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 windy concert solutions
Author: DrH2O 
Date:   2012-01-15 13:50

It's 10 degrees F/-12 degrees C outside, so naturally my thoughts stray to warm outdoor summer concerts.

I play in a community band that does a series of outdoor concerts during the summer, most of which are held in a park right next to breezy Narragansett Bay. Keeping music in place is a constant struggle and band members use different approaches, none of which really seem to work very well, especially for multi-page pieces that require page turns.

How do you keep the pages in place without dropping out for 6-10 measures every time there's a page turn and you have to re-secure your music?

Anne

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: Ken Shaw 2017
Date:   2012-01-15 14:22

First, get a stand with a solid metal back and a heavy metal base, so it won't move in the wind and won't let wind come in from the back.

Long music clips such as the Grover-Trophy Music Stand Long Clip work well, but are a bit clumsy on page turns. http://www.amazon.com/Grover-Trophy-Music-Stand-Long-Clip/dp/B000IGZJ16/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1306862619&sr=8-1

You could also use super-magnets such as http://www.amazon.com/Neodymium-Magnets-N42-Cylinder-Set/dp/B0012KSSO2 or
http://www.amazon.com/Neodymium-Super-Magnets-Cylinder-Set/dp/B0012ARU7S.

The best solution is a home-made one that comes from a posting from several years back on the Klarinet list, http://test.woodwind.org/Databases/lookup.php/Klarinet/1999/07/000157.txt:

At a sporting goods store in the fishing supply section, get their smallest spool of monofilament line plus two lead sinker weights with swivel eyelets for attaching to the line.

Tie the weights to each end of an appropriate length of fish line (the width of the stand plus about two feet).

Clip clothes pins angling up on each side of the music stand and lay the line over them. Then slide the music up under the line.

The clear, monofilament line holds the music in place, doesn't block the view and the pages can be quickly turned. When pages are turned, the weights just ride up as the fish line is pulled away from the music.

Ken Shaw

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: Paul Aviles 
Date:   2012-01-15 14:23

You don't.

If you have enough of you in a section, it is up to your stand partner to do the flipping and you to do the playing (or the other way around). I had some success with the tong type clips that have the clear plastic side. The 'final solution' is a big piece of plexiglass that covers the whole viewing area of both sides of the music (and I mean thick and heavy too!). Of course they require the stand partner thing but the real trick is having your breaks planned out (photo copies of key pages etc.) to minimize the time out.



................Paul Aviles

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: otakua 
Date:   2012-01-15 14:32

I've taught at several music camps, and since we always play outdoors, we tell them to pack clothespins with them. It hels alot, IF you can position them right. if not... possibly use a magnet if you have a stand thats got a solid back?

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: GeorgeL 2017
Date:   2012-01-15 15:04

Check out the Manhasset Musiclip 1200, which has a spring clip that slides over the lip of a music stand, and a narrow clear plastic extension which holds the music against the stand. http://www.manhasset-specialty.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&pageID=4

I have been using the same two clips for at least 15 years. They used to be sold in sets of two; now they appear to be sold in units of one. You will need two of them.

If the extensions are not pushed tightly against the music, you can move the music with one hand without touching the clips.

George



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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: Chris P 
Date:   2012-01-15 15:18

I use a large hardwood board with several strands of elastic running lengthways to keep the music in place. If you can, photocopy any pages to eliminate awkward turns and you can slide the separate sheets over each other when you have time to if the part is more than three pages.

Resisting temptation of saying "three sheets to the wind" here! Oh, just did.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010

The opinions I express are my own.

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: William 
Date:   2012-01-15 17:33

Manhassett metal music stand with those extention wings (for wide fold-outs) and an equally wide piece of plexaglass available at most building and supply stores. To avoid page turns, I make ample use of my printer and tape the pages so they need not be flipped. Those pesky summer concert breezes can be made less hazzardless with a little planning and the right equipment. During heavy bursts of wind, I often play with my feet holding the legs of the music stand so the whole thing doesn't blow over. But when the thunder and rain start....I'M OUTTA THERE (LOL)

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: DrH2O 
Date:   2012-01-16 13:33

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have seen the giant clothes pin-type music clips and the plexi-glass, but both offer page turn challenges. We have a small clarinet section and this past year I was often on my own as the only 3rd clarinet (I used regular clothes pins on a flimsy folding stand). We have some pieces that are more than 3 pages long so page turns can't be avoided using the extension and copying technique - on our current rehearsal list - the Oklahoma medley is about 8 pages long and overture to Candide is 5 pages long, so I'm looking for an approach that allows for multiple quick page turns.

I have a heavy metal stand, but hadn't been using it because it was too hard to secure the music to it with clothes pins.

The fishing line trick is interesting and I haven't seen anyone use it. I'll have to give that a try. How easy is it to turn pages with the fishing line across the sheet music?

The magnets gave me another idea. Does anyone put their music in those sheet protector things (with a binder spine or rings to hold them together) and use magnets or fishing line to hold the packet to the stand?

Anne
Clarinet addict


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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: Mike Clarinet 
Date:   2012-01-16 15:25

I have 2 large sheets of clear acrylic plastic (left over from building a garden cold frame for my wife). With a Gaffer tape "hinge" along the bottom, the two pieces make a folder in Landscape mode with open sides and top.
A 4-side piece of music can be put in opened out, and when page-turns happen, the whole thing can be turned over.
Some pieces are printed like a book, so when opened flat, page 1 is on the right and page 4 is on the left, requiring 2 turns.
Some music publishers employ idiots as layout editors and put page turns in the middle of semiquaver passages at crotchet = 180, (or for those across the pond, 32nds when quarters = 180) and there is no time to turn even in an indoor concert - then the photocopier comes to the rescue as my plastic folder is wide enough to put 3 single pages side-by-side, also useful if there are more than 4 sides.
The whole thing stands on a heavy metal music stand, clipped to it with clothes pegs if necessary. It has stood up to a very windy gig in Brighton (UK South coast) where the bandstand is on the roof of a cafe and very exposed.

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 Re: windy concert solutions
Author: pewd 
Date:   2012-01-16 15:38

I photocopy all the music, and place the pages in plastic page protectors, available from any office supply store. Then I put them in a 3 ring binder.

If I have a bad page turn, I make 2 copies of that page: e.g., if you have no possibility of a clean turn, but a longish rest in the middle of the page, you can make an extra copy of that page and turn during the rest.

I use a Manhasset portable stand - one of the ones with the folding base. (search for Manhasset Voyager). A good solid stand really helps outdoors.

If its not too windy, cloths pins work well, I just clip one on the upper corner of each page, clipping 5-6 of the plastic pages together, and it holds well enough.

If its very windy, a piece of clear plexiglass over the notebook, and you drop out for a measure or 2 while turning.

Good luck!

p.s. - yup, what Mike said about idiot layout editors...

- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas

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