The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: justwannaplay
Date: 2004-05-07 10:03
This might sound like a trivial or obvious question, so my apologies, but I've been acquiring sheet music and books since I started up again last October, and I don't know how to store it. You guys who have a lot of music, what do you do? Do you put it in plastic folders, then in a binder? A filing cabinet? What do you do about transport? How do you achieve ease of reference, accessibility and protection (some pieces are old/fragile)?
Thanks,
Elizabeth
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2004-05-07 11:33
A filing cabinet. Get a 3-drawer, which provides a surface on the top which is at a useful height. You'll never regret it. When you have filled it with everything else besides music, get another 3-drawer, and another.
A single drqwer tpis over when you pull a drawer right out.
A two drawer is too low to be very useful on the top, and you will fill it too soon anyway.
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Author: hans
Date: 2004-05-07 12:37
Storage in a three drawer filing cabinet with hanging files.
Transport in a plastic file folder pouch with a flap that closes.
For music that is getting old and fragile I make a copy and stop using the original.
Hans
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Author: Pappy
Date: 2004-05-07 13:02
There are some great cases made by a company called Odyssey
(Here's an example: http://www.odysseygear.com/cgi-bin/new/search.cgi?page=2&col=keyword&query=krom%20lp)
We bought some to store vinyl LP's in and realized they'd be good for storing sheet music in tool They can be used stationary and because they have handles, etc. they can be portable. They look pretty cool too.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2004-05-07 17:22
i just throw them all over the place. somehow i always know where everything is (i have no idea how) but i can't say i recommend this method.
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Author: Rachel
Date: 2004-05-08 02:05
Well, my current repertoire is on the floor near my music stand.
All my other music is on the floor somewhere else.
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Author: kdennyclarinet
Date: 2004-05-08 04:52
I use the file cabinets for solo and chamber repertoire. Because it bothers me to try to keep things in perfect alphabetical order (especially when you have your three tab file folders and have to slip a new file in), I just keep all of the A's together, B's together, etc. For my reference, each piece has a number that goes on the file folder tab and corresponds to a list I have on the computer (I used Microsoft Excel to create a sort of datebase). I use the first letter of the last name of the composer and then have a number such as: M0001, M0234, etc. This way your M's stay together and you can always look up on your computer to find the code number for the piece you need. This method makes it easy to expand your library without having the three tab file folders get bound up and out of a nice rotated order. It's easy to work out.
I keep larger books such as solo collections and etude/method/technical study books in plastic magazine racks that you can buy at Walmart or somewhere. I made labels for each rack like "Etudes", "Solo Collections", "Duet Collections", and "Technique Studies." This has worked out alright for me so far. However, I would like a better system for these books.
Hope this helps!
K. Denny
BME, MM, DMA
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Author: jo.clarinet
Date: 2004-05-08 06:21
I keep mine in plastic storage boxes. Unfortunately I now have so many of them - I have ones for piano music, recorder music, violin and viola stuff and teaching materials, as well as for clarinet - that although I know where any given piece is likely to be, I can hardly turn round in my music room without nearly tripping up over a box! I must get some shelves.........
Joanna Brown
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Author: Meri
Date: 2004-05-08 15:25
I like to store my music in magazine holders that you can get from an office supply store or sometimes a dollar store, which are seperated into different categories, such as method books, studies, single pieces, anthologies, duets, which are labelled. Also use them for my music magazines. No more music or magazines falling over! Some of the music is also placed in file folders, depending on the quality of the paper or binding.
Meri
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Author: justwannaplay
Date: 2004-05-10 10:21
Thanks for all the ideas! Hmm, right now my method is similar to clarinibass and Rachel's. Gotta get organized. K. Denny - I like your suggestion of having a computer inventory - must try and institute that. Those cases are funky Pappy! Not sure I'd have any room for them though.
I have a perfectly good filing cabinet next to me. Why haven't I thought of that before?
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Author: Tim P
Date: 2004-05-10 17:18
I store mine on flat pieces of glass
.......oh wait a minute......
that would be my reeds.
sorry bout that.
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Author: diz
Date: 2004-05-11 00:45
I store my library flat (i.e. horizontally) in Boxes (dozens of 'em). In alphabetically order.
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2004-05-11 01:10
I store mine on bookshelves set to just the right distance apart for sheet music. I arrange mine by category, such as clarinet methods and studies, piano repertoire, clarinet trio, mixed ensemble. I haven't organized anything within categories at this point, but I have enough categories that each one is not that big.
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Author: Eileen
Date: 2004-05-17 20:50
Mine stuff is completely unorganized but I also use the magazine holders. Plain looking ones from Office Depot for the rarely used stuff stashed in a closet. But I found some heavier ones in funky decorative colors from Target and use those on a shelf out in the open for the stuff I actually play. It's easier to rifle through the magazine holder looking for something than it is to deal with folders or books. Guess it depends on your volume of stuff and degree to which you suffer from the delusion that the organization of physical objects promotes mental organization.
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-05-18 00:54
Hi,
I use the magazine holders but instead of plastic, I have gotten very nice cardboard ones from IKEA for not much money. I am somewhat of a neatness freak and the problem with the plastic magazine holders is I could never seem to find the ones I wanted at a decent price or of the same exact style. The carboard ones from IKEA were about $7US for 5 and although I have white, other colors are available.
As with may things at IKEA, buy what you think you are going to need for a very long time and save them (prices are pretty low anyhow). All too often, IKEA will "discontinue" an item with no notice.
HRL
PS I store them on one of the shelves of three white bookcases that I got from IKEA for $18 each. An incredible sale. Also to show you how really neat I am, I have nice plastic shoe boxes ($.79 each) on the other shelves with one for alto reeds, one for tenor reeds, one for sax mouthpieces, ect. (you get the idea).
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Author: justwannaplay
Date: 2004-05-18 08:33
Thanks for the continued ideas (I will look for those magazine holders at Ikea, UK, Hank!). What I think I'll do is use my filing cabinet for the loose sheet music (frail stuff in clear plastic 'file pockets', the kind you put in a binder), and the magazine holders for my books, somewhere on my shelves.
Now, where did I put that music?
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2004-05-18 10:59
JWP,
I think you'll find that IKEA will have exactly what you need if not the cardboard ones I use. The company also has some very clever shelving ideas as well.
Is IKEA as popular in the UK as in the US?
HRL
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Author: justwannaplay
Date: 2004-05-18 11:41
Yes, Hank, IKEA is very popular here (they orignated in Sweden); I believe they really boomed here in the mid-late 90s. I read recently that Mr IKEA (not his name!) is the world's richest man. Not surprising with IKEAs all over the place.
They are great for kitchen essentials and, as you say, shelving units. I'm glad, though, they haven't branched off into clarinets.
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