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music rack

music rack

3.4
A stand that holds sheet music while a musician plays
  • noun
  • /ˈmjuːzɪk ræk/
translation icon : atril
  • During the performance, the musician placed her sheet music neatly on the music rack for easy access.

Examples

  • The composer set his manuscript on the music rack before he began conducting the orchestra.

  • Come on, get these music racks out of here.

  • With her back to the audience, bending over to keep herself from spilling out, she stood up and hit her forehead against the music rack.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Bachman Turner Overdrive? (looks through music rack)...

    Fiction book (1991)
  • A sonata had four separate parts called movements, the last of which recapitulated the first, and hers started with a chord in bass and treble. She could almost see the design on the page and gazed hard at the wooden filigree of the music rack.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • He adjusted the height of the music rack so that all the performers could see the notes clearly.

Synonyms

rack
vsmusic rack
205 1.2

A frame for holding or showing things

is limited to holding printed scores for use while playing instruments
music stand
vsmusic rack
4 1.6

A thing that holds sheet music so a musician can read it while playing

is a general support that focuses on holding printed scores while playing

How Portable

music stand
4 1.6
music rack
3.4

Surface Forms

music rack singular
music racks plural

Morphology

music + rack

The compound 'music rack' is directly interpretable as a rack (stand) for music: combining 'music' (sheet music/performance material) with 'rack' (a stand or frame) yields the described object. This follows a regular English noun–noun compounding pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Music rack is a simple name: a rack is a stand that holds the music sheets in front of a player. So, it means 'a stand that holds sheets of music'.