Klarinet Archive - Posting 000222.txt from 2004/10
From: Elgenubi@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Flutophones, First Act Instruments
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 13:31:26 -0400
This is sort of a BLOG entry. No new info or questions, but my reaction to
musical happenings in my town.
I just went to KMart, and saw First Act guitars and guitar strings, one each
Clarinet, Flute, and Trumpet, and First Act recorders, wood recorders no less.
It's a thoughful selection of the best selling musical stuff. Tehachapi,
California, where I live, is a small town. We have one music store that rents,
sells, and repairs band instruments, but he is small enough to not be able to
stock anything besides his rentals; he sells and rents the best he can, which
are small name imports. I trust him, though, to carry higher quality than
First Act. The other music store, where I help, carrys mostly strings, though I
want to offer more wind products sometime soon. In all, my town doesn't offer
enough band instruments and supplies to provide a good choice.
I know that First Act Products have been condemned here on this list. I have
a student with a FA clarinet. It's ok, sort of. Twice I have had to bend
the keys back into position to make it play, and it sounds better now that I
have sold the student a Fobes Debut MP. Obviously he would be better off with a
better instrument from a music store.
So KMart is pushing the issue. I need to, first, talk again with the other
music store and warn him what's coming, second, write the manager of the local
KMart and tell him that he is doing a disservice, and third find a souce of my
own for inexpensive, but better than First Act, winds to offer. What that
source is, is another thread, maybe.
Back to Flutophones. There are cheap recorders available in every music
store in the United States. They can be bad, they can be ok; I assume a cheap
wooden one like the First Act will be worse than a cheap plastic one, because the
windway needs to be precise and stable, even in a cheap instrument. As noted
by others a good recorder is a real, and wonderful musical instrument. But
they are not suitable for little kids who are probably not going to get very
serious teaching. I think every music store in the US should toss out their
cheap toy recorders and replace them with Flutophones.
Do I need a disclaimer?? I don't have any stock in a Flutophone company.
(Smile)
Wayne Thompson
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