What do you call those little metal extensions to the music desk, which are put up at an angle to stop the pages of sheet music from being blow off?

On my digital piano, there are two such extensions that I can lift so that my pages don't turn by themselves while I play. With my new piano, I am still wonder what can be done, other than placing other books at the edges, which sometimes block my view after I manually turn a page.

On music stands, they seem to be called "page retainers". I am hoping to find a pair of clip-ons, so that I won't have to drill holes into the music desk. I am too clumsy for such an intricate project.

Any ideas?

I would be interested in these too, on my old piano it had something to hold the pages down but the new one has nothing, and there is nothing more frustrating when the page starts to lift up as you are playing! I suppose in theory we could use some large paperclips?

ET

Can you not simply use plastic/wooden clips - something like this? I rarely have problems with music not staying open (I generally use force until they do ), but these do the trick (and they're cute! )

The best thing to use are clothes pegs. 2 or 3 of them.

We have to play outside a lot, in our brass band, and it gets very windy, and we use pegs, so pegs are the way to go.

I'm afraid my solution is to be fairly brutal with the book and 'break' the spine so that the music lies flat. It is fairly useless otherwise. I have occasionally taken a book to pieces and reassembled it with a comb binder (a bit drastic I know, but it works...) I would rather adulterate the music than my piano!

I just found a possible name for what I was looking for: Piano Bookholders.
Here is one, which requires drilling:
http://www.uk-piano.org/piano-accessories-...etail&p=107



Oh these are so so so sweet! I know they are regular clips, and work the same way as the clothes pegs mentioned by fabnt, but oh how cute!! I would love to have the fish and the cat. Too bad I am not in UK, but you have given me an idea... I could look at the stationery shops for similar clips. But they don't really hold the thick books open, do they? How large is each clip?





I have thought about it... but I don't have the heart to. The fact is, my books usually disintegrate within a few years of intensive usage. I am a very careless and clumsy person. So I am actually trying to keep the books intact, rather than rip them apart.

I realise that Schirmer's books are really good, as they lay quite flat. Of course, they are prone to ripping apart. SueHM, have you already de-spined a couple of Schirmers? My Czerny's School of Velocity is already in 3 pieces, due to natural forces ...


I just had an idea while looking through my stationery. Eldatom, shall we try these out?

Office Foldback Clips

My guess is that if we have two of the above clips clamped to the front of the music desk, with the top metal "leg" lifted up, maybe they can stop the books from closing/flipping. I haven't tried yet, as what I have at home are too tiny.

I foresee a few problems:
1) The "legs" might not be stiff enough to resist thick books. They are likely to fold back, unless some modification is done to limit folding back. Maybe some plasticine at the hinges?
2) Clamping something metallic to the music desk might scratch the polished surface. What I can think of would be small pieces of soft felt to protect the music desk.
3) Always a problem would be turning of pages. Theoretically one hand will be sufficient, since the "legs" can be folded back. Practically, who knows?

OK, just another of my crazy ideas... Are there any more similar clips with springy/bouncy extensions/legs i.e. will spring back to the "lifted" position after being pushed down during a page turn?

Absolutely love the fish magnetic clips. These are great as long as you don't have to turn over the page in a piece. I can't see myself having to grab hold of the clip, taking it off, turning the page, then putting it on again for every page of an eleven-page accompaniment.

When we go on tour and have to perform out of doors, there are often 3 of us handling the music. One holding down one page, another turning the page and the third holding down the other side of the page - we had to do this in Italy when we performed beside a lake high up in the Italian Alps, and it was very windy. The conductor had to have someone to hold down their music as well.

Yes, personally I always look for someone I know in the audience and shout "Oi ### get over here and hold my music please" accompanied by fluttering of eyelashes etc. Most men people are happy to oblige...

Wow, isn't it interesting that ONE person is playing the instrument, while THREE are handling the sheet music?
Seems as if holding down the music is more challenging than playing the instrument!




Have you tried that to the examiner?

Ah, I wish I could do that. But I don't have much charm, and can't stand mascara. Moreover, people around me while I am practising are my family, who will ignore my flirting

Oh you should have seen us on the first tour I went on. We performed in the village square of a tiny little place in France. I was under a tree, playing an electronic piano. During one of the songs, it started to rain and it dripped from the leaves on the tree on to the piano keys. This time I had 2 people helping. One was turning pages for me and trying to stop the music getting wet or falling off the stand, the other had a tissue and, while I playing, was dabbing at the keys to soak up the rain. So, as I moved my hands around the piano she was dabbing at the notes I'd been playing, trying to dry them before I needed to play them again.
The piano was the personal pride and joy of the technician we'd taken with us and he was going mad at the thought of his beloved piano been ruined by the rain.

Nope - that's for concerts only


I don't wear mascara