A magnetic pencil holder…
A secret weapon, or a useless gimmick?
A pencil is an essential tool for any musician. Annotating your sheet music with directions and reminders is important, whether that be highlighting awkward accidentals, phrasing and articulation, counting, tricky passages, breath marks, etc. As a teacher and band leader I’m often shocked (but never surprised) to discover that musicians don’t keep a pencil on their music stand (whether at home or in the band room).
It’s practical to mark things on your sheet music as you come across them because the next time you play through you’re unlikely to remember all those useful points (despite your best intentions). As learners, it’s important to avoid repeating (and inadvertently practicing) mistakes to ensure we improve and progress.
The following image was posted by pro saxophonist, Jess Gillam.
What you write on your sheet music doesn’t actually matter too much, as long as it alerts you to upcoming ‘problem areas’ when you’re playing in the moment. It doesn’t even have to make sense to anyone else – it could literally be a doodle, such as a star or smiley face! I believe as long as you’re not surrendering to writing letters under the notes, annotations can be extremely beneficial and aid in ‘performing’ a song with minimal mistakes.
For these reasons, an accessory dedicated to ensuring a pencil is to hand at all times could be the most valuable asset for optimising your practice time. You can find these at most music shops or by clicking here.
You can also find other less essential, but equally useful music stand accessories, such as a cup holder!
Looks useful.