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Music Stands on Stage

Should musicians use a music stand on stage? [results will be displayed after you vote]

  • No

  • It doesn't matter -- use one if it helps you play better

  • Depends on the kind of band or performance

  • It's OK if you minimize the visibility of the stand

  • It's complicated -- defies a multiple choice answer like this

Results are only viewable after voting.
#301
Mandavel said:
I think I'm just part of the present crowd - depends....<snip> do it, but minimize the appearance or blend it into the stage somehow.
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I do this - iPad down low used as a teleprompter for lyrics. Kinda like what Petty is doing, but on a budget! Saw Ozzy do this a long time ago as well on his Live at Budokan DVD.

I do lead vox in one band but have horrible memory for song names and some lyrics. I might refer to the lyrics five or six times during the night where we'd play 45 songs. Usually, if I'm having trouble, I'll only need the first two or three words of a phrase to carry me through - it's a safety net to ensure a quality show, not a distraction. I call it "production". ;-)

I control the screen with a bluetooth foot pedal and usually advance to the next song during the ending of the last song, so it's even less obtrusive.
 
#303
cd006-invasion-of-the-body-snatchers-1978.jpg
 
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#305
DirtDog said:
I do this - iPad down low used as a teleprompter for lyrics. <crudely rip> I control the screen with a bluetooth foot pedal and usually advance to the next song during the ending of the last song, so it's even less obtrusive.
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And that's perfectly acceptable. I have the setlist on a sheet of paper sitting on the ground under my snare during larger (meaning an hour or more) shows, nothing wrong with that, just so I don't start playing the wrong thing. That's acceptable to me. I guess I should have specified by saying that I specifically get miffed when I see sheet music, tabs, lyrics, etc. For larger shows, I understand it can get hectic. But I still swear by the memory approach.

And to clarify, as I said, if you blend it into the stage or gear (like the video floor monitor setup with a bluetooth pedal so you're not seen turning the electronic page) I am less concerned.

I guess the way I see it, if I went to a GWAR, Nightwish, Phil Collins, BTO, Sarah Brightman, Boston or whatever (your favorite band) concert and watched them with their eyes glued to a music stand, turning the pages and, while their face is turned to the crown and they are smiling, their eyes still glued to that page out to their side... I probably would not be into music as much. Jazz, big band, orchestra, choir, etc. Perfectly understandable. Rock, fusion, whatever else... less impressive.
 
#308
two fingers said:
I answered a simple "no" but I suppose I could let a jazz band get away with it.

Pit orchestras aren't on stage so they don't count. They're in the pit for a reason.

But if you play in a pop/rock/variety/top 20/soul/funk/R&B band with a music stand you may as well go ahead and slap on some shorts, sandals with black socks or bleach white snaekers, stupid backwards beany hat, and every other awful old unprofessional bass player stereotype while you're at it. It's just awful.

If you don't have time enough or talent enough to learn the songs then (my opinion of course) you don't have time or talent enough to be on stage.

If I ever paid a cover charge and walked in to see some guy dressed like he would on Saturday morning looking through his reading glasses at a music stand I would want my money back so I could go see a band that gives a crap. :thumbsup:

If I am going to pay you, you should be special. You should LOOK dideferential than anyone I'm the audience. And you should be talented enough to warrant being paid..... which means you know the songs BEFORE you show up.

I play only fill in gigs these days. I may play 20 songs in a given show I have never preformed live before. I do keep a chart book just in casE I have a brain far (or the band surprises me with an "alternative arrangement "). But it stays on the floor behind my wedge monitor and the majority of the crowd doesn't ever know it's there. I turn the page with the tip of my shoes.

But if I were a member of a band you can believe there would be no stupid beany hats and no music stands. :cool:
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+1000
 
#309
Don't get this really - surely it depends on what you are doing. I live in an area where we have loads of holiday centres and the bands have to be able to play absolutely anything, depending on what theme is going on. Wailly guitar solos played from the dots, 70s octave disco, and 80's synth stuff. No rehearsal just play. However, these guys often play in conventional bands and do those from memory. No one size fits all.
 
#317
tonybassman said:
I wore shorts onstage on the 4th of July. We played at a pool bar in a very large resort. I also used a stand. The crowd loved us.

Do I win?
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Haha. Good one. Yeah exactly.

Funny how rock means no rules break the rules rebellion etc etc. but have a music stand onstage and you’re...you got it....breaking the rules.

I’ve seen countless artists on tv no less with stands. Big names. Sting Elvis Costello collective soul. Donald fagen has a binder on his Rhodes. Saw bill Champlin online he had a stand directly in front of his keyboard. I watched Ralph Stanley hold a sheet of paper and sing the lyrics at a festival one time. And I wouldn’t call any of those people sub par at what they do. And not to mention the legion of artists who use promoters.

Some people just have a crappy memory. I can remember notes chords and melody all day long no problem. I sing and it’s intro verse chorus turnaround 2nd verse .....WALL. But when you play sparsely in 3-4 different bands have a full time job mortgage a family money woes other commitments heck it’s just hard to keep it all straight. Will the world crumble to ashes because I can’t remember the 3rd or 4th verses to song W X Y and Z? I guess I’ve just forgotten the words in front of people so much I don’t want to take any chances.

And I find it humorous the “I have a stand but I only glance at it once in awhile” or “I use one but hardly ever look at it” or “I only use it for one song” types. You’re still admitting memory issues.

Yes you don’t want your face stuck in a raised to face height stand all night and yes it can be a crutch. Absolutely. But some folks need a crutch. They just do. And all the youngins that don’t forget anything? Buckle up your day will come.

I think often times one takes oneself too seriously. Bottom line. You’ve got people that have no business onstage performing without stands and those who are insanely talented with stands. Flag it - I’ll take the latter.

And in 100 yrs from now who’ll care if you used a stand for lyrics in some dark smoke filled black box? Funny what we humans get worked up about.

Oh well. Just one reporters opinion.
 
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#319
I would prefer to play with people who don't use stands, but the guitar player and keyboardist of the wedding band I play in use stands and nobody bats an eye. The singer/guitarist for the roots-rock band I'm in also uses a stand, and I suspect the lead guitarist will also use a stand. I suspect the guitar players in my solo project will also want to use stands. If they can make them somewhat inconspicuous, then I can live with it. It's become fairly well accepted in cover bands nowadays, especially when the musicians are older.
 
#320
No, for all the reasons listed above, and Yeah, ok for all the situations listed above.

I never used one. I think it's my job to know the material. I rarely even know what the set list is until the singer gets there. We had a songlist and we let him pick what we did. He has to sing them so we let him put them in the order he wanted to do them then we might adjust once we got going depending on this or that. But I never had anything to remind me how a song went. That's what practice was for.

BnB
 

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