1) I am currently playing a grade 6 piece called "Giddy girl" not sure which book it's from because all I have at present is a copy. I'm getting there with most of it but 2 bars are really stumping me (the first two on the second page for anyone who's got it)and I'd like some advice. Usually I'd just work at the difficult bars over and over until eventually I got there. The problem here is they are rather full bars with a lot of notes and a lot of accidentals and cross-rhythms. My teacher has shown me the fingering and I'm ok with this but for some reason it's still not going in. I think I'm struggling with the reading it as much as the playing of it. I rarely have this difficulty so I don't know where to start. Any hot tips?

2) Is there such a thing as a music stand that clips to the existing music shelf so that your music is positioned higher? I've noticed mine's a little low and I find myself stooped over it when trying to figure out complicated bars, particularly if on the bottoms lines of the page.

What I would suggest for 1) is to learn the bars from memory. Sometimes it looks so complicated on the page that it puts you off! Just train your fingers where to go hands separately and then put the parts together very slowly. I'm a poor memoriser myself, but I can manage two or three bars to e.g. assist with a difficult page turn, so I think you'll find you can do it.

I've never seen a clip such as you describe. Can you find a piece of wood to put on your stand to just raise the music a little? I find with my piano you can use the top of the lid to put the music on (provided there are no page turns - it's a bit precarious!), which I used to do when I was coming up to one of my children's exams and needed to prepare myself for the higher desk on the exam grand.

Thanks BM. Thought memorising might be the way to go, perhaps along with enlarging the music first so it's easier to see!!!

I currently have perched my music on the lid but as you say there's a tendancy to fall off!!!!

My teacher has the exam grand!!! It's taken me a year to notice why I feel my posture is so bad on mine, thought my stool was too high but it's on lowest setting, then realised it's the music position!

One of the hazzards of being quite tall.

Got any more tips anyone or advice re point 2?

I have a large piece of card folded twice so that it forms a triptych when opened out. I photocopy the pieces I'm working on and attach them with a bulldog clip to the card. I mainly do this so that I'm not carrying books around to my lessons or having them kicking around at home, but the side-effect is that my music is slightly higher than if it were resting directly on the music stand. A taller piece of card would make the music even higher. An added benefit is that if I've got 3 sides of music, I can have them all in a line and not have to turn over any pages.

Incidentally my clarinet teacher suggested memorising some bars which I was finding tricky and it worked (and I'm not a natural memoriser either).

Yes: I'm 6'2" tall and I used to have the same problem with posture.

Most uprights have a pathetic little flap on the inside of the keyboard lid to use as a music stand. A few, particularly older and taller models, had a "proper" stand which was attached to the front and effectively hooked over the top of the front board, held in place by the string/frame case lid. This was a much better height. When I had an upright, this inspired me to make my own in imitation, out of cardboard.

Get a corrugated cardboard box, such as those you get from supermarkets (but not the shallow fruit trays) and cut/fold/use it to manufacture a "stand" that you can tuck under the piano lid, which can then be any height you like (and as wide as you can make it, certainly wider than the one on most uprights: on most grands the music stand is approximately 9-10" higher than the keys. Fold back the edges as triangles to wedge behind and bring the lower edge forward. Make sure the actual music holding bit is strong enough and that the front of it is higher than the back (or the music tends to fall off). Experiment a bit and don't be afraid to glue/tape things in place once you've got it right, just let the glue dry before use or it goes on the piano!! I used to use clothes pegs on the edge to hold the music in place.

Actual plans not included - do your own!

Memorising is deinifitely the way to go for tricky bars. Learn only a few notes at a time, then when you've completely got those, do the next few, then add them together.

I would also agree that a large piece of cardboard makes a great music stand.

Thanks for the tip I'll give it ago!
thank you too Skylark - might try your method too sounds a little simpler!!