New Clarinet
Feb. 5th, 2009 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mysidI have zero musical ability, and know nothing about musical instruments. So when my elder daughter (the one in the red dress in my icon) started playing the clarinet a few years ago, I bought an inexpensize one via eBay. It was good enough for a little while, but it is essentially a piece of junk. As it has begun to need repairs, our repair guy (he's wonderful, btw) strongly recommended that she move up to a better brand clarinet. His recommendation, a Yamaha student clarinet.
I started shopping around for one, and with one dealer, I found that I could get a Yamaha 250 (student clarinet) or a Yamaha 450 (intermediate clarinet) for almost the same (expensive) price. The difference: the 450 is made of wood, not plastic, and thus has a better tone. A better tone, that's good, right? And if I was getting this great deal which made them almost the same price, why not?
So I bought the Yamaha 450 and brought it to our repair guy to get it playing ready (adjust a few screws, oil the keys, etc.) He was surprised we had gotten it instead of the student one, but he did praise the wonderful tone. I was feeling like I'd done well--right up until he casually mentioned that since wood doesn't handle temperature variations well, she should only play it indoors, not in a marching band. Uh oh.
I have no doubt that she will be in a marching band in a few years. My husband will kill me if I have to turn around and buy another clarinet because I bought the wrong one this time.
And the two younger ones will start lessons this summer. Younger daughter wants to play her sister's old clarinet (for however long it lasts), but son wants to play the saxophone--and those cost big bucks. Sigh.
.
I started shopping around for one, and with one dealer, I found that I could get a Yamaha 250 (student clarinet) or a Yamaha 450 (intermediate clarinet) for almost the same (expensive) price. The difference: the 450 is made of wood, not plastic, and thus has a better tone. A better tone, that's good, right? And if I was getting this great deal which made them almost the same price, why not?
So I bought the Yamaha 450 and brought it to our repair guy to get it playing ready (adjust a few screws, oil the keys, etc.) He was surprised we had gotten it instead of the student one, but he did praise the wonderful tone. I was feeling like I'd done well--right up until he casually mentioned that since wood doesn't handle temperature variations well, she should only play it indoors, not in a marching band. Uh oh.
I have no doubt that she will be in a marching band in a few years. My husband will kill me if I have to turn around and buy another clarinet because I bought the wrong one this time.
And the two younger ones will start lessons this summer. Younger daughter wants to play her sister's old clarinet (for however long it lasts), but son wants to play the saxophone--and those cost big bucks. Sigh.
.