I play from a lot of large, thick "collection" books (like the Dover edition of the complete Beethoven Sonatas) and often have the problem that a few notes at the end of the measure on the left page of music get lost "around the bend" so to speak. I try to hold the books by stacking others at the side, but that doesn't really solve the problem.

A drastic step I've taken is to do my best to muscle the book as flat as possible, but this causes undue wear on the spine, and I've ended up with a lot of books where pages have fallen out due to such abuse. Or, the technique only works on the piece that I'm playing, but elsewhere in the book the fold I've made is not suitable and must be re-done, causing more wear.

What solutions have people come up with to deal with this? Do folks out there have a favorite music clip or other technique that they've adopted and liked? (I once used a potato-chip bag "chip-clip" in desperation, but it didn't stay in place very well.)

I discovered that you can get them rebound for around $5.00 with a spiral ring thingy. I go to Staples (used to be Business Depot) because it's nearby but I'm sure that there are other business supply stores that provide that kind of service. They've added plastic covers: I tend to choose clear plastic. The book stays open and it lasts quite a while.
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That's one reason I
- avoid purchasing extremely thick volumes when collections can be spread over several smaller volumes
- buy single copies of works, where available, that I intend to seriously work on.
- avoid holding the pages down with clips or other books because then I have to stop and use both hands to remove the books/clips so I can turn the page.
- purchase editions that are well-bound and that will lie flat on the music stand
- never buy Dover editions



If a book is well-bound to begin with, there is a method that will "break" the book without stressing the spine.
1) put the book with the spine on a flat surface, holding the book between your two hands.
2) starting at the beginning and the end of the book, and alternate by opening one page at a time and running your finger firmly down the gutter (where the page joins the spine)
3) keep working from front and back towards the centre of the book.
4) by the time you reach the centre - and if the book is well-bound to begin with - you will have stretched the stitching sufficiently that the book should now stay open at almost any page with minimal amount of "re-touching" on the spot.


About the "chip-clip", see above.

Regards,

I avoid Dover because their books won't stay open.

You might try map weights. I love mine. They are soft leather bags filled with lead shot.


http://www.gsdirect.net/Categories/File+Mailing+Supplies/File+Folders+Carrier+Strips/Map+Weights/

I do something sacrilegious and break the spine slightly by bending the book in half gently across its horizontal axis.

Would it be worth it to get one of these music clip thingies?

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Book-Clip-Pa...5060&sr=8-1

... or would that not work for a thick book?

There are also big ones, and I use a big one for big books.

You don't plan to turn pages?

I photocopy pieces I'm working on and spread the pages out across the music desk. This works for anything < 5 pages. And that way I can mark up the photocopy all I want while leaving the original clean.

I just slice the binding off the book at work and hole punch it and throw it into a binder. Or you could just take it somewhere and have them bind it with a spiral binding instead of the other on.

My piano teacher gave me this book full of classical pieces that she had from like the 70s and the binding was breaking off when I tried to hold the book open. It was nasty, so I had to cut it off lol

I hate book bindings like that on any book that has a lot of pages!

I use a capo. I play very little guitar these days so it dosent get much use otherwise.

I'd do the exact same thing, but I lost my capo around the time I stopped playing guitar. I don't know where it went...

I used to have a whole collection of clothespins to hold my music together and then hold it to the stand. Clothespins, especially the wooden ones, shouldn't cause any damage to the piano.

Nowadays if it isn't 20th century I go on IMSLP.org and download it to the iPad. If I need it larger, then I'll print it out and write on it.

I was about to order the preludes & etudes of the dover editions, because my current copies (edition peters) are completely worn out.

But do you all say I should avoid the dover editions?

Music-wise, I've always liked the Dover editions. The Dover folks tend to pick editions to re-print that are fairly standard, minimally edited, and clear and easy to read. And, most importantly, inexpensive. It's great for building up a "standard repertoire" of material at a relatively low cost. (I don't see myself buying, say, the complete piano works of Mendelssohn, otherwise.)

They're not urtext, but (to me, at least) they're just fine for most purposes. If anything, I find they err on the side of under-editing, which allows a student to scribble in his or her own notes on articulation. And, nothing is stopping you from getting another edition at some later date.

My only slightly large complaint has to do with their reprints of Bach's music. For Bach, they tend to reprint old editions where the note size is very small and compressed- and it's slightly hard to read sometimes. For anything newer, however- from Mozart on- they're just fine.

And I vastly prefer them to the more popular (it seems) Schirmer Editions, which offer up very persnickety editorial suggestions. If I could trade all my yellow books for the impressionist paintings on the covers of the Dover editions, I would.

I like the idea of rebinding the books in spiral bound at FedEx Kinkos or other such place. If it truly is just $5.00, then I'd pick three or four heavily used books to do this to, and suffer through the rest.

I have a few guitar capos, and will try that as well. I'm not sure the map weights would work (though I'm willing to give it a go) as the problem is more keeping the middle of the book (near the binding) flat enough to read from and write upon. Two weights at the bottom of the book, it seems might not do it.

Thanks.

Kinko's has charged me up to around six bucks and change but other times it's been four or five. Not sure if it's the size of the book, whether I'm doing several at once or just who is behind the counter that day. But not much more than $6 worst case.

Mention that you want spiral or "coil" binding and not those plastic "comb" things that pop out and just generally don't work as well as a spiral.

P.S. I'll also add that on the common 9" x 12" format books they will typically use a coil that fits 8-1/2" x 11" so there is a fraction of an inch of space beyond each end of the coil. Not a problem but I have noticed that.

Keep in mind, too,
- that the plastic comb bindings tend to tear the pages more readily than the coil bindings.
- that any binding, comb or coil, weakens the pages - given the number of holes that are perforated along the edge of the page (a particular caution for "violent" page turners!)
- that both coil and comb bindings are a little more difficult either to stack or file vertically, in quantity, because they are deeper (wider, thicker) than the thickness of the volume itself
- that comb and coil bindings no longer have the spine titles; this can be important, if you have a fairly large number of them and depending upon how you file your music.

Regards,

Recently I had a page turning issue with a manuscript which required me to turn the page at a very inopportune time. My solution was to copy the music with my iphone camera. I didn't even have to use my fancy hi-res Nikon, as the iphone produced a photo file that was more than sufficient.

I downloaded the file and opened it in photoshop, rearranged the staffs so the page turned in a better place, cleaned up the shadows from the uneven lighting, and increased the contrast--and printed it out--(I know most of you don't have photoshop, but many newer computers come bundled with photo editing software that will easily do what I just described).

This was a vast improvement. But later I got the idea of mounting the music onto a lightweight, but still stiff, cardboard sort of material, (similar to the backing used for yellow legal pads). I did this with a photo spray mount, but it could just as easily be done with the kind of glue young children use in school.

I then bound the cardboard with two large 1" in diameter O rings that open and close, (I bought them at an office supply store). The holes in the cardboard are very large, nearly 3/4", which allows the pages to turn very easily and quickly, with everything dependably lying flat and in place.

It took some effort, and a little bit of expense, (a little more than a dollar for the two O rings), but it was well worth it.

Tomasino

Tomasino, I thought about putting downloaded sheet music on my wife's iPad, but that would mean that she couldn't use the iPad while I was practicing. :0

Slightly off topic: I use an iPad for most music which I don't need to make notes on. The only time this doesn't quite work is for works that have big repeated sections (especially chamber works), it is difficult to page turn more than 5 pages in a short time!

I photocopy all the music I play from my books. I can write on the sheets this way too. I put the sheets in a 3-ring binder and use hole reinforcers on both sides of the paper, and I tape the sheets together. It works great and lasts a very long time, so it is worth the time to do it, and worth saving my precious music books from getting beaten up. I never use a binder larger than 1-2" so it fits nicely on the music stand.

Thank you, but i have more mundane worries: will they stay open, can i read all the music (one post said that some of the notes disappear in the fold), and most importantly won't they fall from the piano.

edit:

that would be a form of weight playing!

No. My Dover editions are fine, especially for the price. In fact, I've used the Beethoven sonatas the OP complains about for more years than I remember, and have never had any particular problem with pages staying put. But I did break them in before using them, by opening in the center, bending the halves way back, and then, adding a few pages at a time on either side, alternating the bending of them back until I got to the outside. Works just fine.

That's my method of breaking in books, too. It's worked pretty well so far, but I don't have many Dover editions.

okidoki then, dover it is!

One can just copy everything, preferably with a copy machine. Beware though, because you'll get a lot of copies after a while

I do exactly what you do. I have the Schirmer's edition of the Beethoven sonatas, I can hardly lift the book up! I don't have the problem of the page staying open, but I have difficulties just keeping the book open (this was when I first bought it). I tend to leave the book open to the sonata I am practicing, I am to lazy to look through the contents and find the page again, leaving the book open not only saves me 5 seconds but also helps keep the book stay open on the page. Over time, the book gradually opened up to me.

Opening the book and placing lighter books on top of the book may help, this would not cause as much stress to the spine of the book then bending the book in half.

Maybe you should try keeping your books open from now on, or until they stay open.

When doing exams, I photocopy as much pages as the stand will allow to minimize page turning.

plastic spring clothespins work remarkably well.. of course you have to stop playing to turn pages for the most part unless you are a bit strategic and leave a single page flabbable... or 2 or 3.

Good thought, apple*, but when we play, should we not be "unflappable"?

Cheers!