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Pet Peeve: Bands hinding behind music stands

#81
Zenrad, I read it that your question was related to what a member of the audience thinks.

Well unless an audience member expresses his opinion, by telling the band what they think at the time, it isn't going to matter what they think because the band aren't going to know!.

Generally, members of the audience come up to the Bandstand for two reasons - can you play song X? or, can you turn it down .....

If you ask the band to play a request, you are expressing your opinion that that they should play a certain song and, if they know it, and it fits the gig/situation/time left before quitting etc.. then, if they value your opinion, they will play it.

If you tell the band that you are of the opinion that they are playing too loud, if the band values your opinion then they'll turn it down, if they don't they won't. I've seen a few threads on this site that seem to take this "opinion" as an insult to their manhood :-), complete with details of the various ways bands have said "FU" to said member of the audience when this opinion was expressed to them.

You may be siurprised but occasionally you do get people expressing an opinion on the suitability, or not, of using music stands, usually along the lines of:

"Why do you need music stands? - they don't use them on Top of the Pops!".

Would you value this "opinion"??

Frankly I've used stands when I've needed to, I've not used stands when I've not needed to, I've even been in situations where I should have used a stand and didn't... :-(. Personally don't see it as an issue - use 'em if you need 'em, if it gets the job done.

Peace my friends.
 
#86
I tend to give the lead singer a break. I don't prefer it but I understand it. Sorry but 80% of cover band bass playing is easy. 90% of cover band back up singing and playing bass at the same time is easy. Singing lead and getting all of the phasing and lyrics down is harder. Singing lead and playing bass at the same can be very hard. So I'm sticking with this. If you don't like it and you don't sing lead you have a few choices. Don't worry about it because the audience probably doesn't care or notice, find another band or sing lead yourself.

PS. If the person sings only and doesn't play anything I would push a bit more. And they need to get their nose out of the book and work the crowd. They shouldn't need to read every word.


claytitan said:
I'm talking cover bands and bar gigs here... It is definitely better to not use a stand. But better to use a stand then screw up the lyrics. Just keep it as minimal as possible. I sing lead a good bit while playing so I throw a few notes on a note card and clip it to my mike stand. Hardly noticeable and helps ween me off the crutch. Oh and using a stand for anything except lyrics IMO is an embarrassment. I can remember the music to 1000s of songs but lyrics are much harder. As an instrumentalist for a gig you should be listening and watching each other for cues. Not playing to a tab or chord sheet. If the singer or drummer or guitar player takes the song another direction (improvisation) you are screwed.

And to all of you whiners about your singer using a crutch I have a suggestion. Buck up and sing lead some yourself and help with the workload. :cool:
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#88
I have to say if they sounded awesome stands would not bother me, and if they sucked a lack of stands would not make me like them. So stand/no stands would have to be a tertiary issue for me behind whether they sucked or not, whether I liked the tunes they were playing, hell a lot of things would be more important to me. So I guess my answer is "no".

I mean "no" obviously you're not the only person bothered by this, but it wouldn't necessarily bother me. So I am not one of the other people who are also, like the OP ("you"), bothered by a rock cover band using music stands. Now that I think about this, the lead singer in the cover band I play with does use a music stand to remember lyrics! He still leads the band well and connects with the audience, I think sometimes he just needs a little refresher before jumping into a tune.
 
#90
steveksux said:
No civilian audience members care. Only musicians care. Well, just some of them care. Not enough of them to matter to the bars bottom line, hence, their objections don't matter.

Randy
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That's not true at all. The folks who brought it to my attention were non-musicians who were watching. They left. Non-musicians aren't stupid, they're just not musicians.

What you are basically saying is that the opinions of a minority don't matter, but that's not true. All opinions and objections have merit, whether it's the voice of the minority or the majority.
 
#91
I had some friends that played with the Symphony Orchestra come and see my blues band play a few times. Their first question was "How do you remember all of those songs without scores?" They were so used to playing off the page and probably had been since childhood that it seemed strange to them that we played loose and improvised, following the singer and playing the same songs slightly different almost every time. And to me, that's the real fun of playing....reading the other band members...keeping it loose but tight.

As far as music stands for cover bands...to me it looks un-professional. Cheat sheets on the floor, or discretely placed, perfectly acceptable. We recently hired a new female singer for our blues band...she had done some solo w/guitar at coffee shops but had NEVER FRONTED A BAND...she had 30+ songs down pat by the first gig...(about three weeks away)....and these weren't your standard 1/4/5 done to death songs either....how'd she do it? She did her homework and worked on the material...she sang them all the time...in her car at her house...everywhere except at work.......did she make a flub or two? Probably, but I didn't notice and neither did anyone out front.
 
#92
We use stands. 400+ tunes and adding them all the time. Just chords and lyrics, mainly just to jog the memory as opposed to staring at them all the time.

I've got a family and a day job. Don't have time to practice and memorize. Too confusing to try to remember all the arrangements and words. I'm singing lead and backing vocals in addition to playing bass. If you don't like it and want to leave that's your prerogative.

I'll stop using my stand when Obama stops using his teleprompter. :ninja:
 
#93
I am glad someone posted this as their pet peeve!!! It has been mine for a long time as well. I think it represents not knowing your material. Have you ever went to a concert and saw a music stand? Could you imagine Vince Neil, Brett Michaels, Ozzy Osbourne (or whoever YOU like) standing there looking at a music stand? I would lose my mind!! I saw a live band here once where ALL of them (except the drummer) had a stand, with these big books they kept flipping through after each song. It looked totally stupid to me.
 
#96
[OT]
For the musicians that forget their own lyrics or stuff they've played a bunch of times before and can't get by w/o a music stand, I suggest taking Vitamin D.

I got my level tested and was extremely low. Getting the level up seems to have helped my old brain start working again, especially short term memory.

I also suggest getting all your vitamin levels tested if you can. If you're low on any one of them, there can be systemic side effects. Talk to your doc before adding anything new to your diet.

I'm no Doc, just an experienced medical consumer. YMMV. Enter at your own risk.

[/OT]
 
#97
sixx788 said:
I am glad someone posted this as their pet peeve!!! It has been mine for a long time as well. I think it represents not knowing your material. Have you ever went to a concert and saw a music stand? Could you imagine Vince Neil, Brett Michaels, Ozzy Osbourne (or whoever YOU like) standing there looking at a music stand? I would lose my mind!! I saw a live band here once where ALL of them (except the drummer) had a stand, with these big books they kept flipping through after each song. It looked totally stupid to me.
Click to expand...

The difference is these guys have the same 12 songs they play night after night. It's a bit different when someone like me has a cover repertoire of well over a thousand songs, many of which may only get dragged out once or twice a year, if that. Plus as you age it DOES get harder to memorise words.

And yeah; if I see a band that does the same 45 song rep list every time and needs stands, that is a bit wrong.
 
#100
I understand the use of stands for people in cover bands and older people who's memory is slipping, but at the same time, I would find it incredibly distracting if I were in the audience.

Ozzy uses a teleprompter (for songs he wrote and has been singing forever, no less), and while the audience can't see it like they would a stand, it's pretty annoying to see him standing in one spot and staring down at a screen instead of interacting with the audience.

On the same token, if I were to go see the Stones (who are old as dirt, so maybe the age thing really shouldn't matter), for example, and discovered them using stands, I would be sorely disappointed.

Idk, maybe it's just a rock n' roll thing; I probably wouldn't give a rip if jazz or classical guys used them, although, to be honest, I'd find it much more impressive if they didn't.
 

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