Think of a music stand. You probably thought of one of those metal music stands made by Manhasset. They’re everywhere- and for good reason- they’re excellent music stands. But imagine this: you’re playing in a pit orchestra and it’s a dress rehearsal. Maestro announces a change to the time signature of a few measures. You pull out your pencil and mark it. Maestro raises their hands/baton. You go to put your pencil down. You have two choices:

1. Put it down in front of your music and be ready to play on time. The next page turn you knock your pencil off your stand.

2. Lift the bottom corner of your music and tuck your pencil behind it. The rest of the orchestra is now playing on without you.

Only a mild inconvenience either way, and both that most musicians are unfazed by. And most music stands from other brands now have a second tray or an groove behind the music tray to put your pencil into. But at the end of the day, Manhasset music stands are still the most common stand out there, and that’s a whole lot of little inconveniences to musicians all over the world.

(left) the part

Holding a pencil

So I made my own pencil holder. It slides onto the stand, either the back or the music tray. The front of the clip is 0.6mm thick, allowing music to easily lay flat on top or in front of it, and the tube which holds the pencil is long enough that you can push the pencil in as far as you want and it will stay, and large enough that after a few tries you can just push the pencil in without even bothering to look. Quick and easy.