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The (nearly) Unspeakable Enemy: Music Stands

#61
engedi1 said:
Couple of good points here. Yes, they need permanent people, and need to learn how to keep them. But subs will always be needed. It just an ego thing, especially with jazz players where there is often a lot of pissing contests going on. " you need a chart?, what are you an amateur?". I don't get this attitude but it is there.
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Well, fortunately for me, I suck, er, am very limited on the bass, music-wise. So I will likely never have to deal with this.

Another TBer was mentioning a similar situation with bluegrass musicians. I think anywhere "keeping it real" is a primary motivation image-wise you can run into this. It just makes it more crazy where a high amount of technical work is part of the picture. Not so much a problem in, say, punk or blues, unless lyrics are concerned. Like others have said, orchestras use charts, and therefore use stands. Why shouldn't jazz trios, given the technical demands of the music? Because you can't read charts with sunglasses. Duh.
 
#62
Lex P. said:
A few weeks ago I saw Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys playing with his side project The Arcs. They were at 1st Avenue in Minneapolis. He was using a music stand. I don't think anybody noticed or cared. It was great. :bassist:
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Saw Lucinda Williams live last fall. Her music stand didn't get in the way of her putting on a ROCKING show.
 
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#64
I actually had a person prompting me at a Jerry Lewis Telethon concert once. The blind pianist had fired the band provided on Saturday night after a rehearsal. I got a call late and was there to play bass Sunday. I was seated directly to the right of the pianist, who was the union rep and BL. He just said "relax - I'm going to tell you everything you need before each song" And he did.
 
#68
ServinJbass said:
Any experience with the music stand dilemma TalkBass?
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I've never had any hangups with it when needed. No bands have ever given me grief. Of course, I limit the time I'll need it for bands I stick with, memorizing the shows as fast as possible.

One thing I changed to be less obtrusive with the stand is to get a tablet and have my charts in there. Mounted to my mic stand (or flat on the front corner of the drum riser when available), it's not as bulky and I'm at least always looking forward rather than to my side as was the case with a stand.
 
#71
engedi1 said:
This is so not true. I have been to gigs where I show up with the music stand and totally gotten crap from other band members (fill in gigs where I had to learn like 50 songs) Now the audience probably doesn't care if the bass player uses a music stand, but the other band members often do. And this is even MORE true in the jazz world, where you are expected to simply know every song that has ever been written or learn it by ear the first time through.
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I've never had it happen in 45 years. If they have a problem with a music stand placed discretely out of the way, that you glance at occasionally to refresh your memory then they are Richard Heads.

If you stand there at the front of the stage staring at the stand and ignoring everything going on around you then they have a point.
 
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#73
mellowinman said:
I couldn't find any real sheet music for that song. I was only trying to be funny. I really don't care who uses music stands, iPads, or whatever they like.

And tab is even easier than staff. It's basically a picture of the fretboard.
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That's cool, but between all of the fretless instruments I play with and the non string instruments, I need a more universal language no matter how easy it is.
 
#76
TL; DR. This is something of an old chestnut here on TB.

My take: it is *definitely* ok to use a stand at an audition or rehearsal! If the band you are working with has issues with it, you can let them know you'll memorize it by the show. I also feel it is sensible and should be ok to use a stand if you've been called in to sub with very short warning time.

But I also feel a music stand is ok no matter what. If having a stand is going to help you play better, remember the words, etc., then use the stand.
 
#78
Captain Chaos said:
What do you do when your tablet crashes?
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Cell phone backup.

I was recently on a cruise. Several musicians had some type of tablet device --- some for lyrics, others for music.
The woman playing the lounge piano/jazz/classical stuff told me she was more at ease with her tablet than when she carried sheet music---
she didn't need sheets for everything, but some of those classical pieces can get involved.

Anyway-- she had a back up tablet in her room and had all of the material backed up on USB sticks and the cloud---- lots of redundancy.
 
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#79
ServinJbass said:
So, I been doing the hired gun thing for a couple months and have been steadily filling up my roster of bands. At this point, the number of rehearsals/auditions/regular-gigs/fill-ins is getting a bit overwhelming and I'm considering enlisting the power of a nearly unspeakable enemy, a music stand. I believe as performers, it is our responsibility to give audiences a show on stage, moving around (as much as the venue facilitates) and not having our faces buried in music stands. However, I know I can save a lot of time by not having to memorize every single song structure for a particular weeks list of auditions and random fill ins.

I prepare well for every gig I do. I make charts, take notes during rehearsals and sometimes make full transcriptions for particular songs. Unfortunately, when you are learning 20+ songs for a variety of different groups it can be overwhelming to spend the time memorizing a song when you don't need it for more than a 30 min audition.

Last week, I had an audition for a group whose post-audition offer for me to join I respectfully declined. I spent hours preparing for this audition just to find out that the band was poorly organized, that it was mediocre, and that I was not likely to get paying gigs with them within the next several months. Either way, I realized that I could have saved a bunch of time and could have reduced my stress level several fold by not taking the extra time to memorize their songs and just referencing the charts I made for their original songs from time to time.

So, I went on Amazon and purchased a music stand so that the next time I have an audition or a last-minute fill-in I can reference the charts I went through all the trouble of making as I learn songs.

I know it's not very rock and roll, but that's where I'm at. Any experience with the music stand dilemma TalkBass?
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How in the heck else would you be able to read your sheet music if it's not on a stand? It's usually impractical to put it on the floor in front of you, and unless the font is enormous, it'll be nearly impossible to read otherwise. A music stand is pretty much essential for the working professional musician.
 
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#80
Slevage said:
Cell phone backup.

I was recently on a cruise. Several musicians had some type of tablet device --- some for lyrics, others for music.
The woman playing the lounge piano/jazz/classical stuff told me she was more at ease with her tablet than when she carried sheet music---
she didn't need sheets for everything, but some of those classical pieces can get involved.

Anyway-- she had a back up tablet in her room and had all of the material backed up on USB sticks and the cloud---- lots of redundancy.
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Could you repeat that?
 

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