Comments on: Furniture solution for music practice space

By: Furniture solution for music practice space (Repost from unclutterer.com) « SongWrite by Eric Beverly

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:38:12 +0000

[...] Music Practice, Music Practice Space, Unclutter Check out this post from unclutterer.com « How to submit your CD track/song information to Gracenote [...]

By: drmk

drmk — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:01:39 +0000

This is why I read this website … the stand itself is of no use to me (and seems sort of unwieldy), but the Tascam unit and the comments about Rockbox pre-emptively solve a problem I was GOING to have in the future but didn’t know I was going to have.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:55:15 +0000

Interesting idea, but definitely wouldn’t work for me! Looks like it would just get in the way of my cello when playing, and the height adjustment would be absolutely necessary. I have a hard time finding a big open space in which to practice so I’m not stabbing things with my bow..

By: dugsdale

dugsdale — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:04:22 +0000

Actually, this post opens a serious can’o'worms that I’d been hoping Unclutterer would tackle definitively at some point: what to do (gracefully and with utility) about ALL the paraphernalia attached to having, and practicing, multiple instruments: the instruments, their cases, the bales of music (sheet music, methods, orchestral parts) for each, plus pencils, reeds, mouthpieces, reed-adjusting materials, tuners and metronomes, instrument cases, and so on–and while I’ve seen a few attractive layouts in the Flickr pool, they ain’t the real world I live in, baby!

By: Trixi

Trixi — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:57:02 +0000

@ PJ ~ i clicked through, and unless I’m missing something, the stand height is NOT adjustable ~ only the ANGLE of the stand is adjustable. And that is not the same thing.

By: Rue

Rue — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:43:49 +0000

Would love something like this for my husband – I hate having his music stand lying around! The sucky thing is that this cabinet doesn’t come in black or white, which is what most of our furniture and accessories are. Guess I’ll have to Ikeahack! Probably for the best anyway, since hubby needs lots of storage for all the oboe gear…

By: mbs

mbs — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:22:57 +0000

@PJ Doland

Thanks for clearing up why you linked to this unit. I just wanted to point out that you can get this feature with a old player for “free” if you consider it to be as important as I do…

I’d probably not use an IPhone for it: It’s even more expensive than a $200 player and still pretty expensive to use outside of the US- If you already own one that’s a different story…

By: PJ Doland

PJ Doland — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:14:10 +0000

@mbs – There’s also a couple of relatively inexpensive iPhone apps that enable variable speed playback without altering pitch.

The Tascam unit we linked to in the post has a few other cool features, such as built-in effects and a headphone output for your guitar signal, an integrated tuner and a metronome. It’s more of a general practice aid than just a variable speed MP3 player.

By: mbs

mbs — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:47:03 +0000

Note that you can turn *any* older, discarded Ipod into a music player with variable speed by replacing its firmware with Rockbox (which is free).

So no need to buy a $200 bulky unit if you only buy it because you need this feature.

By: PJ Doland

PJ Doland — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:33:54 +0000

@Nora – If you click through to the page with detailed photos, you’ll see that the music stand is, in fact, height adjustable. You just can’t tell from the angle of the photo in our post.

By: Sunny Paris

Sunny Paris — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:24:08 +0000

Also, if you are a trombone player, you’ve no place to put your slide, which generally sits to the right of the base of the music stand.

When my stand isn’t in use, I have my wedding photo sitting on it, so it looks nice in the living room. All of my stuff is in a large hope chest type thing.

By: Nora

Nora — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:04:00 +0000

But the height of the music stand is not adjustable! Why would you want such a thing? To me, this verges on Unitasker territory (and I’m a professional musician & college music professor). Not being able to adjust the height of the stand will lead to discomfort in playing and eventual neck/back problems for anyone who isn’t a particular height.

Also, if you need more than three pages of music out at one time, you’re pretty much screwed, as stand extensions won’t fit on that wooden stand, and if you require a mirror to check technique while practicing, again you’re in trouble, as the solid construction will block your view of what your hands are doing.

The market for this is very limited, I think. Better to go with a traditional Manhasset-style stand and rig up a separate storage solution. There’s no point losing functionality and adaptability to gain storage that could easily be accommodated another way (say, via a cabinet with wheels that you can roll in and out as needed).

By: Another Deb

Another Deb — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:02:01 +0000

I am going to suggest this idea to my bass-shredding husband. I believe that the old glass-fronted towers from stereo equipment may work. I have used them in the past as overhead projector carts, display cabinets in my classroom and as podiums, depending on the size. And you can commonly find them at yard sales and Goodwill stores.