classical guitar audition

Stop playing, unless the musician memorized the piece. It seems to me, that judges who see the sheet music flying away will understand why the performance stopped and will allow the musician to stop, retrieve the sheet music and either start over or continue. If they don't, then I wouldn't want perform for judges like that anyway.

IMHO, that classical guitarist should have clipped at least part of the music to the stand (or used magnets to hold it if it's a stand with a full metal face)!!

But, if it's too late for that, he/she should have had enough practice (especially if performing for judges), that he/she could finish without the music.

Failing that, though, he/she should continue the best he/she can and finish with a flourish! Don't stop playing when the paper flies. Keep it as close to the sheet music as possible, but bear in mind that there's a lot to be said for improvisation. Stopping will only make him/her appear unprofessional and unprepared.

OK.

Also, I like to tape long pieces together into one long sheet. So I have songs 4-6 pages taped into one long one side by side. I started doing this to avoid turning pages so that I could see the entirety of the song. I need to see a song in it's entirety to better grasp it.

So I am accustomed to using at least three music stands in a row to accommodate the long sheet. ie. at my place and at my own little venue.

I've done this for years and yes, it may seem eccentric to some but this is why I choose not to perform these more complex pieces when at auditions.
I always choose the simpler pieces that I know by memory which I 'kick off' in the allotted 7 minutes.

I feel that I've short-changed myself by not doing these more interesting pieces that I still haven't got in my memory - sort of - I definitely need the sheet in front of me even if I generally know it.

The logistics of setting up my sheet music has been a deterrent to doing more interesting songs for this audition.

I'm usually lucky to get one music stand set up as it is. I've always felt that setting up too much gives the impression that I'm preparing to eat a chicken dinner - setting the table.

This audition is all over the board as all levels come together to compete. I never know exactly what the judges are looking for. They come from choir, folk and conservatory backgrounds.

I always feel that they're looking for Elvis.

ideally you should be able to handle the piece you are playing when auditioning.

that said. you need a teleprompter instead of three music stands (ingenious BTW).

how about a lap top with the music. reading top to bottom .
you could have it on the screen large enough for you to read
and in bites that fit the screen.
then using your foot contorller of some sort (a modified mouse?) you could scroll the next bit up.....just like a teleprompter where the dialogue scrolls.

I like to tape long pieces together into one long sheet.

LOL! I do the same thing!! But I only have one music stand (it's a heavy duty stand with a solid face), so I found a piece of wall paneling, cut it to size, and clipped it to my stand to give me a longer surface! I clip the music to the piece of paneling from the bottom and can easily run 6 pages across it! I'd like to find a piece of sturdy but thin plexiglas to use, mostly for appearances sake, but haven't found the exact right thing yet.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I had to sort of "brace" the ends of the paneling that hang over the edges of the stand with a couple of narrow pieces of wood to keep it from bending. That's one reason I thought that plexiglas would be better.

how about a lap top with the music

Good idea, but I wonder if, in an audition setting, you would be allowed to use a computer? I suppose it would depend upon what you were auditioning for.

Stop playing, unless the musician memorized the piece. It seems to me, that judges who see the sheet music flying away will understand why the performance stopped and will allow the musician to stop, retrieve the sheet music and either start over or continue. If they don't, then I wouldn't want perform for judges like that anyway.

+1.

Such a trivial thing as sheet music blowing in the wind should *not* affect the performance in any way.

Probably, it depends on the piece and the classical interpreter... I have several friends who play classical works. All of them have studies in music. I guess they could continue playing.

Rahul obviously completely misses the seriousness of the situation. I hope he doesn't go into teaching.

Yes, I expected a response like this from those who just wing it as they go.

I have faith that not all guitarists are like Rahul here.

Some of us actually can read music - notation - and actually attain to greater heights of proficiency.

I have faith that this site has an abundance of musicians who appreciate learning from the masters and who respect the wealth of knowledge to be gained from the classics.

While I've developed my own style to some extent I hesitate to join the ranks of those who don't care what a song actually should sound like. I prefer to stay somewhat within the original parameters of a song. Otherwise I might as well do my own songs but at this audition they like a strong dose of familiar covers.

As it's too late before the audition date to absorb these more complicated pieces that require sheet music I've decided not to try it.

I just thought I'd ask about the logistics first. I myself respect those who play from sheet music.
Of course the music world is flooded with those like Rahul here who just don't care.

Oh well, as I carry on still seeking that renewal, that reverence for that certain something special that keeps me going.
GN members have always been respectful and fair in the past. Figures my luck would have to run out just before a stressful audition.

Your luck didn't run out, I think you're over reacting a little. Rahul didn't say anything bad, I have to say I agree that you should have practiced the piece enough that the sheet music blowing away shouldn't be the end of the show, especially if it's important enough to have you stressed out like this (which unfortunately will make everything harder so relax). If this is something where you audition, and they hand you the music as you enter the audition then obviously you necessarily have the music to practice ahead of time and the judges would have to understand that the music blowing away is the end of the show (at least until you can get them back). Apparently improvising the rest of the song isn't an option for you, but you can't fault someone for giving that advice when no one knew ahead of time that wasn't a choice for you, in almost every situation finishing badly is better than stopping mid song and hopefully you would do better than finishing badly.

Anyway, everyone here seems to have given answers trying to help you, so relax and don't let the stress get to ya.

I just sent you a PM.

Please allow me to clarify my original query:

My sheet music is taped side by side into one long sheet thereby requiring more than the regular sized music stand.

As it's unlikely that several music stands will be available I'm concerned about the sheet bending not necessarily flying away completely.

I've even stood when I prefer to sit as the mic is taped in position for vocals and doesn't pick up the guitar strings very well. No amplification allowed.

Even a few seconds of disruption to the song would send it off course and lose the effect.

I plan to bring the sheet music anyway and set it up but do my other repertoire of songs from memory. This way I can watch how the elements affect it and be prepared for future years.

Apologies if this is a trivial question. I appreciate the respectful responses as usual and will block out the disrespectful ones accordingly.

I'm glad to hear that others tape sheet music like this too. Yes it requires a broader music stand.

I assumed that many seasoned guitarists would be familiar with the unfamiliar surroundings of an audition setting and merely requested guidance.
It's disappointing that some view it as 'trivial' but really sad that some would actually post that in a response.

An alternative solution (inspired by the Three Little Pigs tale):

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Freehand-MusicPad-Pro-Plus-Version-4.0-Electronic-Sheet-Music-Display?sku=241190

I always take some washing line pegs to attach my music to a music stand when I'm performing a piece I've never seen before or not had a chance to rehearse and commit to memory. It's not just a question of the wind blowing things off the stand; you'd be amazed at how often you whack a stand with the guitar and your manuscript hits the floor, even in the practice room.

Best,

A :-)

Nuno: That looks very useful, but I must say for the price range a laptop could be purchased and software could do the same thing (likely with a larger display area). That thing is pretty pricey and the people who have bought them seem generally dissappointed in it (that's the nice version of what I interpretted the first few reviews to say). If investing that kind of money for a music stand is an option I strongly encourage purchasing a laptop instead. If this thing has some fancy feature that makes it worth that kind of cash I'm not really seeing them. It seems to be touch sensitive, which I would say a light pen would do just fine with as well, it has a fairly limitted amount of space for storing music etc.

A simple program could be setup to display music for a set period of time and then move on to the next page or you could setup to make it so that a mouseclick takes you to the next page (it would be easy to convert a mouse into a foot pedal so that you could do so hands free). I've always hated having to deal with multiple pages of music for some songs, I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to write something to do this. Just curious but do any of those guitar pro type programs handle sheet music situations like this, I can't help but think that since they can play music from tabs and display it that they would also follow along kind of karaoke style, it'd take practice reading sheet music that's moving like this but I bet something like that could be used.