If your Musical Director's words, “And now we're going to look at ...” is generally followed by a flurry of activity as people search frantically for the sheet music, negotiate a loan or arrange themselves so they can look on to someone who can find the right sheet, then it might be time to look at how you arrange your sheet music.
 
Perhaps you could rearrange your sheet music with your current repertoire in one folder arranged alphabetically.  This works brilliantly until you introduce a new song.  Plastic sheaths are great for protecting your music, but makes it difficult to add notes.  I'd suggest, forget the plastic sheets, just don't rehearse in the rain or while eating.  I've tried a few sheet music filing systems.  This is my most successful yet.

You will need:

1. A two hole punch
2. D-Ring folder
3. A spreadsheet
4. A  printer
5. A stapler

Filing:

 Step 1:   File each stapled arrangement into the D-Ring Folder
Step 2:   Number each arrangement as close to the top right corner as possible with it's position in the folder.  I put a circle around the number to make it easier to find.
Step 3:   Enter one line in the spreadsheet for the arrangement you've file ie:
number – title – some keywords to reflect the genre etc

Nr	Title	Keywords
1	Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer	Christmas
2	Wild Irish Rose	Pole cat

      Repeat step 3 until you've either filed all your music or filled the D-ring, in which case start a new D-ring file.
Step 4:   Alphabetically sort your spreadsheet.  In most cases, highlight the rows (excluding the title) then choose from the menu bar select data-sort.
Step 5:   Print your index and add it to the front of your D-ring folder.
 

Finding Music:

 At rehearsal: Scan the alphabetically sorted printed index for the song you're looking for.  The number to the left will give you the exact position in the folder.
 
 If you have thousands of arrangements in your sheet music repository and you are searching for particular arrangements, Open your spreadsheet and search (CTRL-F) for title or genre key words.
 

Adding Music:

To add music to your sheet music repository, just scribble on your index sheet until such time as it gets untidy, then update your spreadsheet (remember to re-sort) and reprint your index.
 
For the tech-savy, in the field two below your last entry, enter '=max(' then with the mouse highlight the column above (excluding the heading), then close the bracket with ')' and press enter.  It means you'll always know what the next number should be.  You don't NEED to do this because the next number will be the top of your D-ring folder + 1, but it's nice to have a cross reference to make sure you've remembered to put the top sheet back.

Nr	Title	Keywords
1	Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer	Christmas
2	Wild Irish Rose	Pole cat
xxx	<-last number added

     
 
Robin Vysma - Western Melbourne Men's Chorus
Director of Membership and Audience Development