Klarinet Archive - Posting 000674.txt from 2002/11

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] myopic teachers and market size
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 23:58:22 -0500

Anna,

All of my beginner clarinet and sax students are on eith Clark
Fobes' Debut mouthpiece or the Hite Premiere. I personally like
the Fobes Debut better than the Hite Premiere, and most of my
beginners are on Clark's mouthpieces (clarinet and sax,) but I
have a couple of students on each instrument that while trying
them out found the Hite's easier to play for them. I, of course,
let them choose what works for them.

Why not get your local merchant to see about getting a Buffet,
Selmer, Leblanc, or Yamaha representative out to show
instruments in Iceland? It could be a mini music festival, and
the music store could ask local musicians to play for the
festival...maybe only one or two days. I bet the companies would
jump at the chance of getting a foothold in a smaller market.

The store could charge admission, and you could get 2 or 3
college teachers to do master classes to bring in the people.
(By saying *you* I mean the store could. You could bring it up
though.)

I am sold on getting stuff at festivals, as the stuff sometimes
is discounted, but more importantly, vendors usually only bring
the best stuff with them, so they can sell more in less time.
The B horns, or "seconds" that end up in the mix in a store
would be left at home, since they would have limited space to
bring stuff.

After having horrible luck trying out instruments at many shops,
I was overwhelmed at ClarinetFest at how superior the
instruments were at the booths than what I found in the stores.
That is not to say the stores were bad. It just shows that the
vendors, like Selmer, Buffet, Yamaha, and Leblanc went out of
their way to bring the cream of the crop FROM THE FACTORY, and
made sure they were in full playing condition after getting to
the show. You benefit when buying at those shows, expecially if
you are not familiar with the different makes and models.

You might could entice the music store to have a music vendor
day for ALL instruments, and that would allow the companies to
send stuff for all instruments at one time (i.e. clarinet, sax,
trumpet, flute, drums, etc...)

My thought is, if you have no local festivals for those
purposes, maybe it's time to make your own!

Good luck on the lotto <wink>!

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - New York City
--- Anna Benassi <acb@-----.is> wrote:
> Gee, Kelly,
>
> Though there's little I don't like about living in Iceland,
> your post
> touched on one thing that is lacking in this small market -
> selection.
> To be able to try out thirty clarinets and as many mouthpieces
> would
> be a delight. Our local music merchant has revolutionized
> retail music
> sales in this country in the last ten years by enlarging his
> store and
> carrying all sorts of goodies, but he'd go bankrupt if he
> tried to
> stock a full range of clarinet stuff like that. I have taken
> to
> purchasing a range of mouthpieces myself so that my students
> can try
> them, but that is also prohibitive. It would be easy to spend
> two
> thousand dollars on mouthpieces just to have a minimal sample
> of what
> is out there.
>
> As for the myopia you cringe about, thank heaven I haven't
> seen it in
> quite a while. You have my sympathies - it must be difficult
> indeed to
> be up there on that soapbox, hot and sweaty, while almost
> swooning
> with nausea over other people's conviction that "Those of you
> who
> think you know everything are particularly irritating to those
> of us
> who do."
>
> BTW, last fall I bought a couple dozen of Clark Fobes' Debut
> mouthpieces for my young students to use. The mouthpieces that
> accompanied their school horns were functional as Christmas
> tree
> ornaments, I guess, but no good for much more. Most of the
> kids use
> the Debut and like it well - it was a move generated not by
> myopia but
> by expediency. They are too young to be worrying about
> mouthpiece
> selection, and the Debut gives them a good stable beginning. I
> was
> able, with one purchase, to equip the school with a good and
> reliable
> product. But for the older students - those who benefit from
> more
> tailoring of their equipment - I'd give my Kooiman thumb rest
> for a
> grand (or three) and a trip to International Musical
> Suppliers.
>
> Off to the Lotto outlet to try and guarantee my future ...
>
> Anna

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