Best music stands for beginners

Nobody is excited about a music stand. It is bought late, bought cheap, and it is the reason a surprising number of beginners practice hunched over a book on a bed.

The mistake is specific: the folding wire stand sold at every checkout counter cannot hold the one thing a beginner owns, which is a thick method book that wants to be open flat. It bows, the page slides, and the student props the book on a chair instead.

We have not used these stands. What follows is our reading of published dimensions, and the method is on how we pick.

The three specs that matter

1. Desk size and lip depth. The desk has to be wide enough for an open book and the lip deep enough to stop it sliding. The stands here run from a 485 mm desk with a 42 mm lip to a 20 inch desk with a 2.25 inch ledge, which is the difference between holding loose sheets and holding a spiral-bound course open at page 90.

2. Height range. Published as a range for a reason: a seated beginner and a standing one need different heights, and children grow. Ranges here start around 23 to 24 inches and reach 45 to 48 inches, which covers both.

3. Whether and how it packs down. A folding stand collapses the desk as well as the legs. A symphony stand does not fold at all — it comes apart with a bolt, which is a different proposition entirely. Decide this before comparing anything else, because it eliminates half the market.

A fourth thing worth noticing while comparing: weight is frequently unpublished. On-Stage does not publish it, Manhasset’s figure comes from a retailer, and K&M publishes both weight and folded length. If portability is the point, that omission is itself information.

How we ranked these

Whether it holds a heavy book first, because that is the failure mode that sends people shopping. Then height range, then how well it packs down, then stability, then room to grow.

The picks

The K&M 10065 music stand#ad is the folding stand we would buy. The desk folds as well as the legs, so the whole thing packs to 490 mm at 1.55 kg, and the desk is 485 mm wide with a 42 mm deep lip — deep enough that a thick book stays put. The legs are cross-braced U-profile on a 690 mm base, and height runs 585 to 1,220 mm.

K&M publishes all of that, which is the main reason it is first: you can confirm it fits your case and your player before ordering. The limits are that it is heavier than K&M’s own lighter 100/1 model, the desk is narrower than a symphony stand and folds at a seam, and the carrying case is a separate purchase.

The Manhasset Model 48 Symphony#ad is the stand in every school band room, and if the stand is staying in a practice corner it is the one to buy. A 20 inch by 12.5 inch aluminum desk with a 2.25 inch ledge, a heavy welded steel base, and a friction clutch that adjusts height one-handed with no wingnut to strip. 26 to 48 inches from ledge to floor.

Its 5.25 lb is exactly why it does not tip when a student knocks it, and exactly why it is the worst stand here to carry anywhere. It does not fold at all — it disassembles with a bolt — and no bag is offered for it.

The On-Stage SM7211B#ad is the value pick and a genuine step up from a wire stand. A steel desk of 13.5 by 19 inches with a 2 inch return lip, on a tripod whose legs fold flat, with a 24 to 45 inch height range that covers a seated child through a standing adult.

The compromise is in the middle: the desk is one solid steel piece that does not fold in half, so the packed package stays about 19 inches wide even with the legs folded. On-Stage publishes no weight, and there is no bag included. It travels, but not in a backpack.

Which one for which player

A beginner practicing at home only. A symphony stand, and you are done for twenty years.

A school band or orchestra student. A folding stand with a real desk, because it goes to lessons, rehearsals and home. Several percussion supply lists require a folding stand explicitly — see best percussion kits for school band.

A guitarist or ukulele player. Either, with one consideration: you are usually seated with the instrument in your lap, so a stand that goes low enough to read without blocking your right arm matters more than maximum height.

A keyboard player. Often neither, because digital pianos have a music rest built in. Check whether yours holds a thick book open before buying anything.

Where the stand goes, and the rest of what makes a practice corner work, is in setting up a home practice space. What all of this adds up to across a first year is in what it costs to start an instrument.