Music stand or no music stand... that is the question.

[MichaelSaulnier]

As a teenage musician... my bandmates and I quickly agreed on one thing.

 

NEVER use a music stand on stage when our band played live. If you hadn't learned the material ahead of time, we thought you had no business playing it.

 

Recently I've been attending more and more "bar band" shows in my area, and I'm amazed at how many of them have music stands... and many of the vocalists are "head down" staring at the lyric sheet instead of making eye contact with the audience.

 

What say you to this?

 

Do you or your bandmates do this?

 

M

[Pascal]

If you don't need it, don't use it.

 

If you need it, better have it on the stage than in your car.

[BlackHatHunter]

It's a tough one... I use one live because I take a lot of requests during my sets, and frankly, this is not my full time job. I can't memorize 300+ songs the way I used to

 

So for me, it's the difference between saying no to a request or pleasing a customer. I agree that in the best of all worlds, I wouldn't have one on stage, but right now, I need it and I am not shy about using it.

 

Then again, I don't "bury my heard" in it either...

[Selsaral]

As the guitarist I have it easy. My singers have to memorize the lyrics to 70+ songs. They have, and they'd never consider using notes or a music stand on a gig. We rip a little on the guys who do use them, but only a little.

[Frets99]

I can't memorize new {censored} and I forgot all the old {censored}.

 

Music stand when I do bluegrass for sure.

[9-Pin-Phoenix]

I usually keep one off to the side of the stage with the set list on it and occaisonally a few "cheater" notes on songs that I tend to slip up a part here or there. I try to position it in such a way that I can easily see it, but the audience doesn't know it is there.

[hading]

It doesn't bother me at all. I want people to do whatever they think will help them best present their music. I've seen world class jazz acts using stands, and of course in the classical world it's not a question. However the music will come out best.

[StratGuy22]

Depends on the style. I personally NEVER use a music stand. I joined a cover band last Monday, and played this Saturday with them. 36 songs, not a music stand to be seen. Granted, I knew about a dozen of the songs, but I learned the rest over the week.

 

To me, music stands are bush league. If you need a stand, you don't need a stand, you need more practice. When I step on stage, I own that {censored}. If you are going to be professional, than be professional.

 

I'll have a stand at practice, while learning a new song, but when the rubber hits the road, it's all me. Bluegrass, jazz, blues, etc could have a place and need for stands, but I don't think they belong in rock n roll.

 

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Depends on the act, genre, etc.

 

I use them in a couple bands I'm in. In others I just lay the cheat book on the floor or on a PA cab off to the side, that way it's not so visually distracting for the audience.

 

In a perfect world, no stands. But it's not a perfect world.

[C-4]

Well, there are top performers touring who have telepromters, or notes taped down to the stage floor, or onto the monitor facing them. I've seen this in concerts all the time.

The saying "An empty mind is a clear mind" has merit here. If you have a head full of material and God forbid, you have a lapse one evening, you'll either be glad you have the words/music/whatever there as a backup, or you'll wish you didn't think you would ever need a stand until that time occurs.

If you don't need it, that's great, but I would rather have a stand and not need it then not have it there and need it.

[WRGKMC]

If I had to sing lead all night and was playing in a cover band I might have one. I've been playing for 45 years and after learning several thousand songs, and having to memorize lyrics it gets to be a pain. Theres hundreds I do have memorised, and theres others I simple need to glance over once for a quick refresh. They're not my lyrics so theres no scence in keeping them on the tip of my tounge. After playing them for so many years, most are impossible to forget.

 

My eyes arent great for on stage reading under stage lights anymore either so a stand doesnt do me much good while I'm playing. Its mainly for referencing and changing things up on the fly.

 

 

For my original mysic, I usually know that stuff like the back of my hand. I may still keep a stand around because I have about 300 of them to choose from with the current band. I may have sets set up but may switch things around during a show depending on the crowd. I may just have my book and dig between sets.

[Cobalt Blue]

Music stands, unless one is in an orchestra, are absolutely ridiculous.

[BlackHatHunter]

Then color me absolutely ridiculous - you won't be the first

[Cobalt Blue]

Okay, shall do.

Music stands at an open mic really say "I'm not serious enough about this to actually learn this song."

 

As an added note, there are people in this forum who will criticize players who prefer guitars with fingerboards with fret markers, who will say that needing fret markers is just a crutch.

What, then, should we make of those who have to use a music stand?

 

Jimi Hendrix = no music stand

Larry Conklin = music stand (or coffee table)

[BlackHatHunter]

Not sure why you brought the open mic to this conversation, but I'd say that it is a context where I *really* have no problem with the music stand thing. They are a great opportunity for some people who are starting to play live to come and get comfortable w/ the setting and having their songs on paper will help them not worry, as they often worry too much in the first place. So I personally believe that whatever we can do to get people to come play live and enjoy themselves, we should support. Even if it is at an open mic, and even if it is by using a songbook.

 

If the music moves you, and the performance is not hurt by it, then why care? It's not a competition in terms of "I'm better than he is because I don't have fret markers on my guitar". That's lame.

 

I play two gigs a week. I have people of all ages dancing. It's a three-hour, no break set. That's a crap load of songs, and most end up being requests. The people who come to the show, give the tips, and stay longer because they dig the music and therefore consume more food and beverages don't care if you have a music stand. Not for a minute. As long as you can play the songs they want, and you can entertain the heck out of them, they'll love you and come back for more. The music stand thing is a non-issue in my personal opinion.

[Prages]

I don't use one. I've got a really good memory for lyrics though.

[Cobalt Blue]

Not sure, either, why I associated this with open mics, except I know that you (BHH) have been doing a lot of open mics lately, but, also, I see music stands as being in the domain of amateurs, not professionals (again, except for orchestras (or big bands/bands with horn sections)). If you're going to bring out a music stand, you might as well bring out a metronome too.

 

What would you do if you weren't blessed with sight?

[GCDEF]

I think it depends on the context. In BlackCatHunter's situation of a solo acoustic guy taking all kinds of requests, who cares. At least having a fake book handy is pretty much expected I would think. Part of an orchestra where everybody has to be on the same page, who cares.

A rock band on the other hand needs to convey a certain image, and in most cases a music stand detracts from that image. I think in that context, it looks really lame. It's not that hard to memorize a night's worth of music.

[maxnew40]

Leave the music stands for the pointy headed classical musicians. If you are going to Rock you might as well take a little time and actually learn the songs you are going to perform. It takes a lot of different skills to be successful in a rock band, memorization is one of them.

Max

[niceguy]

hahaha I've never seen an original rock act using music stands onstage. I'd LOL and walk out.

 

I play in an original rock band, and no, we don't use music stands. It's not even an option.

[JoJo68]

Music stands, unless one is in an orchestra, are absolutely ridiculous.

[imbuedblue]

I'm not a fan of gigging with music stands. And I got my start playing violin in orchestras and playing guitar in big bands and pit orchestras, where reading music from a stand was par for the course. When I started gigging in bars, one of my biggest pet peeves was seeing jazz combos play the same songs week to week from The Real Book on music stands.

 

On the other hand, I can see why a vocalist might need a lyric sheet on certain songs. In one of the bands I'm in the drummer is the lead vocalist, and we sometimes play one-off gigs where we are asked to play a handful of songs at the request of the person who booked us. Anyway, he always ends up bringing lyric sheets for those songs and sets them on his snare drum as a crutch.

[Patuney]

We do covers and requests and our song list is over 120 songs and growing at about 2-3 every month. If someone can remember all those words, let alone all the keys and chords, my hats off to you. I always have my music stand, but I usually only look at it at the beginning of each song. If we only played the same 30 songs over and over, I wouldn't need one either.

[bisticles]

I keep a stage with my big book of songs on stage mostly as an insurance policy, since we've got a 100+ song catalog. The songs that we play every night out, I can absolutely rock most of them right from memory, but when we're playing a party where we'll be doing a bunch of songs that we haven't done in months, or if I'm drawing a complete blank as to how a song starts while the drummer is clicking down, it keeps the wheels from falling off.

My notes are also just that... notes. The key, the verse/chorus/bridge progression, and maybe a few "suggestions" for the solos. I can glance over at them without making it look like I'm doing a scripture reading all night long. I've seen bands where I wouldn't be able to pick the guitarist out of a lineup because they had a big black metal rectangle in front of their face all night, and I definitely do not want to look like that.

[BlackHatHunter]

So... I'm waiting for you guys to start railing on people who play sitting down, next...

And to answer the Open Mic thing. I host an open mic on Wednesday night. I play every Thursday night a regular 3-hour gig, and Friday and Saturday nights, every other week, a 3-hour gig each as well. So technically, I don't play that many open mics these days. Though I do run the www.WebOpenMic.com project, and amazingly enough, we started session #3 this morning, so instead of bitching about what other acts do or don't do, come post a video or mp3 of your playing and let's rock out!