Finally, a Solution for Playing Out of Hymnals

Back when we toured a local historic farmstead, a musician was playing out of tight little hardcover music books from the 1800s.  He kept them open with large wooden clothespin-looking things.  I couldn't concentrate on his talk because I was staring at the wooden pins.

I love to play hymns out of my hymnals where I jot notes to myself on the margins, but it was a perennial problem to keep the hymnal open.  I was always propping it under books or grabbing at it as it flapped shut midway through the song.  I don't like to use the spiral-bound hymnal for accompanists at church (no notes!) and I don't want to make photocopies (an avalanche of paper!).

Clearly, I needed those wooden pins or their equivalent.

There are giant binder clips, but the ones I found were about $10 apiece.  Then, one day in the local art store, I came across large silver clips for $1.25 apiece. 

They work!  They are large enough to handle the biggest hymnal I have, and I am so pleased.   I haven't seen this solution among the musicians I know, but perhaps this is a common trick for professionals and I just missed it all these years.