What to Look For in a Music Stand

At the end of the day, the concept of a music stand is pretty simple. Your music sheet has to rest somewhere! While it may seem like a rudimentary thing to buy, I’m telling you right now I have seen many music stands cause some unnecessary problems for a musician. The goal is to buy a music stand that will never give you problems. You should never have to fiddle with a stand or watch it tilt and fall over because you barely nudged it. You already have a lot to think about actually playing the music, let’s not burden ourselves any further. There are a variety of music stands to buy. In this post, we’re going to look at which key components of a music stand make them a great buy.

Mobility

If you need to take your music stand to a lot of different places, then making sure it’s portable is a great decision. You’ll want to be able to travel with it, dissemble quickly, and store it in cars or vans with relative ease. Music stands that are cumbersome are always a hassle. If you’re rehearsing on the go or taking your stand to different gigs, the portability is a must have feature.

Stability

This one is really important. There are few things in music— no, life, that are more annoying than a shaky, wobbly, unstable music stand. The last thing you want is a music stand that falls flat on its face during your performance. The show must go on, but that’s really hard to recover from. Be sure to test the stand out before you purchase and see if the back is solid.

Flexibility

You may want to think about the angles your music stand can bend. You might need to tilt the stand toward you, upward or downward to get a better view. You never know when you might have to play in an uneven place or an environment you’re not used to playing.

Durability

It’s not aesthetically appealing to have marks and damage all over your music stand while performing. Audience members should have their eyes on you, not a marked up music stand. You need to be sure your stand can withstand some hits. This is particularly true if you plan to travel with the stand. It’s difficult to keep track of a lot of different equipment while traveling. It’s plausible your music stand could fall down or have an impact. Your music stand should be able to take some hits without leaving bruises for audience members to see.

Height

Two different music stands would be needed for Shaquille O’Neal and Peter Dinklage. As mentioned earlier, it’s imperative you try your music stand out before purchasing it. If you’ll be playing your instrument sitting down, there might not need to be much of a shift. But, if you plan on using the music stand while standing, height becomes more of an issue. For instance, a lot of wind instrument musicians need to be sure their music stands can reach the appropriate level.

Width

Making sure the stand is wide can prevent some unstable page turns. If you plan on flipping through several pages, the width of the stand can make the turns smoother. No one wants to flip a page during a performance only to have the music sheet flop over onto the floor.

Black

Black music stands work in every situation. For traditional, classic recitals and concerts, black is really the only acceptable color. You’ll see brown here and there, but making sure your stand is black and without divots and chips is often the best choice.

Take a look at our Music Stand Buying Guide!