How do you handle multiple page songs?

Axtman

Axtman

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2008
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#1
I am playing bass at a Christmas concert. Some of the songs run 9 pages! I'm not use to this many pages for a song. For three page songs I put them in a 3-ring binder facing each other so I open as a book. The third page is taped to the second page and I just flip it out to have a three page score. But I have not idea what to do about a 6 or 9 page song!
 
#2
Axtman said:
I am playing bass at a Christmas concert. Some of the songs run 9 pages! I'm not use to this many pages for a song. For three page songs I put them in a 3-ring binder facing each other so I open as a book. The third page is taped to the second page and I just flip it out to have a three page score. But I have not idea what to do about a 6 or 9 page song!
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Chorale and concert pieces can get long. Two ways I have been shown how to deal with this. One is to tape the pages side by side, alternating the tape front than back side the edges and then folding the whole thing accordion style. The other option for me is two make two sided copies before I put them into a three ring. The art of page turning I have yet to perfect!
 
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#3
I use an iPad with foot controller but when doing a performance at a prison they didn't allow it so I printed everything two per page and stapled them to open file folders. Each song fit on a music stand with extenders on each side. I know a guy that stands in the back with 3 or 4 stands.

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#5
Well, we seemed to get along for centuries w/o our sheet music on tablets but it sure makes it so much more efficient and easier with them.
The way you have the sheets stapled may be the best way under the circumstances.
Then again, perhaps if you go over to the "Double Bass" side of TalkBass, those guys are more up on these things.
 
#6
Nutdog,

Do you read the music all the way across then down to the second pages or do you read two pages over then two pages down, then up to the top of the next to pages, etc.

What software do you use for your music on your Ipad?
 
#9
1) PDF them then use a tablet and page turner

2) Tape your music side by side, get music stand extenders (or two stands), and fold to minimize page turns

3) Learn the time honored art of page turning. It takes the ability to recognize the best place to turn the page (rests, whole notes, etc), the memory to play the end of the previous page, some forethought, and a quick page turn.
 
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#10
Tape together three pages. Put 4-6 on top of 7-9, and 1-3 on top of that. When you get to the end of 3, flip it on the floor, and the same thing when you get to the end of 6.

You end up with paper on the floor, but who cares?

Or as @elgecko said, work on page turning. When I used to do pit band for musicals, you learned when to turn the page.
 
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#14
elgecko said:
3) Learn the time honored art of page turning. It takes the ability to recognize the best place to turn the page (rests, whole notes, etc), the memory to play the end of the previous page, some forethought, and a quick page turn.
Click to expand...

IMO, this is the best option. Yeah, it takes a little bit of work to learn where the turns should come, but ultimately you'll be able to do it with anything you're given right then and there with no other preparation needed. Also learn to do turns with either hand - sometimes you'll be holding a note or can do hammer-ons which will mean a right-hand turn, or you'll be playing something like single eighth-notes on an open string which will mean a left-hand turn. Reverse that if you're left-handed.
 
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#16
Memorizing parts isn't always the answer - there are times when it isn't appropriate and times when it isn't possible if you're seeing the music for the first time.
There are times and places where you will need sheet music. Not everybody is involved in that world, but some of us are. I'm perfectly able to memorize a piece and have a working repertoire of hundreds upon hundreds of songs in my head. However, there are bandleaders and contractors that don't think that ignoring sheet music that they went to great expense and time to provide is "cool" or "awesome" at all. Even though sheet music might be provided, changes in arrangement, notes, or other things might happen in a rehearsal, and that's literally impossible to remember unless you have music to write it all down on.

I've used the plastic Manhassett stand extenders since forever. They're less than 15 bucks a pair. I try to avoid turning pages because it involves taking your hands off the instrument in weird places during the piece that never work out well musically. I commonly put 6 or more pages right next to each other to make this work.

There's videos of Lee Sklar and Anthony Jackson doing the same thing. Considering their respective track records and an approximate idea of what those guys get paid, it's perfectly fine to do exactly what those guys do.
 
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