Prince Music + Instruments (Review)

Readers of this blog may note that I have tried a number of instruments from overseas and given some favorable reviews to a number of them. Since I'm looking out for a relatively small budget while trying to build up the instrument inventory and the whole band program at a newer school, I have to consider cost as a critical factor on any purchase. This has led to a pretty open mind and lots of trying of new things. For this week, I'd like to describe my experience at Prince Music Company a few weeks ago.

A couple families have asked me about the instruments carried by Prince Music, so I wanted to check out what they offer in person. The prices are comparable to some other dealers on the low end, but having a more local connection to dealers like this would be nice. Prince Music carries the most common starting instruments for band (as well as strings, though I won't be dealing with those since I don't have the expertise to do so) in up to three different models: student, student+, and intermediate.

[Why do we designate instruments this way? There are some "beginner" instruments which are fine for a student to play through high school. Also, having "professional" features on a "beginner" instrument may be a brilliant marketing tactic, but having a high-F# key on a 5th grader's saxophone is like putting 5-disc CD change on your kid's tricycle..]

I tried quite a few instruments--basically all the models available for flute, clarinet, alto and tenor sax, trumpet, and trombone. The branding appeared to be either Slade or Etude on all instruments, and several were labeled "made in China." There were marked differences between the lines (Student vs Student+ vs intermediate), and the short story of the review is to stay away from the regular Student models. 

Student

No serial numbers. Poor quality craftsmanship (evidenced by some misshapen parts, like a pad holder on a clarinet and sloppy soldering on the brass instruments). Hard to tell if the sluggish valves on the trumpet were due to mishandling or something else, but the Student line instruments all felt worse than the ones I am used to playing. Pitch was more or less fine (adequate on everything except the saxophone--as I have found common on the low end saxophones, the upper octave gets sharper and sharper the higher you go up). I brought all my own mouthpieces and reeds, so I assume that the stock mouthpieces would only sound worse (since that has been my experience so often before).

Student+

You could start a beginner on these instruments. Though I have questions remaining about how long they would last, I didn't find anything terribly wrong with the instruments in this line. The quality of the bracing and soldering on the trumpet was noticeably better. Everyone likes having a serial number on their instrument, so that's another plus! The saxophone Student+ is only $50 more than the student model, and that extra $50 gets you something that is perhaps worthwhile to play. While I think there are better options out there, the Student+ models that I tried would at least be okay to start a student on.

Intermediate

I'm really not sure what the real-world difference between "Intermediate" and any other type of instrument is. The term seems to be used to push people into a more expensive purchase with the illusion of quality. You don't want a professional instrument yet? Okay, how about something at the intermediate level?

In the case of the Intermediate instruments at Prince Music, I found very little separating them from the Student+ line. When I pick up my own Bach Stradivarius (model 37), I immediately notice some pretty significant differences compared to my Getzen-made trumpet. The differences between the Student+ and Intermediate level instruments seemed to be negligible. For instance, both the Student+ and Intermediate trumpets have a rose-brass lead pipe. Does the Intermediate instrument have a better tone? Maybe, but it would take more side-by-side playing to figure it out, and if you're wanting to do that, you probably don't want to be looking at the cheapest line of instruments you can find.

Summary

While the Student+ (and Intermediate) instruments tended to play fine, the considerably lower quality of the Student line raises doubts in my mind about all the instruments. I would not want a student on one of the Student instruments, and I would also be hesitant to try buying one of the others without some sort of guarantee on it.

Warming Up vs Building Fundamentals, part II

In my last post, I described the difference between warming up and working on fundamentals. Warming up is the readying of the physical and mental aspects of playing an instrument, and fundamentals are the habits formed by working on specific skills or concepts, like tonguing or playing scales. In this post, I'd like to address the feasibility of warming up and working on fundamentals in the context of a large ensemble (as opposed to small groups or individuals).

An effective warm up address both the physical and mental aspects of playing an instrument. When having my ensembles warm up, I want every member of the group to be thinking the same thoughts at the same time. Any individual lapse of concentration causes the musicians nearby to think less about their own playing, and the ensemble suffers. Consider your own experiences in an ensemble. When another player demonstrates that they are not concentrating at the highest level (perhaps by making a mistake or causing a distraction), your mind moves to think about them rather than your own playing, even if for just a moment. For students, a stand partner who is late to set up his instrument can keep nearby students disengaged for much longer than that. Therefore, it is critical to make sure all students are ready to begin warming up at the same time. If the group can't keep one mind for the duration of the warmup, something needs to be changed.

For wind players, air is the most critical physical component of the warmup. I've never met a professional musician who thought they had "arrived" with their breathing, but it is rare for me to encounter a student who realizes the important of their lungs. Without proper breath support, tone suffers, embouchures grow tired more quickly, and the level of phrasing and dynamic the individual students and the ensemble can achieve will be very limited. Aside from air, students (including percussionists) need to make sure the rest of their body is limbered up and relaxed.

It may be easy to agree with the paragraphs above, but to determine what to do with a large ensemble to meet the needs of the individual students is quite difficult. While my next post will deal with a review of one specific resource, in this post I'd like to point out some general ways the director can address the group warm up.

Idea #1 - Students have petitioned me to let individuals warm up on their own before the group rehearsal begins. While this sounds like a great idea in theory, I have never seen it play out well. Even with explicit instruction on what to do in a warm up, students invariably play louder, faster, and higher than they ought to with the result that the room is cacophonous and the students are no closer to achieving the sort of consistency and flexibility that a good warm up would provide.

Idea #2 - The group plays long tones--perhaps from a scale or the Remington series--and while the physical may be addressed, the monotony of this routine ruins the mental preparation of the group. A really great group can probably get past this, but that brings us to...

Idea #3 - Teach the ensemble what the warm up is for and get them to buy in to doing it right together. I haven't succeeded completely with this yet, but I'm convinced it's the way to go.

At this point, I'm out of time to thoroughly address fundamentals. The next post, however, should hopefully address one way of teaching fundamentals in the context of the group rehearsal.

Warming Up vs Building Fundamentals

There can be a big difference between warming up in band and working on fundamentals, but many rehearsals I have seen treat them as identical. Both are necessary for the development of a school ensemble, but all too often the time spent on warming up and on fundamentals is ineffective and disliked (for good reason). Here is part one of my analysis of what needs to be done to warm up and work on fundamentals effectively--please share your thoughts.

Warming Up

We've all been there. The band director steps on the podium, (most of) the students put up their instruments, and the first sounds from the ensemble are remind you of a blender filled with marbles. Why are the trumpet players straining to play the G on top of the staff? How can the alto sax player get any sound at all with that dry, cracked reed? At least the flute players grimace, but you're not sure if it's because of the sound of the band or their own pitch problems. What has gone wrong? The players in the group are not warmed up.

It may seem obvious, but before playing anything technical for the day, musicians (especially students) must be warmed up in order to play well. While that concert B-flat scale is a simple and everyone can play it (except the trombone player who always plays A in third...), it is NOT a warmup. I'll write it again: A scale is not a warmup. What do the students need to play with a good sound, right away? Watch any athlete and it makes sense. As a batter is warming up before stepping up to home plate, he is stretching his arm and leg muscles, twisting his trunk, and thinking the whole time. A musician's warmup is similar. You need to limber up your face, arms, and fingers and help your mind become sharp and focused for the task at hand.

Fundamentals

In addition to warming up, the early part of a rehearsal often focuses on helping students improve certain basic musical skills. Every director realizes that students need to get better at playing scales, tonguing, subdividing and pulse awareness, playing dynamics, music reading, and other skills. The more clean tonguing, for instance, becomes a habit, the less time has to be spent in rehearsal cleaning up passages that require very precise articulation. These habits do not happen in one rehearsal, or even in a week or a month. They take years to develop, and progress in them requires constant and consistent attention.

The Start of Rehearsal

So what is the start of rehearsal for? Can an ensemble warm up and work on fundamentals at the same time? Or are they stages to go through each day? Is it even possible for an ensemble to address warming up or working on fundamentals, or are they so individual that time spent as an ensemble is ineffective?

I'll spend time in my next post explaining what I think about these parts of rehearsal and how to deal with them effectively.