Klarinet Archive - Posting 000767.txt from 1998/04

From: RCLARINET <RCLARINET@-----.com>
Subj: Re: Re: Mouthpiece Information
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 13:08:15 -0400

In a message dated 4/15/98 12:58:33 AM, you wrote:

<<On Tue, 14 Apr 1998, Jason Hsien wrote:

> Now, in regards to your mouthpiece and instrument. I really don't like
> Artley, they don't play well, but Vandoren mouthpieces are excellent. I
> would try them out at your music store, see which ones work the best with
> your instrument-reed-ligature combination before you buy from WW & BW.

That's good advice, to see how a particular mouthpiece works with a
particular instrument, but just how long do you think that local
music store is going to stay in business if a lot of people start
following your rip-off advice? That's only one step above
shoplifting, in my book, to use their salespeople's time and try out
their inventory with no intention of buying from them.

--Doug

Doug,
Thank you for this comment. So many musicians I know see to behave as if it
is a crime for the music store to make any profit whatsoever......as if the
people there don't need to pay rent, buy food and do the normal things all the
rest of us have to do.
To do as was advise above, as you say, is criminal in a moral sense if not in
a legal one.
The other part of the bad advise is that mouthpieces vary greatly, and one
that plays well at the music store will not necessarily play well if that
same model is ordered from another store........the mail order mouthpiece
might be a dog.
As a final note: so many go to the mail order places for cheap equipment and
horns....but what do they do and where do they go when the horn is broken and
they need emergency repair just before the concert?
If musicians continue to practise unethical behavior to save a few bucks they
are likely to find they have no one to turn to locally when they are in dire
need....because they would have run them out of business by buying long
distance.
You get what you pay for.
If you want better prices, communicate with your local dealer for your self
and your students. In most cases something can be worked out to your mutual
benefit.
Just understand, music dealers have to live too.
tom