 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Meri
Date: 2000-01-12 19:20
Hi. I'm almost finished writing an article on some of the problems of clarinetists ignored by most school music teachers. I would like to ask whether those of you in the US can purchase reeds through your school music teacher, or whether you must purchase them yourself. (I know in Canada, you can purchase them through your music teacher) What is the case in the US in general?
Meri
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-12 19:57
Meri wrote:
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What is the case in the US in general?
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Big country - no "general" case unless you want to do a statistical sampling. For instance, in my metro area, some schools provide reeds, some band directors sell reeds, some band directors don't sell reeds, and some schools do not provide reeds.
In a 20 mile radius of me there are all 4 legal combinations of the above:
School provides, Band director does not sell
School provides, Band director sells (better reeds)
School does not provide, Band director does not sell
School does not provide, Band director sells
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Author: Sara
Date: 2000-01-13 02:23
At my high school the band directors keep an emergency stash of reeds, but he expects us to be prepared so I end up buying my reeds from the ww and bw because I live in a small town right outside of Charlote, NC and its cheaper to get reeds throught hte catologue than through the music store for retail price.
Sara
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-01-13 02:31
Here in S.E. Texas, no schools that I know of provides reeds. The band diretor usualy buys them at a discount and sells them to the students for about a buck apiece for the cheapos. At our school he charges a ridiculous 3 bucks apiece for the cheapos even though you can get VDs at the music store for about half that for Bb sop. clar. Some schools have even liquidated all of the smaller instruments and only provide the larger ones like tuba, drums, etc.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-13 02:41
Willie wrote:
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Some schools have even liquidated all of the smaller instruments and only provide the larger ones like tuba, drums, etc.
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That's more the norm than the exception I think - I've never lived in a school district where the smaller instruments were provided by the school. Only instruments "too big for the bus" were supplied by the school.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-01-13 03:27
When I was in school, we had lots of old but well maintained instruments available. Mostly for the beginners and certain kids whos parents couldn't afford an instrument. Some schools still provide a few for this purpose as some parents are reluctant to plurge for an instrument fearing they will get stuck if the kid quits or sadly in some cases, if it cuts into their beer money. Last year we had 63 kids sign up for beginners band. One month later over half had to quit simply because there were no instruments for them to learn on. Thats why if I find an old flute, clarinet, trumpet at a garage sale or something at cheap enough price, I will get it, clean it, fix it and give it to one of these kids. I just got a cherry Yamaha cornet for 10 bucks and when I repair the lead pipe, it will go to some kid in next years bigginers.
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Author: Wyatt
Date: 2000-01-13 05:04
Some day the local dealers are going to have to wake up! I wanted a Legere 3 1/2 reed: not in stock, but can be delivered next day. The nice salesman punched the mumbers and announced that I owed the store $20.86.
WW&BW want $12.50 + $2.00 shipping; two day delivery. I want to support the local store, so what I've done is to start asking "is that the lowest you can sell it to me for?" This works if you are known to the sales people in your local store..., in any case there is a margin that can be shaved. Refuse to pay the list price: it is tremendously inflated. If you're looking at this BB, you're in the know! Do something really strange: Wink at your sales person as you say, "What's the best deal you can give me?"
If they can't work with you, then dump them down the oubliette and start working with the internet.
I ended up paying $12.32 for my reed. My local music shop made enough of a profit that they won't start laying-off my favorite clerks, and everything is rosey. So, if mum will give you a ride to the store, walk in like you own the place and start wheelin' and dealin'.
Wyatt
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-01-13 12:06
Wyatt wrote:
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... say, "What's the best deal you can give me?"
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And have a copy of the catalog with you to show them what you can get it for. Otherwise they may not realize that you do know you can get a better price elsewhere.
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Author: Lelia
Date: 2000-01-13 12:56
Wyatt wrote:
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I want to support the local store, so what I've done is to start asking "is that the lowest you can sell it to me for?" This works if you are known to the sales people in your local store..., in any case there is a margin that can be shaved. Refuse to pay the list price: it is tremendously inflated.
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Excellent advice! My husband and I have gone to a local retail store for years. It's only a few blocks from our house, so the convenience factor, and the fact that we can look at something before we buy it, means a lot. We've found they not only give discounts, they volunteer them.
The manager knows I play a bunch of different wind instruments. He often throws in some oddball reeds for me to try, or old reeds from long-opened packages (obsolete packaging) that he doesn't feel comfortable selling for full retail any more. The store has been in business in my town since the 1950s at least -- maybe longer -- in only two locations, so stuff piles up in the corners. Every now and then, an employee discovers something lng-forgotten in the corner of a shelf. These reeds, kept in a special place for a particular customer, sometimes get forgotten and gather dust when the only customer for an unusual instrument (my bass sax, for instance) dies or leaves town. Some of those oldest reeds have proven to be in poor condition, but I;m not going to complain when I got them for free!
Another nice way to get a price break is to ask if there's a quantity discount, when you intend to buy several things at once. Often the sales person will "remember" that, yes, indeed, there's a quantity discount. I also think it pays to make a point of being friendly toward the store personnel. I hang around and chit-chat because I like those people and enjoy the conversation, but I think the fact that they recognize me as an old, faithful customer probably means I get better prices than people who go in there snarling, suspicious and expecting the worst. For me, buying locally costs no more than mail order, when I factor in postage and handling costs. I also eliminate the aggravation of having to return something by mail if there's an error in the order.
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-13 18:04
Back a long, long time ago in a land far, far away...
Ok, 20 years ago and about 200 miles away...
The local high school band director had some clarinet reeds, usually terrible Rico student grade reeds, available for sale to most kids and available for free to genuinely destitute kids. The "richer" kids actually subsidized the poorer ones for reeds on a round-robin basis with the teacher buying out of his own pocket a box or two of the cheapest reeds he could find. This was actually a better deal than us kids thought, because the teacher didn't get any money back for the box or two of reeds. It was a courtesy done to keep as many kids playing and active in the band as possible. We had at least 15 soprano clarinets in the band and at least as many flutes, with about a dozen trumpets, three or four trombones, three Sousaphones, two french horns, and lots of percussion. All of the other reed winds could be counted on one hand. So, the rare sax, bass clarinet, bassoon, and oboe players were on their own for reeds.
I also understand the typical policy of having kids playing school owned instruments that most families cannot afford. That's how I could play the bass clarinet instead of a soprano clarinet for two years in high school. My parents could barely afford a $200 piece of junk soprano clarinet, and it was simply impossible for them to afford a $4000 bass clarinet, even on a rental/lease basis. All I had to do was come up with the money for a few bass clarinet reeds every now and then. These expensive instruments were provided by the school, which came out of the School District's operating budget, and were purchased in bulk through very large State-wide contracts. The students got whatever the school had available. Sometimes it was pretty good stuff that was usually old and very beat up. Most of the time, it was second rate student grade junk specifically made for the low bid based bulk contract market.
That's still the way it's done today for rare or expensive winds such as oboe or bassoon, rare or expensive brass (such as french horn), large brass (tuba or sousaphone), most of the rare or expensive strings and keyboards (piano, organ), and most of the percussion.
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