Tony Price Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 With a Choir that has been running for many years, and with over 40 members, we have built up a huge archive of music. This is currently housed in three odd, but large, cupboards and four four-drawer filing cabinets. All are at the back of the large (seats 60+) choir gallery, and all are completely stuffed full of music! I have been offered the funding to have some purpose-built storage cupboards made, to be more in keeping with the church and more practical to use, and have approached three manufacturers to have plans and costings established. My main difficulty is not the shells of the new storage cupboards, but how to file the music within them. I found Musicity.com in the USA, and have ordered their "Sampler 6 Pack" of storage boxes, which include three sizes of Octavo box. However, at a whopping £47 including shipping for just these six boxes, I feel this route will eventually turn out to be a step too far in terms of final cost, given the number of boxes we will likely need. Does anyone here know of a UK-based manufacturer who may be able to help with practical storage solutions for a large archive of sheet music sets? Or has anyone any useful suggestions as to how best to approach the 'problem'? Many thanks in advance for any useful thoughts that might help resolve a rather nice problem to have! Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buxtehude Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Does anyone here know of a UK-based manufacturer who may be able to help with practical storage solutions for a large archive of sheet music sets? Or has anyone any useful suggestions as to how best to approach the 'problem'? Many thanks in advance for any useful thoughts that might help resolve a rather nice problem to have! Tony Have you tried these: https://www.rscmshop.com/index.php/music-storage/boxes.html This might be useful if you haven't already done the big bit: http://www.blackcatmusic.co.uk/products/st...t-music-storage I think I've seen these somewhere: http://www.southernmusic.com/supplies/filebox.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Lane Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 With a Choir that has been running for many years, and with over 40 members, we have built up a huge archive of music. This is currently housed in three odd, but large, cupboards and four four-drawer filing cabinets. All are at the back of the large (seats 60+) choir gallery, and all are completely stuffed full of music! I have been offered the funding to have some purpose-built storage cupboards made, to be more in keeping with the church and more practical to use, and have approached three manufacturers to have plans and costings established. My main difficulty is not the shells of the new storage cupboards, but how to file the music within them. I found Musicity.com in the USA, and have ordered their "Sampler 6 Pack" of storage boxes, which include three sizes of Octavo box. However, at a whopping £47 including shipping for just these six boxes, I feel this route will eventually turn out to be a step too far in terms of final cost, given the number of boxes we will likely need. Does anyone here know of a UK-based manufacturer who may be able to help with practical storage solutions for a large archive of sheet music sets? Or has anyone any useful suggestions as to how best to approach the 'problem'? Many thanks in advance for any useful thoughts that might help resolve a rather nice problem to have! Tony I have yet to find anything that out does the RSCM boxes, two sizes for normal choral music and the full size organ boxes for A4. They are very substantial. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidh Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I recall a minister many years ago who had a glass-fronted music cabinet in his study. There were two shelves, labelled "Secular" and "Sacred". The secular shelf held several pairs of old shoes, some of which he must have worn while gardening. The sacred shelf held a pair of shiny preaching boots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Goodwin Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 We use heavy manilla A4 envelopes. The type with a gusset which will take at least 1 or 2 inches of music. These go in conventional filing cabinets in normal suspension folders. Not as elegant as boxes but much cheaper and serves the purpose - protects the music, easy to store and easy to access. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murton Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 I have re organised two choir libraries over the years, each time I have costed up ready made boxes from places such as the RSCM etc and found them prohibitively expensive. Both times we have gone to a local carboard packaging/box maker to have them made to order.(Many towns will have similar firms on an industrial estate somewhere.) The costs to make locally are less, but most important of all (We were ordering 600 boxes) the shipping costs were minimal as they were happy to deliver...have a hunt around, you could be surprised at what is out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Contrabombarde Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I have re organised two choir libraries over the years, each time I have costed up ready made boxes from places such as the RSCM etc and found them prohibitively expensive. Both times we have gone to a local carboard packaging/box maker to have them made to order.(Many towns will have similar firms on an industrial estate somewhere.) The costs to make locally are less, but most important of all (We were ordering 600 boxes) the shipping costs were minimal as they were happy to deliver...have a hunt around, you could be surprised at what is out there. We have just had several dozen boxes specially made for Shrewsbury Abbey, in fact I think we may have even had to throw some out as we got too many! The cost? Free. The source? An congregational appeal to recycle their old cereal boxes, which we turned inside out so the blank cardboard faces you. If you were fussy about the internal appearance or for extra strength you could always glue the two printed sides to one another. Very simple, very effective. Recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bombarde32 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I store all my organ music in some rather useful boxes from IKEA..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Price Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Many thanks to all for the helpful replies. Having looked at the options available to us and those suggested, and the cost of some of them, we are likely to move ahead with a quantity of Magazine Files housed library fashion on the new shelving and labelled appropriately. This is not only durably cost-effective, but it also allows very easy acces to the music when required. My librarian/archivist drew the line at using old cereal boxes, though I was rather taken with the idea! Kind regards to all, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now