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Re: New To Music

Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-02-20 19:27

The flute, clarinet and sax have the reputation as being the easiest orchestra/band instruments to make a start on. The downside is that they are among the most popular, so tend to be oversubscribed. If you plan to join a band down the line, the clarinet is probably the best bet of the three, since bands usually contain more clarinets than flutes or saxes.

No instrument is easy to play well.

Tyler omits to mention that it is a very good idea to find a teacher at the outset; all the more so if you have never played any instrument before. If you can't read music, learn the basics first; no point wasting the teacher's time on that.

Make sure you buy a decent student-quality instrument, not some horror off EBay. Yamaha and Buffet are the usual choices in England. Best to buy from a local music shop, if you can find one that stocks a reasonable number of wind instruments. Avoid shops that stock one clarinet and 101 electric guitars. If there is no local shop, there are several reputable mail-order dealers in England: for example, www.myatt.co.uk and www.dawkes.co.uk. The point of buying locally is not so you can "try before you buy", which is pointless if you're a complete beginner. It's so you have some assurance of help if the instrument requires adjustment.

An adequate clarinet will cost you upwards of £300. An adequate teacher is likely to cost upwards of £20 an hour, so you can see that lesson costs rapidly outstrip instrument costs.

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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.

To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.

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