Evanston RoundTable, April 23, 2025
Three decades of making beautiful music — together.
In the realm of celebrated teams — Dante and Beatrice, Mickey and Minnie, Michael and Scottie, Bonnie and Clyde — musical stand partners rank pretty low.
There’s a good reason for that: The unique, complex and daunting dynamics of sharing a music stand are largely invisible to non-musicians. How musicians resolve those dynamics can reveal some insights about relationships in general.
Stand partners are found in symphony orchestras, specifically in the string sections, where two musicians playing from the same score will share a stand. Winds, brass and percussion players usually have their own stand, each being assigned a separate part (1st flute, 2nd flute, etc.). And owing to the instrument’s girth, bass players also usually have their own stands.
That leaves the violin, viola and cello sections, which constitute almost half the players in the typical orchestra.
It can get tricky
As with a lot of things in life, partnering on a stand can be complicated. There are many issues on which to agree, such as where to sit so as not to block the other player’s view of the score or the conductor, how many or few pencil markings to put in the score and when to turn the page. (No small thing: I once asked the principal violist of a world-famous orchestra what he thought of his stand partner, and without a moment’s hesitation he responded, “He’s a terrific page turner!”)
Max Raimi, a longtime violist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, tells a story of unnamed stand partners, a man and a woman, at a CSO performance in London who were so visibly upset with each other they even attracted the concern of a patron. “At intermission, a member of the audience came up to the stage and attracted the attention of another musician,” Raimi writes on Medium. “‘Terribly sorry to trouble you, but we have made a wager — could you tell me if those two cellists are married?’ (They were not.)”
Violinist.com has a list of 26 stand partner issues, including No. 5, The Slacker: “She never has a pencil. She already lost her music. You have to take on the role of the Responsible One, otherwise you’ll both be dead. You’re kinda surprised that she remembered the concert was today.” And No. 12, The Klutz: “She has a lot of nicks on her instrument, and her shoulder rest is always falling off. Somehow she sent your pencil flying into the void, and she knocked all of the music off the stand. Last week she nearly stabbed your eye out.”
This last possibility is not hyperbole. An Evanston Symphony Orchestra violinist told me that her stand partner at a youth symphony concert many years ago accidentally speared her in the ear with her bow. “I practically jumped out of my chair,” she said. “But I kept playing!”
‘Life can be miserable’
“When stand partners don’t get along, life can be miserable,” Raimi writes. An internationally renowned violist friend reported sitting first stand in a small orchestra. As his solo was approaching, his stand partner reached over and grabbed the peg of his C string and twisted it out of tune. Years later the perpetrator professed not to remember the incident. Really?
Someone on the subreddit r/orchestra site asked recently, “Has anyone dealt with a stand partner moving the music stand so far back that it’s hard to see? I’m very short, and even sitting on edge of my chair I can’t even reach to write anything down. I have tried getting there early to move the stand more forward, but she just moves it further and further back!”
Nine people responded, with one pointing out, “Learning to negotiate with stand partners kindly is one of the fine points of string musicianship.”
The person posing the question finally announced she would give up. “I think yes, I’m going to just have to memorize! I don’t see any other way around it — and with high maintenance stand partners I just usually let them have their way.”
Which is one of many reasons why stand partners often part company after a time, or wait for a section rotation to join with another stand partner.
Longtime partnership
And which is why Evanston Symphony Orchestra violists Jennifer McGeary and Penelope Sachs are so unusual: they’ve been stand partners more than three decades.
Sachs recalls they both came into the orchestra at the first rehearsal of the 1993-94 season and were directed to sit together in the back of the section. “No one paid any attention or said a word to us for weeks,” she said.
At the time, McGeary was taking lessons from Julian Arron, the ESO’s then-concertmaster. “You should join,” he urged her. She auditioned with Arron and conductor Lynn Schornick, but only got the news three weeks later that she was in. “Things were rather loosey-goosey back then,” she recalled.
When she checked with the orchestra’s personnel manager, he said they didn’t need any more violas. McGeary duly reported the objection to Arron, who advised her to ignore it. “Just show up, you’ll be fine,” he said.
Sachs, who grew up in Kent, England, said McGeary helped her adjust when she joined the orchestra, starting with note names. In the U.K., whole notes are called semi-breves, half notes are minims, quarter notes are crotchets and eighth notes are quavers. “It took me a while to get the hang of it,” Sachs said.
“There were other terms and issues Jen helped me with too. I was brand new to the country,” she added. “Things worked out between us. That’s why we’re still sitting together. It all fit.”
McGeary reported a “terrifying experience” a year ago. With Sachs out of town, she was drafted to sit first stand with the principal violist. “It’s nerve-wracking to turn pages,” she said. “And I was right under Larry’s [Music Director Lawrence Eckerling’s] nose. My old mute was too loud and too noisy, it would squeak when I pulled it up to the bridge. I was sure he’d complain.”
He didn’t, and in 2023 McGeary and Sachs got an ESO 30-year certificate, signed by Eckerling and board president Margaret Gergen.
“Many string players in orchestras enjoy playing with the same stand partners,” Eckerling told me. “There is a certain camaraderie and comfort in playing with the same stand partner. This seems to be particularly true in community orchestras like the Evanston Symphony. What is particularly extraordinary is that this has been going on for 31 years in the case of Penelope and Jen.”
‘It’s like PB&J’
When they’ve been offered opportunities to play with different partners, they’ve turned them down. “It’s like PB&J,” McGeary said. “You don’t break it up.”
As if they don’t spend enough time together at rehearsals and concerts, McGeary and Sachs and their partners socialize together, as well as with Arron and his wife Susan. McGeary said she had been to Sachs’ daughter’s baby shower in 2021. “And Penelope has been to both my weddings,” she said, laughing.
Their tastes run along similar lines, too. They both like “the big Bs” — Beethoven and Brahms — as well as lesser-known new music the ESO has recently performed, such as William Grant Still and Florence Price symphonies, a violin concerto called The Rose of Sonora by American composer George Clinton and a saxophone concerto by French composer Henri Tomasi.
“With new pieces there’s a lot of extra energy,” Sachs observed.
And they both appreciate the contribution the other makes to the orchestra. “Jen is fabulous at writing and sending emails to subscribers, helping with design and approvals, all the back-office stuff,” said Sachs.
Gushed McGeary, “I don’t know if we’d have an orchestra without Penelope. She’s been on the board for over 20 years, including two stints as president.”
When not making beautiful music for the orchestra, McGeary is the manager of marketing operations for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Sachs is a longtime board member of the Evanston/North Shore YWCA and is also a serious equestrian, a three-time national champion with the U.S. Dressage Federation.
Count on this
It seems the only thing they disagree about is who’s better at counting. “We count out loud to stay abreast of the rests,” Sachs said.
“She’s a much better counter than me,” countered McGeary.
“We both try to come prepared and take it seriously — this is a serious orchestra,” said McGeary. “People are surprised how good we are. We have an obligation to live up to that.”
“You have to have mutual respect, shared values and a similar work ethic,” said Sachs. “We rely on each other.”
Compromise, camaraderie and civility — three hallmarks of successful music stand partnership — are also hallmarks of successful partnerships of all kinds.
How do these noteworthy qualities play out (puns intended)? You can see for yourself at the ESO’s last concert of the season on Sunday, June 8, at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
And if you go, be sure to congratulate the stand partners for three decades of making beautiful music — together.