Anybody got any tips for keeping your music on a music stand when playing outdoors.

It's very difficult in windy conditions....in our concert band we use clothes pegs which doesn't look very professional. Ok for a two page part but a nightmare if there's a page turn.

It's worse conducting as you have to peg the outside pages of the score and hold down the rest of the the score with your non conducting hand!!

Experience sadly has shown me there's little that can be done to defeat Mother Nature here.

Acetate sheets work OK for pieces with no page turns, but are a nightmare otherwise. Think it's back to clothes pegs...

Have a look at the products on www.musicmaide.com , they are an american company , if you are just buying one the cost of delivery is high but if you can club together with others the cost is much better

In my brass band days clothes pegs were the universal solution to windy days.

We just did a concert on Friday outdoors and we made long black elastic loops to help - go all the way around the stand and over the folder. Mind you we made photocopies of the parts and had them in ringbinders in case it rained....but yes, clothes pegs are our usual fall back too.

When I was on a concert tour in Germany with a brass band I noticed they were having the same problem. I came across miniature pegs - about an inch long - and bought a set of red ones to match their uniform jackets. They looked great! Anyone going to Germany???

You can get them in craft shops or online eg http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-Craft-Wooden-...E/dp/B003GTYU3A

We use a mixture of clothes pegs and elastics and irons (a metal bar that hooks over the stand top and lies flat against the music)

It's difficult though for page turns .... It's where you need more than one on a part and and rather deft fingers.

4 bars may be plenty for a page turn normally but when you factor in the wind and all the pegs etc. it's cutting it rather fine!!

The first time I played outdoors, I had all the music in plastic sheets in a heavy folder because no piece was longer than two pages. The wind tended to change pages for me, so I had to peg each one in place to stop it turning. However a gust of wind took the folder straight off the stand and pegs were not thick enough to hold it in place on the music stand.

I played again in a new band a couple of weeks ago and this time pegged all the first half pieces straight onto the stand in order, using bright red and blue clothes pegs - not very elegant but they did the job, and all I had to do was remove each piece as it was played and put it in a folder under my chair. This worked well, that is until I played a piece with a page turn and ended up with all the music at my feet! There are just too many things to hold, including my precious flute which I was rather reluctant to allow to fall on the paving slabs!

Another flautist was using magnetic discs, but he had the same problem with page turns. So I am afraid there is no simple solution that I know of.

And what do you do if it starts raining?

Also bear in mind that if you secure your music too well to your music stand, the first gust of wind will turn the whole thing into a very effective kite....

(anyone remember the Harborough Ensemble bandstand gig back in the old days? )

Our band uses wind folders. They have a clear plastic front panel, and loops at the back which fasten on to the music stand. They're quite good in the rain as well If it's a clear sunny day with not much wind we use clothes pegs. The conductor uses magnets or big metal irons which are heavy enough to hold down a whole score. If he's having trouble with the page-turns we just carry on without him

Thanks for all your replies.
Looks like clothes pegs and magnets are the most popular.
I've just found these....on the Rat Stands web site. (Wind cheaters)

http://www.ratstands.com/acatalog/Universa...5Q1_2e_2e_2e_2e

Cheaper for larger quantities (21% discount for over 20).

But not suitable for conductors sadly.

So I need to research magnets or wind irons??

K&M do some very good magnets. If there is two on a part one can always play while the other turns over

Clothes pegs and a foot on the music stand seems to help quite a lot

Oh yes...

Some partial solutions:

1) When conducting from a well-bound score you can peg the covers. If the piece is multi-movement, you can peg the first or last pages of movements so that only the one you are performing is free. You conduct entirely with the stick or your right hand if you don't use one (you should do that most of the time indoors too) and leave the left hand free to control the pages.

2) Military bands have very heavy music stands that stand up in anything less than a full gale.* The best ones have a kink in one of the legs that makes a convenient handle when the stand is folded.

* If yours is too light, you put your feet on the legs.

Not so much the stand blowing over,more the music blowing off the stand is the problem.

At our last gig (Sunday) we had friends holding the pergola/marquee down!!