Gigging with a music stand.

It really does depend on the situation.

Most of my gigging lately has been big band jazz. Right now, I play in three different jazz groups with three different sets of music. Even if we do play the same tune, it's by a different arranger and in a different key. Damn right I use a music stand!

 

I think it's beyond lame that they have a music stand up there, particularly since they're mega-wealthy stars who could certainly afford teleprompters.

Or better yet, maybe even learn the song, since people are paying umpteen-million dollars to watch them perform?

Yes, lame-o.

 

Here's the question to ask: are people coming to see you play, or to hear the music? Ie, is it background music where you're playing for several hours to people sitting down and chatting on their own or maybe even dancing? In this case, where you're not the main 'focus' I think it's fine. On the other hand, if you're doing original stuff or even a 'tribute band' where people are watching you just as much as they are listening, then stands take away from the show, so ditch them - there's plenty of less conspicuous ways of using crib sheets when you need them.

 

I'm not sure whether or not a brain surgeon uses a book during the actual surgery but then, music is not brain surgery.

 

haa that really limits your concert list doesn't it? who pays umpteem million dollars to see a concert? uh nobody!...I saw CSN 2nd row for a C note. Nah stands are ok.....In 20 + years of small time gigging I've Never had a audience member come up and diss us using stands. Audiences don't give a damn about that stuff......only other guitarists and who cares waht they think if they're just coming in to see whats WRONG with the band.

 

How much do the bigger artists gross from each tour?

If I'm getting paid a solid seven figures for a tour that doesn't really vary the set list for a two or three hour show, I would feel compelled to at least learn my own damn songs without having to rely on cheat sheets!

 

Yeah, actually it does, and I'm ok with that.

I saw the lead singer of the Strokes w/Haim at the Ogden Theatre up in Denver a few years ago for $30. Good local beer, perfect venue, nice view, good mix, and no music stands to be found anywhere.

 

Being in one of those 50, 60, 70's radio hit bands, I have musicians from different learning methods. Some have had formal training like in school bands
and beyond, while others cut their teeth in being self taught.

I noticed the self taught ones don't use stands that often
but the schooled ones use them often if not all the time.
I'm guessing the meat and potatoes question is if the stands
get in the way of a performance?

We have a sax player who used to bring his stand and lead
sheets to every gig and rehearsal. It's what was instilled in
him to do as a good and practical routine. But the groove
and vibe suffered a bit IMHO. Whereas the street musicians
didn't have the theory or training under their belt but their
sense of what "works" was more keen. Survivalists.

There's no right or wrong, you'll see less stands in a band that
only plays I IV V or the American Cadence all night long.
The only thing that changes there is the song key!

But there's nothing more frustrating than watching a band
fall apart on stage because one or two players are lost
in a song. I say use stands if you have to.

On a side note, we got the sax player to stop using his
stand and sheet music as a crutch to play songs that every bar
band from L.A. to FLA should know.

 

I'm one of those 'formally trained' guys that went through the school band program (I actually lettered in band!), and read music on multiple instruments. I never used a music stand for anything except symphonic band and jazz band. All of my marching band and pep band stuff was memorized, and all of my bar band stuff was also memorized.

I think that it stems from my younger days, up until I was six or seven years old I hung around the Drum Corps that my father was an instructor for, and memorizing parts was HAMMERED into them. You didn't see one sheet of music anywhere near the field at a DCW/DCI competition.

 

One of our band members used to use a music stand for a lot of songs. He'd set it pretty low down to the floor, but at gigs it looked ridiculous. We subtly kept hinting that he needed to memorize the songs and lose the stand and he finally did this year. We actually got comments from friends in the crowd asking why he needed a music stand. I'm very glad no one in the band is using one now.

 

Maple or rosewood?

Ginger or Mary Ann? Six of one or half a dozen of the other?

I have played for the last 12 years in a highly-sought-after 70s funk cover band; we are a 10-piece, and the four horn players always use charts and stands. So do our two lead vocalists, who share one with a lyrics book.

Me? I can't understand a lick of those funny-looking black dots and lines, so it wouldn't do me much good, 'cept for show, to make it look like I knew what I was doin' ...

No one has ever commented directly on the stands, as most is too busy dancin' ... 'lessen they knock one over in their euphoria ...

Opened last November for George Clinton and Parliament ... they didn't seem to mind.

'Course, your mileage may vary and all that ...

Peace.

 

So is it ok for a solo performer ( like moi) to use a stand ? I play 30 songs in a gig and don't play the same set normally on a weekend.I have over 300 songs in my repetoire...how on earth am I suppose to remember all those songs ? So... if I can't remember a song and practice 60 times....so let's say I know 100 and have to practice the remainder 200...that amounts to 12,000 practices !!!! Anyway...like in another post it's only other muso's who have a gripe about stands...the public don't give a hoot.Michael Stipe REM uses one

 

So does anyone know? Does a brain surgeon use a book during surgery?

 

I understand that using music stands increases your repertoire not having to rely on memory alone, but it means you are focused on the written material instead of engaging with the audience.

People want to be entertained. They don't want to see a bunch of musicians working.

 

They go one better. they have a computer right there above the operating table with a live feed so that other brain surgeons can observe every hand movement at close quarters and comment/advise as they see fit. True, they didn't have that years ago but but they also had a higher mortality rate then.

Would any musician care to do the same? Have other musos hovering by their elbow going, "Ooh, I'd play that chord this way," or, "This note goes better thare than that one."

 

I don't use them because I can't imagine singing a song with all of my heart and soul if I need lyrics/chords/notes in order to get through it. I know a lot of musicians who do use them. It's common in the church environment in which I play, and they all sound great. But they cannot play the songs without them. I just can't help but wonder how much better their performances could be if they could actually lay that thing down and just sing and play.

 

Our bass player uses a stand. Not only that, but it's one of those multicoloured ones - fine if your a 12 year old girl playing the clarinet in a school concert but in a rock band playing I Fought The Law? It'd be a shame if at the next gig I might, kind of, accidentally like, knock it over and then trample all over it so it can never be used again.

 

iPad on the music stand. I play in so many bands as a sideman there's no other way then to use charts. If I go and see a band that that has everything so memorized there's no spontaneous reactions between them, so called "tight" or over rehearsed I leave. They're not musicians but trained monkeys. It would be like watching a football game where every move is memorized, same every game.

 

I'm still against em', and I still think they
tell your audience you are unprepared.
However, if one is necessary for a musician to
do his work well, than so be it.
I'm blessed with a decent memory for changes/lyrics.
I realize there are lots of musicians who "need to read".
I play with a number of guys of my, uh, vintage that have so
many stands, ipads, vocal effects/harmonizers, guitar synths,
multi effects, headset mikes, etc., it's comical.
When I got back home to Austin, about 10 years ago, I loved
going to hear Redd V.
It was like stepping back in time.
Guitar, bass, drums, two great singers, three great musicians.
The talent was the show.
No props, aids, stands or gadgets.
Very refreshing!

 

I don't see how anything could be spontaneous when the band is reading out of a book. A tight band are just a bunch of trained monkeys? I'm having trouble following that line of thought.