FLW Music Stand

[nochederabanos]

I have been a long time follower of Wright Chat, but haven't had anything to say or ask until now. Now I have 3 daughters and a wife who play stringed instruments, and would love to try building something similar to the FLW music stand. Besides trying to scale everything off the photos, are there any plans / blueprints in the public domain for this article that I could start from?
Merci d'avance.

[DavidC]

You can check out p. 86 of Frank Lloyd Wright Complete Works, Vol. 3: 1943-1959 (v. 3), which has the detail plan of it (though, not a large one).


David

[nochederabanos]

Thank-you!

[Jeff Myers]

Is it possible for someone to post the photo of the plan. I am working on a model that uses this and I can not find any detail sheets with it nor do I have the funds to buy the book.

[DavidC]

Good to see you again, Jeff.

Perhaps SDR can post a scan of the Complete Works detail. Also, you may want to consider contacting the Archives at the Avery Library/Columbia University to see what they could send to you.


David

[Jeff Myers]

Hi David,
They sent me a link to what they have on file, I’ve sorted through everything with no luck. The music stand in question is the one used for Zimmerman and Shavin along with both Taliesin’s.

[SDR]

A beautiful and comprehensive drawing of the music stand appears on page 86 of the third Taschen "Complete Works" volume, at a size just too small to read most of the measurements. I believe the overall height is 42". An important feature to note is the angle in plan of the four sheet-music surfaces: rather than 30º (Wright's common "reflex" angle), the angle measures 35º on the drawing---in other words, closer to forty-five degrees from the axis that separates the two halves of the stand.

The stand includes upward returns to the ends of the sheet-music ledges, seemingly designed to limit the width of the music that can conveniently be placed on the stand. One of these returns has been excised from the Heinz photo.

Here is a photo by Thomas Heinz of the stand as seen in Taschen, a photo in Diane Maddex, "50 Favorite Furnishings," p 58, the drawing and two details thereof, and the text found in Taschen.



Photo © Thomas Heinz


Photo © Currier Gallery of Art


© The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives (The Museum of Modern Art | Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University, New York)

[Jeff Myers]

Thank you SDR.
Here is a render of Shavin. I will post more on a separate thread.

[SDR]

Like to see more of that.

https://dallaslibrary2.org/mobile/treasures/wright.php

http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%2 ... 3Music.htm

Steiner:

Like the rest of the furniture in the Zimmerman House, the music stand was constructed in a Manchester manufacturing company, under the supervision of John Geiger, Wright's on site apprentice. Like the five other Wright music stands in existence, drawings were not necessarily made; if a drawing was requested . . . Wright often incorporated any necessary modifications in terms of wood choice, form and detailing. In a recent correspondence, John Geiger recalled, "_ [the music stand] seemed such a natural in that [garden] room silhouetted against the grand piano. It went through a development period and no drawing existed for its finished form. [After it was finished,] Joe Fabris [another Taliesin apprentice] made a drawing from the finished product specifically for the Zimmermans." (3)

Wright's first designs for such a music stand date from the early 1930s when he made two versions in oak veneer and Philippine mahogany for the living room at Taliesin and the playhouse of the Hillside Home School. These were used by family members and also by his apprentices, once Hillside had been converted to use as his educational setting for apprentices called the Taliesin Fellowship. In his autobiography Wright states that his living room at Taliesin - where the music stand was installed next to a grand piano - acted as a stimulus to the apprentices to think about good design; everything was to be experienced from here, from views of the sheep on the hills outside to the "house decorations" indoors. The presence at the Hillside Playhouse of professional musicians and accomplished players amongst the apprentices themselves - where the second music stand was installed - also spurred interest in these spaces as a setting for all kinds of classical and folk repertoire. (4)

[SDR]

Douglas Steiner's notes on the Wright music stand are helpful; they raise further questions, however. When exactly was the first music stand constructed ? Were there two at Taliesin, one each in the residence living room and at the Hillside Playhouse ? Were they made of different materials---oak for the residence, mahogany for the theater ? Are those music stands extant and in situ today ?

Is the drawing of the music stand as published in Taschen and reproduced above the one made by Joe Fabris ? It doesn't bear the Zimmerman's name, nor is it dated. Perhaps Joe or another drafter made a copy for the Taliesin files ? When would that have been done ? Was no drawing of the piece made before the 'fifties ?

What garden room was John Geiger referring to: the one at Taliesin North or at Taliesin West ? Is there a music stand there as well ? If so, when would it have been made ?

S

[Jeff Myers]

They date to 1948 or later but prior to 1950. Shavin was the first to receive then Zimmerman shortly after. Taliesin West has them in the cabaret theater and at Taliesin it is in the living room and theater. There is a drawing of it for Taliesin likely dating to the early 50’s on a plan for the cabaret theater. No drawings are digitized from Avery nor do they have full plans of some designs yet.

[SDR]

Are they mostly all alike ? Are there variations in the design ? I would expect maybe variety in the perforations . . .

I might call it "the armadillo"---for the hump-like form of the "roof."

S

[Roderick Grant]

The Garden Room of which Geiger speaks is the Zimmermann Living Room.