A music stand is a human-made support fixture shaped to the held-object class 'sheet music': a flat or slightly inclined reading surface of a width matching a full folio, mounted on a post that holds the pages at reading height. Parameters: (1) surface geometry — width sufficient for a full folio (typically 40-45 cm), adjustable tilt from near-horizontal to steep; (2) support — a post (fixed, telescoping, or articulated) on a stable base; (3) page-holding mechanism — a clip, bar, or weighted edge that keeps pages from lifting under performer movement or air; (4) mounting class — floor, desk, or wall. Persistence mechanism: manufactured in bulk from wood, MDF, aluminum, or plastic, distributed through retail and music-store channels, maintained through consumer ownership cycles; the form persists as a product category via continuous production, design iteration, and replacement. [formal: stans musicae | substrate: matter | horizon: years | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
music-stand
A music stand is a human-made support fixture shaped to the held-object class 'sheet music': a flat or slightly inclined reading surface of a width matching a full folio, mounted on a post that holds the pages at reading height. Parameters…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made support fixture shaped to hold sheet music: a flat, slightly inclined reading surface on a post, manufactured as a standalone accessory and built to persist through repeated performance and practice use.
Names and aliases
- music-standen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrclyl0g00mq94753p1ij4yvSERVES →
Music stand is built to hold sheet music for performers; its purpose is to present notation at reading height during performance, serving music as the activity it enables. Removing the stand does not stop music, but the stand's design purpose is for music.
- standINSTANCE_OF →
Specific→general (Law 9). Music-stand is a kind of stand: a support fixture with surface, post, and page-holder shaped to sheet music, satisfying all four stand parameters. Nearest kind.
- sheet-musicSERVES →
SERVES test (Law 8d) — for whose sake is it built: the music-stand definition pins the beneficiary explicitly: 'a support fixture shaped to the held-object class sheet music', with surface width 'matching a full folio' and a page-holding mechanism that keeps pages down under performer movement. The servant was manufactured for the sake of the held object, and the reciprocal definition confirms: sheet music 'persists as a product category, the designed held-object of the music stand'. Not DEPENDS_ON: remove sheet music and the stand still operates as a stand (it holds whatever is placed on it — the removal test fails both ways), so this is purpose, and purpose files SERVES, never DEPENDS_ON (Laws 8c/8d). Servant points at master: music-stand -> sheet-music.
Relations to this entry
No accepted relations in this direction.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 23, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC
- Content hash
- edec774db1f54ce3441347dc55b25ad73eee9e0958f32dcd273b1e5ffbc0ea79