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Help Please-
Today I realized that my current music storage system doesn't work at all. I have long since lost the battle of fitting my music in the bench storage and I usually have music all of ther place while practicing. I spend 1/2 my time trying to find sheet music and putting it away so I can fit my music books on the desk, etc.

My question is this, has anyone come up with a way to store and access both sheet music for the classical stuff, the new age stuff and books for the pop? I'm beginning to get desparate! Help!
Woody

I knew someone would have THE answer and I got it with the first response too! Thanks Monica, I really appreciate it.
Woody

^ very nice piece of furniture there .I wish I had found something close to that style. I went for a bookcase that I saw on sale at Staples for around $110. Take a look now. =)

<img src="http://i64.photob...;0" alt="Photobucket">

Wow, thanks for the pictures! I've been having a lot of conflict over what to do now that books don't fit under the piano seat anymore!

Monica's solution is more my style, I think. I might start out neat as a pin like Bill, But it should only take me a week or two to be where Monica is.

Woody, I bought two of the Office Depot organizers that Monica recommended (before everyone gasps, hubby uses some of the space for his guitar music. Well, um, OK, maybe about a 10th of it ) and I set them up with shelves at the top for solo sheets and thin collections, then left the bottom open for thicker books. It really works out well for me, I have everything organized by level or style of music and then alphabetical by composer. I can find anything I'm looking for in seconds. It doesn't mean I don't still have music piled on top of the piano, but in theory it's only things I'm actively working on (or things I'm thinking about picking up soon . . . or have been looking at to see if they might be within my reach yet . . . )

Hi Woody,
My stuff used to be a mess. At some point I am going to buy a bookshelf. But, in the mean time I put only the stuff I am currently working on in the bench. The loose pages of music, theory etc. I put in seperate, labeled folders. Those went into my piano tote bag. The song books are stacked on top and the stuff I access less frequently went into a box with a scarf draped over it so it lookes a little nicer. I kow this probably isn't was you are looking for but just and idea until you can get your new shelves.

I bought one of those sheet music cabinets. It looks very nice, but it doesn't hold nearly as much as I expected it would. It was also fairly expensive compared to Monica's shelving units which probably hold more as well. If you are interested, Frank sells some on pianosupplies.com world (look for the link to the right) or do a search for "sheet music cabinet."

hmmm. For beginners you guys seem to have collected an awful lot of books/sheetmusic already. I'm playing for 1 1/2 year nog and my 'pile' is probably about 20-25 cm high. That's still manageble on top of the piano ;-)

My biggest organizational issue seems to be that I've usually got 3 or 4 books open on the piano, and when somebody (usually one of the kids) wants to play something else , they just close the pile of books and throw it back onto the piano, so all kind of thin books get 'nested' (is that the right word??) and seem to be lost when I am looking for them..

Ingrid

Woody and IngridT,

You have just been diagnosed as having SMAS (Sheet Music Acquisition Syndrome). There is no known cure and we have not been able to locate a 12 step program either. There are a few kind souls on the forums who will gladly assist with your organizational problems by picking up all your sheet music, thus eliminating the clutter.

I use a bookshelf for my collection (or should I say bookshelves). I keep the sheet music in upright plastic magazine files. (Some people don't like this system as it may bend the corners and you also need to have just the right amount of music in the files to keep the music from bending.)

For stuff that I am working on, I keep a wooden magazine or newspaper x shaped rack beside my digital piano. This works well as I am usually working out of anywhere from 4 - 7 books at a time. Something like this one from WalMart:


Rich

Here's my solution (inspired by Monica's original idea). But I had to build it myself.

Packa,
Wow! That's really nice. Looks better than something you'd find in the store. You're very talented/skilled!