Give your Music Folder some love! How to care for your folder
Posted by Robbin Rose on Apr 15th 2019
Our MyMusicFolders products are made with the highest quality materials and extra construction steps in order to ensure that we ship you only the best quality Music Folder when you order from us.
- Choral folders need to be lightweight as well as durable. We use a specialty paperboard (1.5mm thick) that is infused with plastic in order to have a thinner, lighter folder without sacrificing strength. Our cover material, depending on the model, is either a traditional, textured PVC, or the more ding & scratch resistant vegan-leather. The ComfortHold T hand-holding system is made of a soft lightweight nylon webbing, and all critical seams are double needle sewn for extra security. Our traditional choral folder models use a lightweight aluminum hinge that carries the elastic loops to create the strings for octavo-scores, and also can hang the 3-ring adaptor that many singers also use. Frequent performers might appreciate that some of our choral folder models incorporate a high density polyethylene (HDPS) “living hinge” that accomplishes the same tasks with even less weight added to the folder.
- Instrumental folders are sized up to hold symphonic scores and are meant to be used on a music stand, so weight is not as much an issue. We use sturdy 3mm thick paperboard for our Band and Orchestral folders, and slightly lighter weight 2 mm boards for our Classroom Choir/Bell Choir line. These folders’ PVC covers and binding that are double needle sewn for security. While all our folders have brass corners, The Band folders have brass-coated over steel corner protectors set with 6 gripper teeth each so that they stay in place.
- Beginning in mid-2019, we plan to introduce the scrape & ding resistant vegan-leather cover on all colors other than black, in our Classroom Music Folder series.
We are proud of the durability of our MyMusicFolders products, but even with the best materials and construction, it is important to care for your music folder properly in order to ensure a long life of music-making with it. If you care for your folder, it will care for your sheet music for many years!
Care for your folder like a hardbound library book. This will help you remember:
- Take care so that your folder does not get wet or left in the hot sun. These exposures risk warping and lessen the life of the cover materials.
- When opening or closing your folder, especially the choral folders with a hinge in the spine, it may feel a bit stiff at first. Do not attempt to force the folder flat, but rather, gently continue to move the covers open/closed a few times, and it will loosen up just right and become flatter, and more stable, on your stand/keyboard.
- When placing your folder(s) in your shelving unit, be certain that your openings allow room for insertion and removal without scraping the folder(s). If your unit has openings too small for your folders to insert and remove with ease, you risk damaging your folders over time.
- When transporting folders in a bin, place them in the container with care. Do not toss or throw the folders as the force might cause the covers to break or bend. If you stuff too many folders in a bin, you risk bending or breaking the corners. If you are using a bin system, we suggest adding a layer of foam at the bottom of the bin to cushion the folders. Our Community Chorus uses bins for transport, and most of our folders last 7-10 years with care, but we have also seen careless bin-users ruin folders in a very short time.
- If you find you want to polish up your covers after a few years, we suggest using a non-colored Instant Shine Sponge (often used for shoes) or a little bit of spray silicone (like you would use on a car interior) and a soft cloth for buffing.