Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-11-25 14:22
Skygardener, I can relate to what you're saying.
Many families participate in affordable rent-to-own programs with local music stores. The instruments may not be top-of-the-line, but they're usually decent student instruments. If a repair is needed, the store will take care of it.
In order to qualify for a rental, parents are usually required to have a credit card that isn't maxed out. Decent credit and a stable source of income are often a must. In this economy, these are difficult standards for some parents to meet.
When I taught in an urban district, I knew of two music stores that advertised extensively. One sold instruments at very reasonable prices, but I strongly suspect that much of their merchandise was stolen property (long story, too long to go into it here). The other offered ultra-cheap rentals, but the quality of their instruments was often poor. To make money, they'd gouge parents on repairs. About 25 years ago, a student (whose parents had rented from this place) came into class with a small screw missing from her clarinet. I knew it was an easy and inexpensive repair, and I told the student to take it back to the store. They told the parents the repair would take a couple weeks, and they charged them about $30!
In this district, I had other experiences that were never discussed in my college music ed. courses. In my second year teaching, I had a student come in with an instrument that was obviously the property of a school district in another state. I was young and idealistic, and I questioned her. She swore it was really her instrument. I notified my supervisor and asked how I should handle the situation. She "knew" how things worked in that city, and she told me not to get involved. "Stay out of it," she said, "and don't get yourself hurt." Over the years, I discovered that many parents didn't understand that school instruments were the property of the school district, not gifts that could be kept if the family moved.
Playing a musical instrument isn't cheap. The cost of equipment, reeds, repairs, lessons, etc. adds up. I've said it before and I'll say it again--in the world of music education, we're becoming a nation of the haves and the have-nots.
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