Music Stands on Stage??

[unbasslichkeit]

Kind of in the same vein, is the whole standing/sitting thing. I played in a band once with a lead guitarist who was very good but had some weight and heart issues and as a result started showing up to gigs with a stool and sitting for most of the show. We were a pretty high-energy band playing bar gigs and it started making us all pretty self-conscious to have him up there on that stool. We'd look at pictures from the shows and it was like we were four rockers and one studio musician. Eventually we parted ways with the guitarist and there were a lot of other issues besides just that, but it was one of them.

That hits me where I live, because I've had some nasty sciatica attacks lately (as in: feeling of nails being pounded into your thigh) and sometimes its all I can do to get to the end of the set. I just bought a barstool for absolute emergencies but I'm hoping I don't need to use it much.

 

[Craig_S]

Weddings : maybe

Acoustic gigs: maybe

Bar scene / Clubs: NO WAY!!

This. You look like a complete dumb ass with a music stand in bars or clubs. Memorize the songs. It's not that hard.

 

[jaywa]

That hits me where I live, because I've had some nasty sciatica attacks lately (as in: feeling of nails being pounded into your thigh) and sometimes its all I can do to get to the end of the set. I just bought a barstool for absolute emergencies but I'm hoping I don't need to use it much.

Dude I feel your pain... literally. Just last weekend, we were starting our last set and my back went into some kind of spasm and the pain almost dropped me right there. I gritted my teeth through the end of the set and load-out was torture and I barely made it home to bed. Really hoping that was just a one-time deal... maybe it's time for a lighter bass...

 

[senorblues]

I'ld rather look stupid than sound stupid. Nobody in the audience cares except maybe some wanabes.

 

[PJSShearer]

To paraphrase the old Heckler stopper: -

I'm getting paid to look stupid - what's your excuse?

.

 

[Sonicfrog]

If it was ok for Johnny at Folsom, I don't have a problem with it:

David Bowie always has his lyrics in a book on a music stand as well.


I prefer to learn the songs and not use a stand, but sometimes it just doesn't work out that way.

Yeah, but those weren't lyrics. Those were the escape plans in case things got out of hand!!!

 

[fdeck]

Yeah, but those weren't lyrics. Those were the escape plans in case things got out of hand!!!

That's amateur. The "professionals" in that picture all had their escape plans memorized.

 

[Jeff Roller]

It sounds like the main variable for the "typical" bassist would be the variety or number of songs you have to be ready to play.

For me, in a cover club band, it means playing 45 or so songs out of a 70 song list. We have another 20 or so we can do in a pinch if specifically requested.

Obviously, having to be able to call up something out of a 200 to 500 song list is another thing altogether. A book on a stand would be a necessity!

My noodle is full at 70. Every time time we add a new song, one falls out the other side....

haha + 1000!

In this new band (born in Feb) we used stands for the first ten or so shows, then they just stayed on the equipment trailer. We gig all the time, so no practice for new songs, but we email 3 or so new songs per week to each other and demo them the next show. If they get a response they get added to the set list, if they don't they fall out of rotation. A typical bar band that has been together and gigging more than two months had better have their stuff together and not need stands, or they do become a crutch.

On another note, I play on the worship team at church every Sunday with new musicians every week, as well as a different worship leader. The music stand is a definate crutch for me in that situation, even if a leader picks the same song, it will be in a different key or arrangement than the time we played it before.

 

[fourfinger]

The better your band can play, the less a music stand bothers anyone. It really doesn't bother me personally in any case. A band I sometimes play with has a singer that uses one just for the set lists and to hold her percussion stuff, and I have never heard anyone complain. But if you're playing mostly 3-chord rock and roll, and you bring a stand just for lyrics, don't be surprised if some band members laugh and say it looks ridiculous -- I have heard that said on more than one occasion.

 

[Shadi]

Who gives a piss as long as it sounds good?

 

[Hilton Marsh]

I play in a hard rock show and we use music stands to hold our mini mixing desks which control the signal's to our individual In Ear Monitors. The music stand acts like a barrier between you and your audience and looks so lame so have it off to one side and mask it with a towel or a cloth that has your bands logo on it or a print of your gig poster. Then it becomes a dual stage prop and a useful accessory. Otherwise, buy an unloaded or empty monitor box and put your stuff in there. It doesn't blow away and you can turn the pages while having a drink.

 

[Albatross]

i play in church
i have memorized all of our praise material (wed. nights)
but on Sunday we do hymns...i never know what hymns we are doing until like 10 min before we go on....and we have a bunch of them.
so i use a stand for that.
maybe i am not a very good musician but i can't memorise hymns...or wing it.....i don't get them like i get the praise stuff if ya know what i mean.
so i feel more comfy with a stand on Sunday.

 

[JohnMCA72]

My $0.02:

For certain genres I think there's an expectation that there's an "arrangement" being played, that was written by the bandleader (i.e. Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, etc.) or a formal composition (i.e. classical). In such cases, I think the need for music stands is understood and accepted.

For other genres, such as rock, blues, & some jazz, it's expected that the music is much more improvisational. In some sub-genres, the very idea of anything being rehearsed, much less scripted, borders on blasphemy.

I've got some friends who play blues/lighter rock guitar and use stands onstage. Frankly, it bothers me to see them with their heads buried in the stand, making ZERO eye contact & connection with their audience. To me, reading music during a performance is much like reading off a script during a play. How often do you see that? Whether it's reading off a script, tabs, or sheet music, it becomes a crutch that you can't pry yourself away from. At least for me, I need to wean myself off of that crutch ASAP when I'm learning tunes, or I'll depend on it forever.

As somebody else pointed out, for a band that's playing mostly requests, it may not be practical to memorize everything under the sun. Stands may be OK, but if you can do it without the crutch, it would be so much hotter!

JM

 

[JohnMCA72]

Next time I build some wedge monitors, I think I'll add some extra empty flat space to the side, with clips, to hold set lists, lyrics, etc.

JM

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Frankly, it bothers me to see them with their heads buried in the stand, making ZERO eye contact & connection with their audience.

Interesting, because I've seen this sentiment several times through this thread. How then, do you guys feel about bassists and guitarist that have their eyes glued to the fingerboards?

For me, I would prefer to hear the music played well. But, I have seen a few bands playing stuff that is not too difficult - and having played it lots of times - that it bothered me that they had to have the eyes on the board at all times.

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I don't think most of us (myself included) are at the level where we'd be reading note for note charts on the spot anyway (like Peter and several others). If I were a professional musician and had several gigs and specific written parts, I would expect that reading standard music notation on the gig would be normal. No matter how good you are, I doubt anyone could learn that many songs without failure and if you're a real working musician, you'd need to be able to cover a lot of ground. Hell, if you can sight read Jamerson flawlessly, props to you!

My interpretation is that those of us who have the regular bar band gigs (Rolling Stones, etc...) shouldn't really have any excuse not to memorize a show's worth of music unless you have a song list that is really big and you are expected to play any of it on the spot.

 

[()smoke()]

some of the best music i've ever heard came from stages on which sat music stands, plural

 

[scootron]

Seems to me a narrow minded sentiment.

I memorize the songs, so far as playing is concerned. I also may be playing the given song with two or three groups of people at any given time, and some times it is hard to remember which key this particular group plays it in, so I'll have a stand to the side of my rig. When necessary, I'll look over and check if I can't remember the key, or which version of the particular song we're doing. I don't use the charts to play the song, just to jog my memory.

Having a stand nearby doesn't mean you're a bad musician or a douche bag. Some guys have a couple of hundred songs to keep up with, and different keys for many of them. Some bands, like mine, will add 20 or more new songs for every big show just to keep from sounding stale. Nobody stays chained to the stand, just has it to refer to if necessary.

What annoys me is bands that play the same old setlist over and over and over because they know it and don't want to learn new stuff.

 

[DoggBisket]

Seems to me a narrow minded sentiment.

I memorize the songs, so far as playing is concerned. I also may be playing the given song with two or three groups of people at any given time, and some times it is hard to remember which key this particular group plays it in, so I'll have a stand to the side of my rig. When necessary, I'll look over and check if I can't remember the key, or which version of the particular song we're doing. I don't use the charts to play the song, just to jog my memory.

Having a stand nearby doesn't mean you're a bad musician or a douche bag. Some guys have a couple of hundred songs to keep up with, and different keys for many of them. Some bands, like mine, will add 20 or more new songs for every big show just to keep from sounding stale. Nobody stays chained to the stand, just has it to refer to if necessary.

What annoys me is bands that play the same old setlist over and over and over because they know it and don't want to learn new stuff.

I didn't say that having a music stand somwhere off to the side was douchebaggery. Havng one at the front of the stage though certainly looks that way to me. I think the key here is to have it somewhere that isn't visible from the audience perspective.

When I go see a band, the visual is as big as the sound for me. It is a "show" after all isn't it? That implies that there is some kind of visual. So unless you're playing Count Bassie, having a black music stand in the middle of the stage looks totally lame to me.

 

[mkrtu9]

I have either sheets or a book on the ground. But I also don't gig all that much... maybe a few times a summer at some of the festivals. I memorize what I can in time for the show but other than that it goes on the ground.