Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <practice><sheet-music><equipment>
Title: How to keep music books open?
Question: You know, many sheet music books are quite springy and would rather close than stay open on the music stand while practising. How do you keep them open while allowing to turn the pages easily?

Answers:
sents: text: Use a music clip.
text: There are two kinds.
text: When I first started playing piano, I was using one of these:
text: You put the clip around the top of the book, which holds it flat.
text: Problem is, it doesn't work well for large books which are too thick to fit the clip, and when you're playing something at the beginning or end of the book the two sides become unbalanced.
text: It would often fall off in those cases.
text: Several years later my piano teacher saw me using one of those and gave me this to use instead: This kind of metal clip is so much better.
text: It works for books of all thicknesses, and is able to hold the book more securely.
text: Do note that it could damage the cover of the book, especially if it is thick and has a glossy cover.
text: But this is a price worth paying for not having to deal with the inconvenience of a plastic clip.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/10072/Tony
score: 11
sents: text: My favorite method is to use clothespins to clip the edges of the book to a music stand.
text: If the dimensions of either the book or the stand don't allow that, I use the clothespins to clip a ruler or a similarly sized piece of wood to the front of the book to keep it open.
text: If the book is stapled together and not too thick, bending it backwards a few times also helps.
text: But with the really thick books, that will just break the binding, and I don't want to damage my books like that.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/10353/Karen
score: 7
sents: text: I've had books re-bound with a spiral binding through a local print shop.
text: The binding is less durable in that it's easier for pages to rip out with this binding, but it allows the pages to stay flat.
text: If you have a lot of books, this may be prohibitively expensive.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/110/Babu
score: 5
sents: text: The "standard" method is: Lay the spine flat on a table and fold each cover down.
text: Fold down 1 or more pages from the front and 1 or more pages from the back.
text: Continue folding from each side until you get to the middle.
text: This way does not break the binding.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/1344/luser droog
score: 3
sents: text: If you aint got any of that on the hand you could use an other (heavy) book and put it on the edge of the book that is supposed to be open.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/25702/meneken17
score: 1
sents: text: I cut the glue binding off the music book, ripping it on a table saw, and punch holes in the pages to fit them in a three-ring binder.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/25863/Marco44
score: 1
sents: text: Cut out each page as close as possible at the binding with a sharp blade.
text: Punch holes for a three ringed binder with a hole puncher.
text: Put the pages in sheet protectors, then insert into binders.
text: Time consuming but best results.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/46523/Rene McCron
score: 1
sents: text: If you want to have the book but it should open easy.
text: Take it to a copier/printer shop.
text: He will have a machine that can cut through alot of paper in one time.
text: Give him the book he should cut the book at the spine 2mm in to the paper, then the back that is now exposed hold it firmly in place that the book pages should be all the same, not one page should stick out.
text: There a special glue that when it dries its elastically.
text: Smear the glue on the spine, when its dry: voila, here's your book.
text: When you open the book it's like separate pages, but its being held together by the glue.
text: I hope I was a help.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/25077/Nachmen
score: 0
sents: text: What I often do for this is just continually bend and crease the the book backwards until it stays.
text: Open to the pages that you are reading from.
text: Bend both sides of the book back
text: so the ends of the book are behind the spine.
text: Slide your hand along the spine, creasing it with your hand.
text: You may have to do this a few times for it to work.
text: This does not cause any damage to the book; source:
text: I do this for all my books.
text: An alternative to keeping the book open would be to find a flat-bed scanner and print out the pages you are working with.
text: Then, simply line up the papers however works best on your stand.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/19194/SirPython
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
There are special clips, called music clips, to use for keeping music books open. Two different kinds are available. They could damage the book cover but they do keep the book open.
Use a music clip