The life of the gigging musician can be pretty tough.<\/p>\n
Weddings, parties, receptions, corporate events, muddy field concerts\u2026. All can involve many hours of sight-reading a wide variety of arrangements with new colleagues in adverse conditions. Cramped quarters, dark corners, and, worst of all, outside. Wind is not the musician\u2019s friend!<\/p>\n
I doubt there is a musician on the planet who hasn\u2019t at least once seen their music go flying during an outdoor performance when the wind catches it. Players have tried all sorts of solutions- clothes pegs, plexi-glass sheets over the music, stands with little metal arms- but none really work without getting in the way because all of them have to be removed before turning a page and re-set after the page turn.<\/p>\n
So\u2026<\/p>\n
I thought I would take a minute to call everyone\u2019s attention to a truly useful invention-created by musicians for musicians-
\nThe \u201cGigclip\u201d (yes, they have patented and trademarked it!)<\/p>\n
Gigclips were the invention of two busy freelancers who finally had enough of chasing their music accross the stage at outdoor gigs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Gigclips fasten at either end to the stand, and between them runs a clear, flexible elastic strand whose length can be adjusted. The elastic’s tension holds the music firmly on the stand, but can stretch without tearing the music for quick page turns.<\/p>\n
You, the player, can adjust the length of the strand, thereby adjusting the tension. You can turn the page without removing the clips.<\/p>\n
I have tried them outdoors both for chamber music concerts as a cellist and for pops gigs as a conductor, and they\u2019re pretty user friendly and are definitely an enormous improvement over anything else I\u2019ve used. I had no trouble adjusting them to different size scores and parts either- they work with standard size sheet music, huge conductor’s scores and pocket scores just fine. The can be used on either a wire stand or\u00a0 a proper stand.<\/p>\n
I know this sounds like a shameless plug, but I have no interest in the company (and they’re certainly not paying me to say this)- I\u2019d just like to see some enterprising working musicians who\u2019ve shown some great initiative see some success, and I know the product is useful and needed.<\/p>\n