What's on Your Stand?
Hello tonebuddies!
Let's dive into a bit of musical show-and-tell! You’re invited to share a picture of what’s on your music stand!
Whether it's the sheet music of a challenging piece, a beloved etude, or perhaps a well-worn method book, your stand is a reflection of your current musical journey. Snap a photo of your music stand setup and share it with the community. Are there any quirky accessories, favorite pencils, or lucky charms that accompany you during practice?
Let's celebrate what you’re practicing, the notes scribbled in the margins, and the marks of a well-practiced passage. Your stand setup might just inspire someone else's practice space makeover!
So, grab your camera and take a snapshot of what’s on your stand! 
Share your picture below! 
-
Hi everyone, great to see everyone’s stands. I’m a beginner. Currently working my way through Giulinani’s Op. 50. 32 Etudes. I use a Korg metronome and I track my practice time across technique, scales, ear training and music in a time tracking app (to keep me honest and motivated and consistent). I also keep a journal and visual timer to track how long I practice per sitting.
-
Blaise Laflamme I tried three dedicated music practice apps, but they all came up short in one way or another. So I use Atracker in iOS. It’s highly customizable. For example, I’ve created tags for technique, scales, music, theory and stretching. Then I set up daily and weekly goals against the tags and then I simply track my time during practice.
-
LennyB I wish that were that were true. I picked up guitar very late in life, at the age of 50. Progress is slow and painful. But I’m learning to be patient and to enjoy the process.
-
Blaise Laflamme hi Blaise not sure my last reply worked. I’m using the Atracker time tracking app on iOS.
-
Hatef Yamini yes it worked, I didn't know about this application before and I only once used Andante on iOS, thanks for sharing!
-
-
Here are photos of my high tech pencil holder and gear storage compartment. They are not pretty, but they work.
-
Frank Montagna no need to be fancy!
-
-
Trying to be good and resist starting on pieces too far ahead of my abilities. But I've started late in life.
On the 10-year plan with Villa Lobos (first the Suite Populaire Bresilienne)--I'd better get cracking! -
THE Chaconne
-
Preparing for the Carcassi challenge!!!
-
A fine arrangement of one of Piazzolla's greatest melodies. Look up Kossinskaja's rendition on Youtube and you'll know why I found it irresistible. Several months of hard graft ahead!
-
A little Choro with Segovia scales peeking out in the background.
-
As a beginner, I tend to have several pieces on the go at any one time including a practice plan on technique exercises from the online course I am currently following, some Tonebase pieces such as Sor Op. 60 No. 9 and Carulli Andantino in Am Op. 241 No. 19, and from another beginner site The Spanish Pavin, Carcassi Allegretto in C, and Sagreras Leccion 70 & 75. Also included my metronome and notebook where I track what I have done during practice and what needs work. Missing from the photo is my timer, which I am using all of the time.
-
Jim King Nice! We have very similar setups.
-
Hatef Yamini I see that as well. Also, I notice that we are both using Bradford Werner as a source for scores. Are you following his lessons as well?
-
Jim King I take much the same approach, Jim, always having half a dozen or more pieces on the go. (I don't have the patience to focus on a single work for days (let alone weeks) on end.) I like the repertoire you're working on - the Andantino by Carulli was at one time part of my daily 'warm-up' routine. And I'm always heartened to see guitarists playing lute music of any kind - the 'Spanish Pavin' (as you may know) was a traditional tune popular in Elizabethan England. Many settings have been preserved, the best known being the one published in Thomas Robinson's 'Schoole of Musicke' (1603). If you're interested in hearing it, I recommend Christopher Wilson's beautiful recording.
-
Jim King Hi Jim, yes I love Brad’s material because I can get a clean score and I can watch him play and put the two together. I do have a teacher that I see weekly.
-
David Krupka I listened to the Christopher Wilson recording and agree that it is a beautiful recording. As this recording and others have shown me, the score I have is only one part of the whole piece. Unfortunate but beautiful just the same.
One fact that I read when I started that piece was that in the early 16th century, this piece was played at a quick tempo but was slowed down to a processional march later that century. Not sure why this happened, do you have any idea? Anything I checked didn't readily provide an answer.
-
Jim King
The score you are working with is likely complete - it's just a different version of the 'Spanish Pavin' than the one played by Christopher Wilson. Indeed, there are perhaps a dozen or more 'settings' of the tune in various manuscript sources. There is no single 'correct' version, any more than there is today for a standard jazz tune. Different musicians will treat the same basic material according to their own taste and ability. So it was in Elizabethan times also, and though Robinson's arrangement is more elaborate than the anonymous setting in the 'William Ballet Lute Book', both are based on the same tune.
The matter of tempo that you refer to is quite interesting. There was, for reasons that I think remain obscure, a general slowing of dance tempos during the course of the sixteenth century. What happened in the case of the Pavin was simply part of a broader trend. You can get a sense of this by comparing one of the earliest known pavanes (dating from 1508) with one composed some seventy-five years later.
.
-
David Krupka Thank you David for the information. It is interesting to learn about some of the history to better understand the music we play.
For the score, I tend to get my music from sources that are oriented to the beginner. Accordingly, these scores are sometimes made simpler and shorter to suit that purpose. But it makes sense that there would be various editions of the same music given the nature of the times for musicians to add or improvise in addition to the original music.
As for the tempo, thank you for the demonstrating how much Pavins have slowed their tempo over the 16th century. That is some contrast in tempo!
-
-
Hi!
This is my late contribution here...
Currently I am working on three pieces:- "Jazz Etude No. 8"" by Matthew Dunne (3 pages)
- "The Black Cockatoo flying alone" by Richard Charlton (2 pages)
- "Estudio sin luz" by Andre Segovia (2 pages)
The Jazz Etude came to me via a recording by Bill Kanengiser. Matthew Dunne is a great composer, but his pieces are not that easy (e.g., his 20 Miniatures; there was also a video here at tonebase). This Jazz Etude catched me and it is a lot of "work" but foremost fun to practice this piece and to feel progress, step by step, putting all the difficult stuff together and slowly forming the whole piece.
I was pointed to the Black Cockatoo by a fantastic video on that piece here at tonebase presented by Stephanie Jones. I immediately put the score on my wishlist for birthday and the wish was fulfilled.
The Estudio sin luz catched me when I listened a recording by Jason Vieaux. A really lovely piece, but also not easy (for me), in particular the third part of it (not on the photo). For me, it is the perfect balance of challenge and fun and progress. It is a wonderful feeling to make progress and to have such a nice piece in the repertoire.
-
Robert nice selection on your stand Robert! Never heard of "The Black Cockatoo flying alone" before, I'll take a look at Stephanie's video.
-
Hi everyone! Here in France, as I don't have enough stands and I'm hungry for music I use my kitchen table!
Currently perfecting: Suite del plata n1, mov 1 to 3 (MD Pujol)
Working on: Suite des constellations, mov 1&3 (JM Raymond)
Thinking about tackling: Bedtime suite mov 2&3 (Akis Filios, a greek composer who writes very nice pieces for early beginners to intermediate and some more level.)
And for relaxing: Retrato Brasileiro
-
Anne very interesting selection Anne, I used to have too much scores here and there at hand to read through things and it ends up creating piles everywhere... I'm more than happy now since I started using an iPad with PDF scores, everything is in this little thing!
-
-
I am currently working on the "Sons de Carrilhoes" and a book for technical studies is there as well. Most remarkable is the pencil-holder, though. It is magnetic, so I never lose my pencil anymore...
-
Gunter nice setup, Kappel's Bible is full of interesting stuff!
-
