My daughter loves to play classical or any other type of music on her violin. She plays every day for fun, for her competition team, and at the District festival. It's a lot of work, but she loves it. When she practiced, she would often struggle to stay organized and productive because she had numerous pieces of new and old sheet music to review. So, we decided to improve this system by making a sheet music organizer (or three). Here is how we did it.
Make your sheet music organizer
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First, we took out the older sheet music from her school music folder.
Since she didn't want to discard them, we grouped the older sheet music. It was a little tricky since she had a few sheet music pieces that didn't have a category, and others that she knew she wouldn't have more sheet music. So, we decided to compile all her school music pieces from previous years into one binder.
Buy 1-inch three-ring binders
Then, I went out and purchased three one-inch binders (Affiliate) that had the rings on the backside. I picked these binders because they would lie flat on the music stand as shown below.
Decorate the front of binder.
Now the issue was what to put on the front of the binder. My daughter pulled her artwork from her art folder and used it for the cover of the binder. Did I mention that she loves to draw too? =)
Organize the sheet music.
We got to work and added the sheet music to the sheet protectors (affiliate). I used standard low-glaze sheet protectors (affiliate), which are widely available. And, we said one sheet to the front and one to the back of the sheet protector, as shown below.
Use Tabs
Then, we used these great little tabs (affiliate) and labeled them with the song title.
Add to the sheet protector.
Then, I added them to the corresponding sheet protector. We put the music in alphabetical order by song title to make it easier to find.
Reveal
Here is the final product. What do you think? Looks pretty good.
Other ways to organize sheet music
Below are additional ways to organize sheet music.
- Use hanging file folders (affiliate).
- Get a wide accordion folder (affiliate) with at least 13 tabs (affiliate) to organize sheet music by use.
- Use stackable bins - like the ones you would use in an office
I do recommend magazine holders unless you place the sheet music in folders and then add them to a magazine holder. They get too floppy, and it is hard to find the music.
For both of these ways, sort them and place the new sheet music. You can put them at the front with the latest items first or organize them by genre. Then, able each section.
Do you play an instrument? Have a lot of sheet music? How do you organize your sheet music? Please leave a comment below.
Below are some other posts about organizing sheet music we found.
The Art of Organizing Your Sheet Music
Visit our other Hobby Organization posts to help you organize other hobbies you may enjoy doing.
Tylar says
I play the ukulele and the piano and my sister plays the piano and the trumpet so this is great, I just started making myself a new music binder cause mines a little old but my sisters she has her music sheets and strumming in one binder. She has a 2' binder with tabs to separate all her music and its also great!
William Rusho says
That looks like a great idea for sheet music. The project also seems easy to do. Thanks for sharing.
Meredith @ The Palette Muse says
These are great! I love the personal artwork! I need to have my daughter start on some of these for herself.
Michele Harvey says
I think the organizers look fabulous and they were done very creatively using art work on the covers. It's great to help your children become more organized since it's such a critical life skill. Now she will have even more pleasure with her music.
Beth Niebuhr says
I do play an instrument. I have a degree in piano and I do have a lot of sheet music - mostly separate pages that I have bought and downloaded. This is a perfect solution and I thank you for telling about it.
Erica says
I don't play an instrument but I tried a few different instruments as a kid. I don't even remember what I did with my sheet music. I do remember having friends who were very accomplished at different instruments. I imagine they would have loved having a binder like this for their sheet music. What a fun way to get organized!
Jacqueline Gum says
Not only is this a superbly practical idea, it's an adorable end product! I love that you are organizing these memories...she'll have them forever and also remember the time you two spent doing the project together. Love it!
Mahal Hudson says
All of us in the family (even my husband) play an instrument. I play the keyboards. It does frustrate me when I can find my music sheets so your music sheet organizer was very helpful. Thank you for sharing your tips!
Lenie says
This is something I will be passing on to my grandson. He started playing piano a few years ago so I imagine his sheet music will be piling up. I liked the tip about the rings on the back of the binder - never knew that but will be watching for it from now on.