Please recommend task light for music stand

[jeff@PESTSTRIP]

Hi, I'm not a lighting engineer, I'm an amateur musician. I'm looking
to buy a very decent clamp lighting unit that will attach to my music
stand. Here is a picture of the music stand that I have and the
lighting accessory that would fit on this stand with light designed to
be aimed at sheet music:

http://images.misupply.com/products/original/Manhasset/Model_1000b.jpg

It seems to me that a high quality fluorescent lamp that's AC powered
would provide a brighter, cleaner, cooler light covering a broader
spectrum... not to mention much longer life of the tube or bulb.

So can anyone here recommend and point me to a product that you feel
would be along the lines of what i'm looking for? - or if you want to
throw me a curve and recommend something else, I'd be interested to
hear what you have to say.

TIA,
Jeff

 

[David Lee]

Jeff wrote...

Hi, I'm not a lighting engineer, I'm an amateur musician. I'm looking
to buy a very decent clamp lighting unit that will attach to my music
stand. Here is a picture of the music stand that I have and the
lighting accessory that would fit on this stand with light designed to
be aimed at sheet music:

http://images.misupply.com/products/original/Manhasset/Model_1000b.jpg

It seems to me that a high quality fluorescent lamp that's AC powered
would provide a brighter, cleaner, cooler light covering a broader
spectrum... not to mention much longer life of the tube or bulb.

So can anyone here recommend and point me to a product that you feel
would be along the lines of what i'm looking for? - or if you want to
throw me a curve and recommend something else, I'd be interested to
hear what you have to say.

B####y musicians and their fluorescent lamps! ;-)

Speaking as a stage manager and lighting designer - cooler and brighter is
NOT better and you wouldn't be thanked for spilling "clean cool light" all
over the stage in dark scenes and blackouts!
So if you are ever likely to be playing for a stage production - or in an
orchestra where are likely to be lit for effect - you should aim for the
dimmest lamp that will still allow you to read the dots, in a fixture that
will light up your music and absolutely nothing else. (Even then it's
amazing how much light can bounce off a pitful of illuminated scores!) The
light you are considering appears to do the business and comes fitted with a
40watt lamp but I would suggest that you keep a 25watt lamp in your music
case as well so that you can easily dim it down if it turns out to be too
distracting in a performance.

David

 

[jeff@PESTSTRIP]

Jeff wrote...


B####y musicians and their fluorescent lamps! ;-)

Speaking as a stage manager and lighting designer - cooler and brighter is
NOT better and you wouldn't be thanked for spilling "clean cool light" all
over the stage in dark scenes and blackouts!
So if you are ever likely to be playing for a stage production - or in an
orchestra where are likely to be lit for effect - you should aim for the
dimmest lamp that will still allow you to read the dots, in a fixture that
will light up your music and absolutely nothing else. (Even then it's
amazing how much light can bounce off a pitful of illuminated scores!) The
light you are considering appears to do the business and comes fitted with a
40watt lamp but I would suggest that you keep a 25watt lamp in your music
case as well so that you can easily dim it down if it turns out to be too
distracting in a performance.

David

This is for home practice - I could care less how much light spills
onto the sofa....

 

[David Lee]

CJT wrote...

So I guess then musicians are expected to go blind as well as deaf in
pursuit of their craft.

Not at all - they are expected to be able to read their music without
difficulty but behave with consideration for everyone else involved in a
production - and particularly the audience. However when it comes to lights
they tend to have a nasty habit of being just plain difficult. Typically a
muso will come in to rehearsal at the last minute from brightly lit daylight
and curse and swear that their lights are too dim and they won't be able to
read the dots with less than 500watts when you know damn well that within a
few minutes their eyes will be sufficiently dark adjusted to read the music
with a candle. A common stage managers trick, where desk lamps are on a
dimmed circuit, is to start with them on full and then very gradually creep
them down until they are too dim. When someone eventually complains that
it's too dark to see the music you immediately agree with them and bump the
lights back up to the proper level. After that everyone is happy for the
rest of the production run!

Just wish that the psychology was as simple when it comes to musicians and
fog effects!

David

 

[David Lee]

jeff wrote...

This is for home practice - I could care less how much light spills
onto the sofa....

Fairy Nuff! Although I would have thought whatever light you use for
reading should also be fine for playing.

However, bear in mind that professionally designed desk lamps - like the one
you were suggesting - will be designed to give a limited amount of
illumination for just the reasons I gave, so you may be better going for a
nice standard lamp. Possibly the sort with adjustable spotlamps that you
can angle as you wish.

David

 

[jeff@PESTSTRIP]

CJT wrote...

Not at all - they are expected to be able to read their music without
difficulty but behave with consideration for everyone else involved in a
production - and particularly the audience. However when it comes to lights
they tend to have a nasty habit of being just plain difficult. Typically a
muso will come in to rehearsal at the last minute from brightly lit daylight
and curse and swear that their lights are too dim and they won't be able to
read the dots with less than 500watts when you know damn well that within a
few minutes their eyes will be sufficiently dark adjusted to read the music
with a candle. A common stage managers trick, where desk lamps are on a
dimmed circuit, is to start with them on full and then very gradually creep
them down until they are too dim. When someone eventually complains that
it's too dark to see the music you immediately agree with them and bump the
lights back up to the proper level. After that everyone is happy for the
rest of the production run!

Just wish that the psychology was as simple when it comes to musicians and
fog effects!

David

The complaints about not being able to see are warranted. Picture
tiny dots clumped together, often several at the same time. It's
really important to be able to read this stuff properly and without
too much visual strain. Obviously onstage this is a balancing act but
being able to see what you have to play is at least as important as
the ambient stage setting.

 

[David Lee]

jeff wrote...

The complaints about not being able to see are warranted. Picture
tiny dots clumped together, often several at the same time. It's
really important to be able to read this stuff properly and without
too much visual strain. Obviously onstage this is a balancing act but
being able to see what you have to play is at least as important as
the ambient stage setting.

No they are not warranted - re-read what I wrote: "they are expected to be
able to read their music without difficulty". I have every sympathy with
the amount of light that a musician needs - I have been there and read the
dots! I have sung difficult choral works from a score and frequently
stage-managed operas where I have to follow the dots myself by the light of
a 15watt bulb whilst also having to follow a cue sheet and possibly a
libretto and at the same time having to watch the action on a brightly lit
stage, rather than just the hands and face of the conductor. I have never
had complaints about the lighting level in the pit during a performance but
I guarantee that what is considered by the musicians to be perfectly
adequate in performance would have been rejected out of hand in rehearsal
when they had come straight from sunshine into a darkened auditorium without
time for their eyes to dark-adapt. In a performance, when they have to wait
for the conductor in a gloomy pit their eyes are always fully dark-adapted
before thay start and so there are no problems.

The problem is not just with musos - I have exactly the same trouble with
arrogant young stage crew who insist in staying in a brightly lit crew-room
until the last possible moment before a scene change and then curse and
swear that they can't see a thing because I haven't given them enough scene
change light, whilst to my dark-adapted eyes the stage seems bright as day!

David

 

[d parker]

A bed lamp with an energy saver in it. Problem solved!

http://thgsales.holmeshq.com/smartpic/SAP_IMAGES/160/HL1001BL.jpg
http://www.dreamstime.com/energysavelamp-thumb120248
DP

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

It seems to me that a high quality fluorescent lamp that's AC powered
would provide a brighter, cleaner, cooler light covering a broader
spectrum... not to mention much longer life of the tube or bulb.

There is no such a thing as "cleaner" light, and the spectrum of fluoro
light is *not* "broader" than that of incandescent light.

 

[d parker]

Drugs eh?

DP

 

[Victor Roberts]

There is no such a thing as "cleaner" light, and the spectrum of fluoro
light is *not* "broader" than that of incandescent light.

Certainly is --- electric lamps are cleaner than kerosene
lanterns

--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
replace xxx with vdr in the Reply to: address
or use e-mail address listed at the Web site.

This information is provided for educational purposes only.
It may not be used in any publication or posted on any Web
site without written permission.

 

[jeff@PESTSTRIP]

I really don't know of any CFL bulbs that would fit in a standard
incandescent music stand light, considering the tubular shape of the
bulb would require a max 1" wide ballast, and there wont be much room
for a bulb even if it fits. It would be better to just get a clamp on
flexible arm light and fit it with a CFL

I did some googleing and came up with some interesting results for
fluorescent or LED lights:

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=led+"music+stand"+light&hl=en&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=unknown
http://www.musicity.com/accessories-4.html
http://www.lampcraft.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=7

there are others, but I got tired of searching.

Thanks, the Lampcraft products seem excellent......

 

[TKM]

Hi, I'm not a lighting engineer, I'm an amateur musician. I'm looking
to buy a very decent clamp lighting unit that will attach to my music
stand. Here is a picture of the music stand that I have and the
lighting accessory that would fit on this stand with light designed to
be aimed at sheet music:

http://images.misupply.com/products/original/Manhasset/Model_1000b.jpg

It seems to me that a high quality fluorescent lamp that's AC powered
would provide a brighter, cleaner, cooler light covering a broader
spectrum... not to mention much longer life of the tube or bulb.

So can anyone here recommend and point me to a product that you feel
would be along the lines of what i'm looking for? - or if you want to
throw me a curve and recommend something else, I'd be interested to
hear what you have to say.

TIA,
Jeff

Jeff, I'm a lighting engineer, not a professional musician; but I have to
ask. Do you think musicians would be interested in replacing their sheet
music with a thin, tablet-like self-luminous screen? Such a device might
answer your question too. It seems to me that an electronic screen device
that could display the music (positive or negative contrast with variable
brightness), page automatically, increase or decrease the size of the notes
and eliminate the paper, page turning, mixed up and dropped sheets, etc.
might be step forward. I suggested this to my musician daughter, though,
and she wanted none of it.

Terry McGowan

 

[David Lee]

Brandon Anderson wrote in message

Most modern screens have a limited viewing angle, which is a problem,
as normally instruments are paired. Also, the musician still has to
be in charge of "changing" pages or they will freak out come a page
turn. Usually, a musician has to memorize the line following a turn
if there isn't much time to turn the page and be back to normal...
Most music has short breaks between pages for this reason. But not a
terrible idea...

I think the answer is definitely going to be No - musicians wouldn't be
interested! However a continuously scrolling display could be the way to
go, not scrolling the stave - if ever you have tried to follow that sort of
display in a Midi package it's horrible - but perhaps scrolling the screen a
line at a time. There would be trouble controlling the scroll-rate - I
can't imagine many musicians wanting to be distracted with a pair of
footswitches or some such to speed-up or slow-down! However it may be a
runner for musical shows where the MD follows a click-track to keep in sync
with all the pre-recorded stuff - but programming it would be a nightmare!
If you have 132 bars rest I think you would rather have the comfort of
seeing your next phrase in front of you all the time rather than a mile of
blank staves scrolling past - although the system could include a count-down
cuing display - perhaps even an alarm facility to warn you to putdown your
copy of Motorsport in time for the next cue or even an electric shock to
wake you up 5 bars before the end of the cadenza!

The real killer is what do you do with your soft pencil! The problem with a
score is that it tells you what the composer wrote but not exactly how to
play the music so an average part is covered with pencilled in expression
marks and personal notes and reminders - so every desk would need to have
its own workstation and editing keyboard. However the violins would
probably appreciate being able to leg it to the pub early, leaving the poor
leader to key in all the bowing marks on his own - and the librarian
certainly wouldn't miss the many hours of rubbing-out before he could send
the parts back!

Basically a good enough idea but not really practicable!

David

 

[Clive Mitchell]

Do you think musicians would be interested in replacing their sheet
music with a thin, tablet-like self-luminous screen? Such a device
might answer your question too. It seems to me that an electronic
screen device that could display the music (positive or negative
contrast with variable brightness), page automatically, increase or
decrease the size of the notes and eliminate the paper, page turning,
mixed up and dropped sheets, etc. might be step forward. I suggested
this to my musician daughter, though, and she wanted none of it.

That's primarily because if you're going to use a computer, then you
might as well load it with Cubase and ditch the musicians. Problem
solved, and the orchestra pit lift will consume much less power when
it's going up.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Jeff, I'm a lighting engineer, not a professional musician; but I have to
ask. Do you think musicians would be interested in replacing their sheet
music with a thin, tablet-like self-luminous screen? Such a device might
answer your question too. It seems to me that an electronic screen device
that could display the music (positive or negative contrast with variable
brightness), page automatically, increase or decrease the size of the notes
and eliminate the paper, page turning, mixed up and dropped sheets, etc.
might be step forward. I suggested this to my musician daughter, though,
and she wanted none of it.

Sound's like a great idea to me, but you just lost the
opportunity to patent this by posting here

--
Vic Roberts
http://www.RobertsResearchInc.com
To reply via e-mail:
replace xxx with vdr in the Reply to: address
or use e-mail address listed at the Web site.

This information is provided for educational purposes only.
It may not be used in any publication or posted on any Web
site without written permission.