Music Stands on Stage

[PauFerro]

If I went to see Metallica and they had stands I'd be like, really? but a jazz or orchestral or something along the lines, no worries. I used to play in a salsa orchestra and almost everybody had stands in front of them

But remember, these guys probably perform the same set, roughly day in and day out, and probably rehearsed really hard before they went on tour -- a limited repertoire. As a semi-pro, busy musician taking every job I can find, I end up playing as much as 4 hours a night, with 3 about average less 2, 10 minute breaks. And there are often requirements that require me to play songs I'll never play again in the forseeable future. I don't have TIME to learn all that music when it is an ever-shifting repertoire. So, I'll embrace stands at will.

 

[Speedhitter]

My opinion has changed over the years. First 20 years there would never be a stand on stage! Not for anyone! Second 20 years....well I'm no longer full time and my memory certainly is not as good. So I'm the lead singer and bass player. I couldn't keep on playing music without it. I try to keep it low and out of the way (music stand) but I am now trying to put it all on an Ipad. Still bothers me that I have to use something, but that's life!

 

[EastCoastThump]

If I went to see Metallica and they had stands I'd be like, really? but a jazz or orchestral or something along the lines, no worries.

No one wants to see a Metallica cover band with a stage full of music stands..

Metallica performing "Frantic," with teleprompter.

Q: So...if you're certain you'd hate it if you'd noticed Metallica (or Prince) using prompters, and you're sure you'd notice because you have in your mind that it will always look a certain way (the worst possible way), and it turns out you're wrong on both counts—Metallica does it (and Prince does it, well, ya know...did it) and you don't notice because they rocked it out—well, do you still hate it?

A: Probably

 

[micguy]

Yesterday, I played in 2 different churches. Both had 4 tunes, both we knew the music we were going to play about 5 days out. Morning was a typical mid sized venue (400 seats), a stage, fairly "performance-ish" - no music stands.

In the evening, a very different gig - the audience (a couple hundred) surrounds the band, and I play seated (singers stand). With music stands.

In both cases, I had the music memorized cold. The evening gig, though, had spoken word segments running through bits of the music; a couple of the tunes were in fragments - a chorus here, vamp under spoken word, then a verse, etc. - the music stand was used not to hold music, but the program notes of when the different bits were in the order of things. As it's more of an "enveloping experience", and less of a performance, the stands did not affect the vibe.

 

[QORC]

teleprompters on a pro stage that the concert-goer can't really see? Understandable and unimportant. Music Stand with notes and or IPAD on stage for a typical bar-band for all to see? Lame and lazy and detracts visually and from the performance

 

[EastCoastThump]

In the context of live popular music, all most audiences care about is whether the band can deliver the music while conveying the appropriate energy and attitude. If a confidence monitor helps them do that, great. Done well, you won't notice.

OTOH, if the performer is obviously stuck on-book, with his or her attention locked to page or screen, that's a problem in most popular genres. But the problem then isn't that the performer has a prompter, but that they are using it ineptly.

To blame the prompter for a stage performer's negative charisma is akin to going to a couple bad open mics and declaring that you hate music and especially hate guitars and singing. It's the doing of the thing badly that's the problem.

 

[Steve]

The legitimacy of a music stand onstage is directly proportionate to the quality of music coming off that stage

 

[QORC]

legitimacy of a performance is a function of how you look and how you play. its about entertainment - not just the quality of the music. music stands for a rock band? For the lazy and the dull. Learn the damn music like the rest of us

 

[Steve]

legitimacy of a performance is a function of how you look and how you play. its about entertainment - not just the quality of the music. music stands for a rock band? For the lazy and the dull. Learn the damn music like the rest of us

I guess you'd have to define "rock band" Nobody says squat to Steely Dan when they come through town with a half dozen music stands onstage.

If you're banging out 3 cord Charlies with the odd II or VI chord thrown in...yeah, it's a little lame

 

[QORC]

Lol. Great example. Steely Dan was almost the DEFINITION of a true "studio band" - who worked endlessly on their albums but did not do that much live music.

in fact, they did not play live AT all between 1974 and 1993 - even during the height of their popularity. NEVER. so read that again. Your point is what? They only toured after their albums stopped selling and they became older. so much for your example

Steely Dan was a prog-rock, jazz-fusion type of band. Hardly a typical rock band by stretch of the imagination. Very complicated stuff and they aren't about the visual performance. and by the way? Walter Becker is dead. It's not Steely Dan anyway. Its Donald Fagen and others. just collecting money on the nostalgia circuit.

We're not talking about pro bands anyway. We're talking about people like us. your typical bar bands.

but as long as you want to play the game of "I HAVE AN EXCEPTION!" funny how Rush doesn't need music stands. Or Zep. Or Aerosmith. or or or....can give you a thousand examples. but it's all beside the point. You're not in a famous band, I guarantee it.

If you're so lame as a rock musician that you need a music stand, you need to give it up. Learn the damn songs, like 99.9% of rock musicians do. I have to keep about 100 songs in my head. More than most. And I've never used an IPAD, music stand, or cheat sheets. I do the work. It's rock and pop stuff, not exactly the NY Symphony kinda stuff is it? And yeah, how you perform counts as part of your performance. If you're tied to a music stand, your performance suffers

 

[Medford Bassman]

I play in a variety band where we play alot of wedding and corporate gigs and the occasional tavern. some in the band use music stands. Personally, I use an iPad with an AirTurn pedal that flips pages for me. 4 hour gigs have too much music for me to remember it all

 

[sean_on_bass]

In the context of live popular music, all most audiences care about is whether the band can deliver the music while conveying the appropriate energy and attitude. If a confidence monitor helps them do that, great. Done well, you won't notice.

OTOH, if the performer is obviously stuck on-book, with his or her attention locked to page or screen, that's a problem in most popular genres. But the problem then isn't that the performer has a prompter, but that they are using it ineptly.

To blame the prompter for a stage performer's negative charisma is akin to going to a couple bad open mics and declaring that you hate music and especially hate guitars and singing. It's the doing of the thing badly that's the problem.

Totally agree. It's not the presence of the stand that's the problem, it's how it's being used. A stand set low or off to the side, and not being stared at intently for every second of every song, is not a very big deal IMO.

 

[Stevorebob]

Lol. Great example. Steely Dan was almost the DEFINITION of a true "studio band" - who worked endlessly on their albums but did not do that much live music.

in fact, they did not play live AT all between 1974 and 1993 - even during the height of their popularity. NEVER. so read that again. Your point is what? They only toured after their albums stopped selling and they became older. so much for your example

Steely Dan was a prog-rock, jazz-fusion type of band. Hardly a typical rock band by stretch of the imagination. Very complicated stuff and they aren't about the visual performance. and by the way? Walter Becker is dead. It's not Steely Dan anyway. Its Donald Fagen and others. just collecting money on the nostalgia circuit.

We're not talking about pro bands anyway. We're talking about people like us. your typical bar bands.

but as long as you want to play the game of "I HAVE AN EXCEPTION!" funny how Rush doesn't need music stands. Or Zep. Or Aerosmith. or or or....can give you a thousand examples. but it's all beside the point. You're not in a famous band, I guarantee it.

If you're so lame as a rock musician that you need a music stand, you need to give it up. Learn the damn songs, like 99.9% of rock musicians do. I have to keep about 100 songs in my head. More than most. And I've never used an IPAD, music stand, or cheat sheets. I do the work. It's rock and pop stuff, not exactly the NY Symphony kinda stuff is it? And yeah, how you perform counts as part of your performance. If you're tied to a music stand, your performance suffers

Kinda inspires me to use a stand just to irk a few.

 

[EastCoastThump]

We're not talking about pro bands anyway. We're talking about people like us. your typical bar bands.

psst...have a look at the poll's third option, and the OP, and most of the posts in the thread. From the start, this has been a thread about wide-ranging types of gigs and bands.

But if, just for the moment, we limit discussion only to the specific terrain of QORC-approved guitar rock bar bands, then they obviously *cannot* use stands, iPads, or prompters of any kind (else they're gonna lose their QORC approval).

 

[RoadRanger]

Any TB pol that doesn't include "carrots" is ipso facto null and void so we'll have to start over again

 

[GuiTuber]

I'm in a semi-acoustic band. We're definitely small potatoes.

Our band leader, also the lead singer, uses a tablet mounted on his microphone stand. He has PDFs of all the songs we do and arranges a gig list of PDFs, in the order we'll play them, for every gig. He uses the tablet mainly as a tickler, as needed, to remind him of the first/next line and/or the chords. It would have to be a song that we rarely do, or have just started doing, for him to "stare" at the tablet for any length of time.

Conversely, our keyboard player is woefully under-prepared a lot of the time. He tries to use a tablet, that he has on a music stand in front of him, but many times he's got written notes that he fumbles through between songs. That's when the tablet becomes a paperweight. It's annoying, at least to me, but we usually have a little banter going between songs anyway so it gives him time to get ready.

Personally, I use nothing but my brain. But then again, I don't sing either. I have no trouble recalling my bass parts for any song we do, or have done. Lyrics are a whole 'nother animal in my old age (59). If I had to sing some songs, I'd use a tablet. However, I'd have it organized for the set list and I'd want a page turner. I wouldn't want my crutch to be a disability for the band.

 

[Steve]

Lol. Great example. Steely Dan was almost the DEFINITION of a true "studio band" - who worked endlessly on their albums but did not do that much live music.

in fact, they did not play live AT all between 1974 and 1993 - even during the height of their popularity. NEVER.

The St. Augustine Amphitheater is getting all kinds of notice as one of the best national act music venues in the country right now. It's not a B stage by any definition. Steely Dan has been through there twice in the last couple years and packed the place both times. Nobody said squat to them but then I'm thinking we all probably had far better things to do with their time. I know I did.

If you want to limit yourself to working in that environment and leave all that other work to other people, I support your decision fully

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Kinda inspires me to use a stand just to irk a few.

You and me both. And top it off by wearing shorts and sandals at the same time.

 

[carl h.]

You and me both. And top it off by wearing shorts and sandals at the same time.

Standard dress for me most of the summer - including most gigs. But I'm reading off the piano - over the pianists shoulder.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

legitimacy of a performance is a function of how you look and how you play. its about entertainment - not just the quality of the music. music stands for a rock band? For the lazy and the dull. Learn the damn music like the rest of us

Right, but what if you get a call on Thursday for a gig on Saturday and the BL says "I have charts for you". And/or you quickly jot down a few notes because you only know a quarter of the tunes, and you don't have time to learn 30 songs because you have a gig on Friday and your kid has a soccer jamboree on Saturday.