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How do you guys protect your paperbound books that are in use daily ... just got a few expensive books and would hate for the corners and other parts to be damaged

Good question!

There is a difference between signs of serious but gentle use over time and evidence of damage. It boils down to how they are stored and handled.

I store all my scores (except my opera and other vocal scores) flat, and I handle them reasonably carefully. I have on my piano only the scores I am using at the time; all others are stored flat on bookshelves. If I'm not using a score, I put it away where it belongs.

I have Henle editions that are decades old, and while they show signs of having been used, I can't say that they show signs of damage. The covers are intact without rips or tears, and the bindings are still completely intact. Some of the page corners do show signs of staining from constant page turns; that's inevitable. I have a few individual scores of relatively inexpensive sheet music, printed on poor quality paper, that have started to disintegrate over time, but time is the enemy, not rough handling.

Much of it depends upon how the scores are treated. I've seen some students just carelessly jam their scores into backpacks and just as carelessly drag them out. Backpacks aren't ideal carriers for music, in my opinion; because of the way they open, cover corners often get caught on the zippers. I use a hard-case brief case when I have to carry my music.

That said, a score that shows signs of use shows that it has been put to the purpose for which it was intended.

Treat them well and they will last but, just like me, over a long period of time, they will show age!

Regards,

About 2/3 of my scores date from my student years when I was a teen (i.e. very, very, very ancient), and they are all intact, even the ones I used a lot - the Mozart and Beethoven sonatas, and the Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Rachmaninov volumes. A few are yellowing at the edges and slightly frayed at the corners, but considering that the year of publication date from the 1930s, I can't complain.......

When I was carry them around, I used a suitcase-like bag with multiple compartments (one of which contained a tuning wrench and tuning fork). Like BruceD, I keep them flat when stored at home. I also have many volumes stacked on top of my piano, because I read through a lot of music daily. When the height becomes unmanageable (i.e. when a minor earthquake would risk toppling the pile - though I don't live in an earthquake zone), I remove a few from the bottom and put them back on the shelves.

I'd say, look after your music, and they'll look after you .

Ah yes, the magnificent self-sorting pile. What was used last is on top!

I use that organization principal with a great many things.

I sometimes take a book to the printer and get it spiral bound. It then can sit flat for reading.

For daily practice I have groups in the bookcase stacked flat. Groups of methods, excerpts, solo’s, exercises etc that I rotate through in 20 minute doses.

Some music does work well with an iPad. I download from imslp.org for free, and save to ‘books’.

I use these Henle vinyl cover protectors or clear contact paper. I also photocopy the scores I am working on and store them together in one binder for convenience. This way, my original scores stay pristine. Also, I file them vertically in Pendeflex folders, alphabetically by composer.

Once I was playing out of a Bach Italian Concerto book with pencil markings all over. 1 day the book got soaked in the rain with minor damage. Decided to scan the pages. After that I rarely play or put markings into a book. I’d make copies and not touch the originals again.

Slightly - or more than slightly - off topic;

Several years after I moved away from home, my mother asked my father to "burn his notes," meaning to burn all the papers that I accumulated and left behind from my university years. My father, always a man to take things literally, started burning some of the music I had "stored" in my parents' home. He was, of course, "burning notes!" Luckily, my mother caught my father in the act, but, to this day, I don't know what may have been lost to the flame!

I do have a couple of no-longer-published volumes with scorch marks around the edges!

Regards,

Funny and tragic!

I don't protect them, I use them, if they fall apart I replace them by new ones.

Ouch!
My current music room was my son’s bedroom. Last year he went to Northern Canada to run CN freight trains as an engineer. I was very happy to put all his left over bedroom stuff in boxes. 14 boxes are now sitting in the basement! I don’t think he misses a bit of it.

A while back, I had all my heavy duty volumes spiral bound by a great place here in town - it sure saved a lot of wear and tear.

Have you not experienced any disadvantages to having your volumes spiral bound?

Regards,

I did it for music that wouldn't stay open, music that was falling apart and for several large tomes that I split up into smaller, more manageable ones. I haven't noticed any problems. Make sure they use plastic spirals that won't scratch your music desk. Also, be aware, they have to cut away the old binding so be sure to tell them to leave as much of the edge as possible so you don't lose any of the notes.

My personal "method" is to take this approach.

They are working books, not great works of art. As such they get written on, scribbled really, to be accurate, corners get turned over, spines get folded back, some pages are left open until yellowed by sunlight, my copies of "Fur Elise" and "For Crying out Loud" are in a well used and a little abused state. It doesn't bother me, they are not a great legacy, they are my music books. I don't mind them looking tatty and worn.

In fact I go to charity shops and buy sheet music and it is almost exciting to read music teachers comments, and previous owners fingerings, timings and so on. All very informative!

I have gotten the same Henle protective covers (which fit other books as well) from other sources for about $4/each:
Henle Sheet Music Protectors from Sheet Music Plus

I ordered some last winter, along with some gifts for my piano teacher, from Henle (look under Gifts) but I was not happy with how the U.S. distributor packaged my order (damp got through to some notebooks; very annoying!).

I'm hoping eventually my Henle books show well-earned signs of use (but not of wanton destruction).