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Pet Peeve: Bands hinding behind music stands

#61
corinpills said:
Quite often, I find that singers need lyric sheets for very, very well known songs that the majority of the audience could probably muddle through if forced. It's a crutch and once their heads are in the book, they'll never get out of it and there's zero entertainment or connecting to the audience going on.
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ABSOLUTELY +1!!!

Our singer(also guitar player) stands at stage left and does the same thing. Since the other guitar player is at stage right, guess who is in front & center??? Also, since he has to constantly flip thru his book for the next song I have become a reluctant frontman...... Yeah, it's a pet peeve! :rollno:
 
#62
Our singer plays with a music stand with his lyrics on it, but its not a typical stand. He took and old monitor cabinet and made a space for his laptop to go and it sits on the floor as a regular monitor would. Pretty effective, now we just need to make an easier footswitch for navigation.
 
#63
depends on the band.. for a rock band that does covers... i think it's unacceptable because you pretty much can't make it easier then that in terms of material to learn...and it looks lame for a rock band...

... if it's some kind of contemporary jazz trio, or a group playing at a church, then I think it's necessary.
 
#64
I saw a band once where the lead singer was sitting on a stool in front of a music stand. They were playing classic rock tunes, seems everyone in the audience knew the words except the singer. All of them had stands. There was zero energy in their set and it was fairly painful to watch. Looked like the singer was too tired to stand and everyone else just didn't know the songs.

Personally, I would rather see people forget the words to songs and wing it through little mistakes rather than read rock tune changes from sheet music.
 
#66
For a basic rock cover band -- I PRACTICE with no stand! I do keep a notebook handy with the chord progressions in case I need to check, but that's it. I can see jazz bands and others using them, of course.

We have two singers. The female has a music stand and sings from a lyric sheet. The male singer just says he doesn't know the song and it doesn't get practiced (steam from ears here...). Needless to say, we haven't gotten out to gig yet and my clock is ticking here.

Some folks have commented that only musicians complain about stands on stage. That may be, but I don't think that means it doesn't make a difference. Non-musicians don't say how it ought to have been done, they just register subconsciously that the performance is lame and leave. I mean, they're just more likely to say the band rocks if the musicians have their heads up and show some stage presence and contact with the audience.
 
#67
I play in two "living-room" bands both of which the singers/players use stands. One of these bands did a rare (2nd in 7 years?) gig last Friday, again with the crutch.

Here is my experience with stands/music: when we play a song that we have all learned, we can rock it to death. When they are using printed music, there is a disconnect.

I look at it as playing music with me versus reading music off a page and then playing it at the same time I am playing. There is a little something coming in-between us, and it shows.

And BTW: I sing plenty. I just play those songs over and over and over on cd in the car and sing along until I am able to sing them on auto-pilot.
 
#69
mboogiemanusa said:
Seems to be quite a few bar cover bands in my area that never practice as a unit and only get together if there is a paying gig.
That's ok for the semi-pro experienced players that gig regularly but what sticks in my craw is the bands where every member is standing behind a big black orchestra stand with their faces buried into notebooks of tab sheets. What should be a performance is really just getting paid to do the practice should have be done on your own. Am I the only person that believes that music stands and tab sheets belong in rehearsal rooms but not on a stage? I'm talking about typical 3 chord bar band music like Start me Up or Sweet Home Alabama not a jazz ensemble.
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I'm more patient with that than some, recognizing a very broad array of talent/ability I've either played with or watched. The question is:

ARE THEY MAKING MUSIC?

I don't think the existence of music stands always and consistently hampers or negates the making of music.

I am also more patient with stands for singers than instrumentalists, as singers have this linear storyline and aside from the chorus, not as much repeating as instrumentalists.
 
#70
KPJ said:
"This video contains content from Lionsgate, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."
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Aaah, shame. It's the Funk Brothers in "Standing in the Shadows of Motown". One of the finest bunches of musicians ever assembled, with more No. 1 hits than anyone else, ever. They're playing a blinding gig. They're totally professional. And in front of each one of them, there's a music stand.
 
#71
totallyfrozen said:
Music stands don't bother me nearly as much as misspelled thread titles.
You know, since it only takes 15 seconds to proofread your thread title but a day or more to memorize a songs. :hmm:
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Good catch....Sometimes good to have another set of eyeballs reading something because in many cases you'll just proof read your same error......I was able to correct that error in about 5 seconds using the edit button. Or about a minute less than it takes every member of the average bar band to flip through their notebooks full of tabs sheets in order to play the next song.
 
#74
Also worthy of mention is those behind the stands-that look at the leader-only and never peer at the audience (during the entire set).

You say, the musician is trained to do that. I respond by saying, if the musician is organized and between songs, crack a smile once-in-a-while and act like you're not in prison!
 
#75
bassybill said:
How many of you anti-stand guys ever do reading gigs where you really have to have a stand? Just curious.
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... Like the time I was hanging at a club I knew and the dep Bass Player walked out. I borrowed a Bass, played two dance sets, backed the cabaret act and sight read the whole thing?.

Or the Circus in Munich where I did much the same thing - true I had a talk through before the old Bass player made a run for the station (he really hated the gig!), but I played that 2 hour show for the first time ever in front of 1,500 people.

Whilst I know the standards and the pop/rock songs we all know and love and can manage from memory or can busk (fake) it if I don't, most of the "professional" (5 night/week residencies, cruise ships, holiday camps, even that Circus!) gigs I have done required me to read music - tadpoles on telephone wires - for some or all of the time.

The ability to play a chart that you've not seen before - or maybe played through once at the rehearsal before the show (watch "Dancing with the Stars" for an example of this, or even listen to any Motown track with the Funk Brothers on it) - and interpret it as if you've been rehearsing it for hours, that's when you need a music stand!!.
 
#76
JohnMCA72 said:
Something I learned a long time ago, rehearsing a play, was that I could never completely learn my part as long as I had that script in my hand. Same thing for music on a stand. If it's there, it becomes a crutch. Without the crutch, you're forced to learn to walk!
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I found this to be true when I played mainly trumpet. Had big band style bandstands with the band name on it (wedding band) so the stands weren't so out of place. I decided it was a pain to have to read everything, so I tried doing them from memory. Turns out I could, had played them all a million times anyway. After that, might use the music for a new song a few times, but ended up playing from memory 99% of the time.

Seeing as how everyone else still had the stands, I still stood behind it, just didn't use the music... :hiding:

they were something like this, only with the actual band name on them....

bif.jpg


Bottom line though, there's a hell of a lot more to memorize regarding words to songs than chords and/or bass lines for songs. Our singer uses a music stand for lyrics. He sounds great, we're booked. Nobody cares. Or should I say, Nobody that matters, cares..

Randy
 
#77
steveksux said:
Bottom line though, there's a hell of a lot more to memorize regarding words to songs than chords and/or bass lines for songs. Our singer uses a music stand for lyrics. He sounds great, we're booked. Nobody cares. Or should I say, Nobody that matters, cares..

Randy
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So any audience member who cares about it doesn't matter.

What an interesting way to say FU.
 
#79
PJSShearer said:
Well, do you think that if you went up to the Band and complained about them using music stands, they're going to say "terribly sorry about that, we'll lose them next break!"?.
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The question was - what do we think about it.

Someone replied that anyone "who matters" doesn't object, insinuating that those who have a different opinion are of no importance. The second sentence I wrote stated that was an interesting way to tell somone FU.

I never said that anyone should do what I think should be. I said that what I saw was lame. My opinion, and the opinion of many watching the band.

And this isn't about big bands, orchesrtas, jazz gigs. I was talking about a rock band with a seated singer who was reading his lyrics from a music stand, and the other band members staring at their sheet music. No one told them to lose the music stands - they just left.
 
#80
bassybill said:
How many of you anti-stand guys ever do reading gigs where you really have to have a stand? Just curious.
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I don't like to see rock (cover or otherwise) bands using stands, but I've used stands on every orchestra gig I've ever played - and on a number of sub gigs in rock/cover bands. I think the important thing if you're going to use one on those gigs is to keep it unobtrusive.
 

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