How To Keep Score From Blowing Away

Performing out in the open can be challenging when it’s windy. Not only can wind literally carry the sound of the band in the wrong direction and make it harder to hear, but a light gust can easily send your sheet music flying. Luckily, there are a few simple solutions to tackle the latter, no matter what kind of music stand you use.

Clothes Pegs
Magnets
Built-In Hooks
Weigh Down Your Score
Glue Everything Together
Use a Folder
Use a Tablet
Memorise Important Parts
See Also

Clothes Pegs

One of the most effective and commonly used methods is securing your score with clothes pegs so it’s a good idea to keep a handful of pegs stored in your instrument case. Alternatively, you can pick up a purpose-made sheet music clamp, which looks a little more professional and is likely to be more secure too.

How To Keep Score From Blowing Away

Magnets

Instead of clothes pegs, you could also use magnets to keep your note-filled papers from going anywhere. Brands like K&M offer up specially-designed magnets, but in practice, any magnet will do. The only thing to bear in mind is that really strong magnets aren’t recommended because they can make it tricky to flip pages. Most folding and non-folding sheet music stands out there are magnetic, but if your stand is made of wood or plastic, you’ll have to opt for an alternative solution. In some cases, your wallet, phone or a heavy pen can at least keep the paper from sliding down.

How To Keep Score From Blowing Away

Built-In Hooks

A lot of music stands feature little adjustable hooks or rods. Stick your score behind them and they’ll prove to be a huge help in keeping the papers in place. Just make sure that whatever built-in clamping system your stand has doesn’t obscure the staves so that you don’t risk missing a note or two.

How To Keep Score From Blowing Away

Weigh Down Your Score

What can also work is glueing your papers to a piece of cardboard or plastic. This adds weight which makes it harder for wind to grab hold of your score. Got a lot of pages and just a little bit of cardboard? Simply copy the parts you need, cut them out and glue them really close together before using your pegs of the hooks of your music stand to secure your collage of notes.

Glue Everything Together

While it’s not the most tree-friendly solution, you can also go for single-side printed sheets and glue the empty side of two papers together to create more mass. If you’ll be performing two parts that each take up two pages, it can be a good idea to mix-and-match the papers so that you only have to turn the pages once to play both parts.

Use a Folder

Sticking your sheets in a folder is another solid solution, especially if you slide them side some plastic sleeves. You could even weigh down each sleeve with a pencil to keep the wind from flipping over pages before the part is done. There are also purpose-made choral folders available.

How To Keep Score From Blowing Away

Use a Tablet

Granted, this is a bit of a cheeky solution since not every musician will have access to one, but a tablet can be quite useful. If you’re already worrying that digitising your score is difficult, well, it really isn’t. You can scan the pages and email them to yourself; download a music notation app and enter your parts note by note; or you can simply use your tablet or phone to take photos of your sheet music. Also, bear in mind that reading sheet music on a smartphone usually isn’t a good idea since the display will be too small. See our blog Sheet Music Apps: Yay or Nay? for more info.

Bladmuziek-apps: handig of niet?

Memorise Important Parts

Sometimes, not even the best intentions and precautions can counter the elements and keep your sheet music from blowing away – or worse, toppling your music stand. As such, it’s always a smart idea to learn the most important parts by heart. If you’re suddenly forced to continue playing without your sheet music, you can still impress everyone in the audience if you just keep going. Also, being overly fixated on written notes can make you forget to take in the music as a whole, so memorising notes will only stimulate your improv skills.

Know any other tricks to help keep sheet music from being captured by wind? Share them in a comment below!