Posted September 7, 2011 how is that XOOM in daylight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Christhee68 Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 Most of my gigs are beach weddings. I use a stand (with bungee chords accross it to keep things from blowing away). I don't want to blow someone's big day by forgetting the lyrics, chords, etc. I do keep it down low and off to the side so it's not a distraction. Also, since it's a beach wedding I can wear shades so no one knows if I'm cheating or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted September 7, 2011 Members Share Posted September 7, 2011 how is that XOOM in daylight? It's Ok, not great...the app has daylight an night time screen viewing wich makes it better but not perfect. If I had to read the lyrics verbatum in order to sing it would be tougher, so far I only had one gig issue because of to much sunlight and it was not that bad. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EightString Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Not for my own performances, but if I get called at the last minute for a fill-in vocal gig, yeah, I'll often have some lyrics on the side, depending on the band's set list. In that case, it's more professional to glance at a music stand once in a while than to go, "la la la i don't know the words la la la" on the second verse of "September". On a related note, my own setup for that situation is MUCH more unobtrusive because instead of a big old music stand on the side, I'll have an iPad mounted on my mic stand with an iKlip. My eyes can flip down to the lyrics displayed on the iPad without anyone really noticing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members chemikool Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 I have always used a songbook because my list is over 1000 tunes and if I don't play a song for a year or 2 I will flub it..Use it for reminders and my songlist when thinking of what to play. Thats it. I see no issue with using one and in 22 years of full time professional gigging no one has ever said a word to me about it. I'm in the same boat as Sven...Last count I'm up to about 1300 total, and that was a couple years ago. I do not use the music stand/lyrics for band gigs, but when I perform solo I do. I'm looking to move to an ipad for the volume of lyrics that I currently have...I don't want to take all three books on a solo gig anymore. However, I will say it needs to be off to the side....Up high, right in front of the performer, blocking them is unprofessional i believe. Agreed here too...there is a subtle art to the placement of the music stand! Too high and it interferes with the show...too low and I can't see it well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members amx13 Posted September 8, 2011 Members Share Posted September 8, 2011 Thanks, man! I will definitely check it out. No problem! Actually I discovered a couple of features when I looking for the link to share it with you guys, that I didnt knew the software had. Now I can link the lyrics with an iTunes track, and play it along the scrolling lyrics, so I can leave the iPod as a backup and have the iPad doing all the job, pretty cool! Hey Rod, how is the TC helicon monitor working for you? I remember reading some reviews that it lacked volume or something, so I wonder how it performs in live situations. In the pic you posted, can you put the mic over the monitor, or do you need a separate stand for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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