Music Stands on Stage??

[Brad Johnson]

I'll say this- if someone has a music stand in front of them, I expect them to NAIL every single song. To have such an obvious crutch in front of you and still make mistakes is one of the lamest things I can think of.

It may be a crutch for some. For me it's a tool.

 

[DirtDog]

Old thread, but this my exact feeling. Damn, if Jagger and Ozzy can use 'em, so can I.

I have a poor man's teleprompter - iPad with "Setlists" app. Page changes using a bluetooth footpedal. Fairly discreet.

My challenge is playing bass, singing, interacting with the crowd, keeping the band moving forward, queing solos if we extend the arrangement, etc.

If it need a two or three word prompt for a particular verse, I have it right there.

I find I used the prompts less and less these days, but just can't let go entirely!!!

I don't see a problem with music stands on stage. For blues and rock I would not want to see the player sight reading while playing, but a stand with set lists, notes, etc is not a bad thing. If one can afford it, telepromters also work very well. A lot of major rock bands, especially the older ones, have started to use them

 

[Floyd Eye]

The thread that keeps on giving. lol

 

[podiumboy]

Please do! I'm in a Tom Petty tribute band, and I find it a real help. For example, our first song is Listen To Your Heart, which is an easy, good rocking song that always gets us off on the right foot. The first note I have to play is the A on the E string, and I'm almost on autopilot from there! Works every time.

Funny, but if I don't hit the right first note it then feels like a trainwreck is coming!

That sounds like a fun band to play in! In about 2005-6, 4/5 of my band had tickets to a Tom Petty show on the night following a gig of ours. We were all so excited, so we did an entire set of Petty covers, and it killed! Runnin' down a dream was one of our show closers anyway, and it always got a good reaction. It was probably the song we played the best.

In high school, my school had a talent show on the last day before Christmas break. My sophomore year I got a group of friends together and we played "Mary Jane's last dance". I was the lead guitarist, and our singer backed out so I ended up doing that too. It wasn't very good, and my guitar cord cut out during the last minute of the song, but that was my first time on stage... also the largest crowd I ever played to! Can't believe that was almost 17 years ago! Great memory, and I still have the video somewhere.

 

[stratovani]

That sounds like a fun band to play in! In about 2005-6, 4/5 of my band had tickets to a Tom Petty show on the night following a gig of ours. We were all so excited, so we did an entire set of Petty covers, and it killed! Runnin' down a dream was one of our show closers anyway, and it always got a good reaction. It was probably the song we played the best.

In high school, my school had a talent show on the last day before Christmas break. My sophomore year I got a group of friends together and we played "Mary Jane's last dance". I was the lead guitarist, and our singer backed out so I ended up doing that too. It wasn't very good, and my guitar cord cut out during the last minute of the song, but that was my first time on stage... also the largest crowd I ever played to! Can't believe that was almost 17 years ago! Great memory, and I still have the video somewhere.

It is a fun band to play in, and I'm having a tremendous time playing in it. We end one of our sets with I Need To Know segueing quickly into Runnin' Down A Dream. Sounds killer, and the audience eats it up!

 

[edpal]

I consider it a happy day when a new band gets to the point where we can all put the music stands away since we have either memorized everything very well or we have created a small cheat sheet. People playing multiple sets or anything from sheet music - stands are just fine. The stand is a great tool but for genres and gigs that are more up close and personal they can be a distraction. Bit in the way for photos too.

+100 on the modern kindle/ipad holder on the mic stand idea, holding your set list and some cheat notes. But technology fails - commit as much to memory as possible. *I've very occasionally used a strip of removable painters tape on the upper edge of my ax for a cheat note for a song sprung on me like 2 days before a gig.

 

[Faith Nicole]

As a customer/listener, I see nothing wrong with a music stand if it's unobtrusive. I've seen people read exclusively from a stand as if they are alone practicing while the band just stands around. This detracts from the 'presence' of the performance. If you have to read, the other band members should step up the performance side to help minimize the ill-effect. Most customers understand the need and just ignore it in favor of the performance.

In the case of a local band, they play almost all requests so they keep words on-hand for most occasions and a way to look up the words for others. Good musicians, they get through the music as long as they've heard the song before but words don't always just pop in there. Also, they do practice repeat requests to get them down better.

summation, I see music stands as a tool of the trade, not a crutch.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

Just saw this...thanks Charlie!

 

[Passinwind]

Just saw this...thanks Charlie!

Just about everybody I play with these days does it that way Kirk.

 

[Space Pickle]

MUSIC STANDS ON STAGE ARE SATAN

 

[Flashback Bass]

MUSIC STANDS ON STAGE ARE SATAN

So are pickles in space!

 

[malthumb]

One of the weird thing about tablets is if the musician is playing on a dark stage, the tablet lights them up in a spooky bluish light like they're watching TV!

Not true. I use Set List Maker on my iPad. You can select the background. When in "Perform" mode it defaults to a black background and the lettering can be whatever color you use.

Bump for more info on using the IPad for lyrics and charts in lieu of a stand.

I use Set List Maker attached to a mic stand with iKlip. Typically I'm just tracking the order of the set list, some of the starting key / first note. At rehearsals I'll stream the vocals for songs that I lead or sing backup on until I have them totally committed to memory.

Turns out I rarely refer to it during a performance. I may refer to it between sets or use it as an organizing tool when we call audibles in the middle of a set. Gives us the opportunity to say "hey, we skipped this one and we pulled this one from Set 3 to Set 1, so let's move these..."

 

[Space Pickle]

So are pickles in space!

HOWE DARE YOU INSULT ME GOOD SIR

Music stands don't actually bother me one way or the other.