DIY binding loose sheets?

iternabe · 2025-05-01T00:59:35+00:00

Shuffling several loose sheets of music is slowly getting to my nerves, so I begin to look for ways to bind them neatly. This video seems like a quite nice...

Stub

pianoloverus You should get a printer that does two sided printing.

We have a printer that does two-sided printing. Great invention!

The purpose of printing one sided and then gluing together is the added thickness and stiffness that you get compared to a single sheet. One could buy heavier weight paper to use in the printer, but most people will use what's in the printer, which is not heavy weight paper. Ours is 20 lb weight, I believe.

pianoloverus

Stub I think it would be much easier and faster to change the paper vs. glue.

Stub

pianoloverus I think it would be much easier and faster to change the paper vs. glue.

Heavier weight paper would give the thickness, but I'm not sure it would give the stiffness. I also don't know how heavy-weight paper our copier/printer will handle.

twocats

Stub The resulting single sheet (two sheets glued together) is stiff and won't slouch on the piano desk or in the binder.

As a kid I think we taped the two sides together!

Stub

twocats As a kid I think we taped the two sides together!

Were the taped pages stiff enough that they didn't flop around?

pianoloverus

Stub I think it would be much easier and faster to change the paper vs. glue.

Heavier weight paper would give the thickness, but I'm not sure it would give the stiffness. I also don't know how heavy-weight paper our copier/printer will handle.

Neither stiffness nor heaviness are not needed to turn the pages effectively. I know that from playing from two sided scores I've printed on normal weight printer paper. If that was case it would be hard to turn pages of regular music books.

twocats

Stub I think so? Definitely less risk of tearing out of a binder.

twocats

Stub I just remembered that my photocopied sheets from childhood always had these little sticker rings at the holes to reinforce the pages in the binder. Once in, whether a page is one sheet or two attached together doesn't seem to make a huge difference in sturdiness. Though I think back then the default paper thickness you'd get was thicker than the default now.

Stub

pianoloverus Neither stiffness nor heaviness are not needed to turn the pages effectively. I know that from playing from two sided scores I've printed on normal weight printer paper. If that was case it would be hard to turn pages of regular music books.

I think you said you have your printouts in a three-ring binder. The binder covers and rings are providing the stiffness. I don't often work from printouts. I'd much rather have a book (oh, gosh, I have to buy another book!). Occasionally, though, I will print out a piece. I would like for it to stand freely on the music stand. The pasted together method works for that purpose. Obviously, different people have different needs and preferences.

Stub

twocats I just remembered that my photocopied sheets from childhood always had these little sticker rings at the holes to reinforce the pages in the binder.

Oh, I well remember those things. They usually came on a strip and you peeled them off and stuck them on the paper. Do people still use them?

iternabe

Stub I think you said you have your printouts in a three-ring binder. The binder covers and rings are providing the stiffness.

The teacher that showed the GBC ProClick system also adds a stiffer cover (of cardstock paper or plastic) both front and back.

For now I just place a book behind my loose sheets to prevent them from flop.

twocats

Stub Occasionally, though, I will print out a piece. I would like for it to stand freely on the music stand. The pasted together method works for that purpose.

Thanks for clarifying on what you need, I think just using regular Scotch tape to tape a bunch of sheets together may work well enough and you may not need the double sheet. The tape provides some stiffness at the edges.

Stub Oh, I well remember those things. They usually came on a strip and you peeled them off and stuck them on the paper. Do people still use them?

They still appear to be for sale!

pianoloverus

Stub I think you said you have your printouts in a three-ring binder. The binder covers and rings are providing the stiffness. I don't often work from printouts. I'd much rather have a book (oh, gosh, I have to buy another book!). Occasionally, though, I will print out a piece. I would like for it to stand freely on the music stand. The pasted together method works for that purpose. Obviously, different people have different needs and preferences.

You have pasted together two sided sheets but they're not in anything(free standing on the music desk) when you turn them? People who use free standing sheets normally use one sided sheets because turning them quickly enough would not be possible.

pseudonym58

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned in this long thread. You can obtain a comb binder paper punch fairly inexpensively, and if you only do a few sheets at a time you can obtain very accurate results. Plastic binding combs are available in a large variety of sizes, suitable for anything from a few sheets to more than 100. As I generally print from pre-existing PDFs, I also buy pre-punched paper and use a printer capable of efficient two-sided (duplex) printing. I have large volumes, such as "the Real Book" from the 1980s that are still serviceable, so I don't think you have to worry about the plastic combs becoming brittle.
Lastly, if you'd rather not deal with punching paper at all, you can photocopy existing loose sheets onto pre-punched paper, and use the result in a comb binder.

TLH21

Comb binding was the bane of my life as a student, so no, not a chance thank you very much. I'll stick with my loose sheets in ring binders. I arrange by theme, and sometimes pull the piece out to spread out onto my music desk - at a pinch I can do five pages across.

A couple of jobbing pianists I know glue the edges of their sheet music together, concertina-style, or even on one memorable occasion glued it to light card (old breakfast cereal boxes worked well) in linear fashion, when working in a performance situation (accompanist or back ground music, not recital).

iternabe

TLH21 Comb binding was the bane of my life as a student, so no, not a chance thank you very much.

The GBC Proclick in the video of my original post is not comb binding. It's a system that has the mechanism of ring binder (although many more rings), but the end result works like comb binding. Best of both worlds? Or a good compromise?

TLH21

iternabe Yeah, I was looking at @WieWaldi 's video with feeling. I couldn't see clearly on the video you posted how likely it would be that the teeth eventually tend unpredictably ease apart, like they can with comb binding, and you end up with one tooth that has missed the punch hole on one page, or slips during repeated use, etc. Ah, the memories...

pseudonym58

TLH21 Of course, your mileage may vary, but I found that as long as the combs were sized correctly for the number of sheets to be bound, I didn't have problems with using them on a regular basis. Stuff them too full, and then you'll risk having trouble. Also, I'd rather have two smaller volumes than one enormous heavy book.

WieWaldi

TLH21 The only struggles I faced in this regard is when I use a very thin spine of only 6mm diameter. It is very cumbersome to insert pages. But with regular sized spines: no problem. Only if I insert in the same book pages again and again, the old paper can bend and I miss a hole here and there (after taking out a bunch of sheets and putting back again and again and again...).
But the regular usecase, to print and add new pieces at the end is really easy and causes no proplems at all.
Have I already mentioned, it sits so much better on the music rest than a loose leaf binder? Not to mention how easy page turning is? 😄

pianoloverus

WieWaldi Have I already mentioned, it sits so much better on the music rest than a loose leaf binder? Not to mention how easy page turning is?

Do you play on a vertical or grand? On a grand a looseleaf binder sits perfectly and page turning is easy.

AaronSF

What a lot of work! All the music I play is on my iPad. No binding necessary. forScore works great.

Why do you all keep music in binders? What are the advantages over digital on an iPad?

iternabe

AaronSF Good question! Maybe I am just odd. I work in IT and am a tech nerd, yet for something I just like them analog and physical. Maybe it's the ability to layout double pages? Or the ease to flip between pages that's farther apart?

I do have an 11-inch iPad Pro and has forScore on it. But these old eyes really want a 13-inch Pro which is a not-so-small investment for the current model.

« Previous Page Next Page »