Music Stand Types: Essential tools to hold sheet music, instruments

Music stands are essential tools used by musicians to hold and display their sheet music while they perform. You also get music stands that are designed to hold the instrument when not in use. Within these categories, there re more types of music stands available to cater to different needs and preferences.

Music Stands: Introduction

There are various types of music stands available to musicians. Some are designed to hold books and sheet music (to read music), some are designed for resting/holding the music instrument.

The more common types of music stands:

• Sheet music stands
• Stands and mounts to hold music instruments
• Studio Stands and racks to hold/support various recording gear

You get stands on which you rest the musical instrument, when its not in use. You may have seen guitarists put their instrument on a stand (some are wall mounted as well) so that they don’t have to remove it from a bag every-time they want to play. Such stands are designed to support the instrument without leaving any sort of marks on the instrument.

Just like a musical instrument, there are several factors that you may consider when buying a musician stand. Weather it’s portable, what’s the material used, is it sturdy and provides proper balance, how high  or low it goes.

While a sturdy stand is always preferred, professional musicians prefer comparatively portable music stand, something that is easy to carry to gigs.

Sheet Music Stands

Almost every musician needs a music stand to be able to read music. Whether its for practicing or performing, you’ll most likely require a stand for your music. So its important to find a suitable musician stand that allows you to comfortably read music while playing.

It is believed that music stands were first used in in Ancient China in 200 BC. But these accessories were made popular in 1300s by European musicians.

Sheet Music stands (and accessories) are used by music schools, theatres, private musicians worldwide, music teachers and students. There are several choices available to musicians such as those that are made of metal or wood, the lightweight and the folding ones, and ones that can be kept on top of a desk.

Types of sheet music stands

• Sheet music stands: Music stands for holding music sheets an d books for various instrument players
• Piano music stand rests/stands: Music stand for sheet music/music books for digital keyboards and digital pianos
• Tabletop music stands: Designed to be placed on a table/flat surface.

Poster for your ensemble room just so everyone knows what they are getting into when they pick out their music stands for that day’s rehearsal.

Stands for Holding Instruments

Not all the music stands are available for holding sheet music. You do get stands that are meant to rest the music instrument when you are not playing.

You get instrument stands for practically every music instrument – Guitars and Basses, Drums & Percussion, Violin, keyboards & pianos, Brass Instruments and even for Folklore Instruments.

If you are a guitar, violin, or cello player, you won’t be keeping the instrument back in the case every time you are done with your practice session? That is where these stands come in handy.

These are particularly useful for musicians who play more than one instrument during the course of one concert, allowing the extra instruments to be kept safely at hand.

These are usually made of metal, and are height adjustable!

Most stands come with foam rubber padding contact points, which ensures the finish of the music instrument remains intact. A stand meant for violin or the cello will also have a built in bow holder, in addition to the basic structure.

The better quality ones are sturdy and designed well to prevent the instrument from falling off. It does make sense to pay a bit more and get better quality ones; you don’t want to ruin your expensive music instrument by using an ordinary stand.

Various music stands for resting Musical Instruments

You get a variety of stands for holding (resting) musical instruments. Among these products are stands for saxophones, trumpets, trombones, guitars, and violins.

• Best guitar stands (to hold the guitar off the floor)
• Best Keyboard stands (to support keyboards)

Pegs designed for clarinets, English horns, oboes, flutes and piccolos, and trumpets do the same job for these instruments while taking up a minimum amount of space.

Drummers in rock groups and combos use Stands designed to keep cymbals and snare drums within easy reach. The cymbal stands are counter-balanced to hold the cymbal safely and reliably, while drum stands are engineered to prevent squeezing of the drum.

Stands for Holding Equipment

You also get stands for holding various equipment such as speakers, karaoke equipment, mixer, and so on.

Types of stands

• Karaoke Equipment stands
• Studio monitor stands

Musician Stand: Things to Consider

What’s Its Purpose
If the purpose of your musician stand is just for practice, then you don’t need to be too picky. But if you will be performing with it, you need to look for a stand that fits it’s purpose. If it needs to adjust to a specific height, keep that in mind also. So do think about how you’re going to use your musicians stand.

Portability is Preferred
Almost everybody prefers portability; although some may give it a lower priority compared to other features. If you are like most performing musicians, you probably travel a lot, performing at different gigs or concerts. Such musicians usually prefer a mobile setup, and that’s where a more portable music stand is preferable. You will want one that folds up, collapses down, or has a bag to carry your stand around with.

Should Be Easy to set Up
Besides being portable, a music stand should also be easy to set up. The performing musician has to take the stand in and out, set up take down several times in a month. The task can get really tedious. However, if the music stand is nicely designed, putting it together (and even dismantling it afterwards) is quite easy.

What Is It Made Of?
If you are looking for a nicer, more traditional musician stand, you may want to go with a wooden music stand. There are many different styles and also types of wood. You may decide to go with a walnut, cherry, or oak. These types of woods are very stable and have been used for ages. There are also aluminum, brass, and other metals that are used and may be better suited for your type of work.

Does It Suit Your Personality?
If you’re part of a band, or perform solo most of the times, you will want to find a stand that fits your personality. You may use it as is, or give it some character by adding decals, spray paint or something else to make it fit your style. Its perfectly okay to be creative and give it a little pizzazz (even if you’re a classical player).

Music Stand – Wood or Metal?

Wooden Music Stand used to be quite common until several years back, but most recent music stands are made up of metal.

The reason obviously being that wood is getting expensive and it is easier to bulk produce metal music stands. The fact that the metal ones are cheaper also adds to its popularity, especially among those who have recently started to learn their music instrument or those who are intermediate level musicians.

Nevertheless, there continuous to be good demand for wooden music stand from experienced and professional musicians, primarily because of its looks and also because they are quite heavy duty. You also have the option to go in for handcrafted designs which can make them really rich and lavish? Most schools and colleges also prefer wood over metal music stands because of the elaborate designs you can have on them.

Basically, it is not that one is better over the other as there is a lot of personal preference also in this matter when it comes to choosing metal or a wooden music stand. Most musicians who are interested in a wood stand as opposed to a metal stand feel that it projects an element of class and it looks elegant.

Most of the expensive stringed music instruments are made from fine wood, and the quality of the wood does impact the sound that is produced. So when you have a group of musicians playing the most expensive acoustic instruments, a music stand made of wood definitely complements those music instruments.

Music stands, though meant for holding the sheet music, will vary a bit depending on the instrument that the musician is playing. Though the basic structure of the stand would remain more or less the same, the amount of height adjustment, the placements, the inclination, etc. will vary depending on whether it is going to be used by a singer, conductor, guitarist, violinist, etc.