Mental Armor

I am a French Horn player.
Practice time stolen from studio work demands an efficiency of preparation, a readiness move without pause from designing and making to rehearsing or performing without the least time lost to scurrying around for equipment.  Once in rehearsal however, a brass player may spend a quarter of an hour at a time waiting without playing; most sections deal with this economically by arraying about themselves an assortment of simple stands and supports, but because a typical French Horn stand has such an awkward shape and dimension, players usually avoid even bringing them to rehearsal.

Rather than create a bulky mechanical assembly of pins and joints, this stand merely slots together, laying almost flat and adding very little weight, so that it can fit inside a typical folder or music pouch.  Assembled, its angled slots give it rigidity but permit it to retain its lightness and portability.

The stand has made its first concert debut at the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra's performance today at Shadyside Presbyterian Church.