Music professional here! Buy the name brand instrument used and have it fixed by a reputable repair tech. The mark up on lease-to-own instruments is incredibly high. Yamaha, Vito, and Selmer instruments will always have quality parts that can be repaired. Do another band parent a favor and take an unused instrument out of their closet!
Saxophone mom here...you will need mouthpieces and reeds in addition to the unit(s). Get #3 reeds to start (about 25 bucks a box for Alto).
Set an ebay alert for the instrument...especially towards the end of the school year.
Find out which local instrument repair the school uses, and talk to them about any tune-ups or repair directly. Bonus- talk to the high school folks who desperately want to keep your daughter on an instrument. They'll send you to someone who can get the instrument back quickly.
Just as a warning... There are four saxophones. My kid has cultivated all four in five years. If they mention Bari, run for the hills. And count your blessings it's not a violin....
Second hand is fine for beginners. I remember my mother got my instrument from a pawn shop. Played it off and on throughout school. I think I sold it after college. $300 for years of use and a solid line on the college application was a good investment for us.
Did I miss the part where you actually tell us what you decided to do? I’m sitting on the edge of my seat. Well, laying down in my bed, but still, I want to know. I remember trying out and play a french horn but when it came to buying an instrument my parents said no. Period. Full stop. None of my kids expressed any interest, I got lucky there. My granddaughter took up violin and my daughter, being who she is, stayed on her every day for 1 hour a day to practice. I would have never had the time or desire to do that...listening to screeching notes. Shudder. Good luck in whatever you decide because you’ll need it.
Hello from bassoon mom! We could rent for only $60 a year which sounded like a bargain until I bought his first reed - for $15. And he said it was not good. We were buying one a week until i paid for lessons- with the specific instructions of “tell him it’s not the reed”. He loved it, so then we progressed to the $200 reed-making kit (reed blanks not included). And then he got good enough to need his own good one ($18,000 - which I now pay an annual insurance policy for). After one semester of music major in college, I think he stopped playing. It was a fun ride.
Take a look at Reverb - we bought a used oboe there (he was pretty heavily into the music stuff for a long time!). They had a wide range of "niceness" and expense.
One kid went Band, the other Orchestra. Flute and viola. They both stayed with it through HS graduation, which was fortunate. They both have their instruments to this day, and Orchestra kid still plays. We keep trying to give Band kid her flute, but she gets better at hiding it somewhere in the house before she leaves. We've even tried leaving it at her house, but it keeps reappearing back here. Damn, she's good. 😆
We far as lowering your payout, would getting a loan at your bank at a lower interest rate help?
I was in band. Please buy a used one, get it repaired/refurbished (pads replaced, keys re-bent), buy a hecking ton of reeds, and just call it a day. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with a second hand instrument as long as you take it to a repair shop and have them make it fully functional. And even if she uses it as a cudgel, you don't HAVE to have the instrument. As long as we aren't talking concert night. Simply say it's in the shop.
I feel your pain. At 10 years old my son decided to play the baritone horn in the school band—the largest horn except the tuba! We rented it (not rent to own). He continued to play throughout middle and high school, so many years of payments later we ended up buying one his sophomore year. His school was marching in the Tournament of Roses parade. That year he won the John Philip Sousa award. He then decided to be a music major in college; he wanted to be a high school band director. We were relieved because as music jobs go, at least this one comes with insurance and a retirement plan! He continued to play through college, graduate with a degree in Music education and is now finishing his teaching credential. If you count college tuition, this music thing has been quite expensive for us! But he graduates in December and teaching jobs are abundant where we live, so it worked out ok for us in the end. So you never know, this instrument could be launching a career!
Both my kids took band for exactly one year before taking up choir full time. Nothing made me feel better than the day I returned those rental instruments and stopped those monthly payments. And choir ended up paying for itself as my son got significant scholarships to both college and grad school for music performance. Of course we have yet to see how a degree in musical performance will translate into actual work (fingers crossed).
I suppose the job outcome determines if choir was the best decision ever or the start of a disaster. I'm rooting for him. The world needs talented singers. That's one thing that can't be replaced by AI.
So she chose sax over clarinet? Go Mae! Have you tried a Google shopping search? https://www.google.com/search?q=saxophone&source=lnms&tbm=shop shows saxophones as low as $199.99. That one is from Walmart, and I assume the super low end ones aren't as good. But at least there are options.
You apparently aren't the only one who feels this way about the instrument, either. A little about the life of Adolph Sax, the inventor, found randomly on the internet:
When he was 2 years old, he fell out of a second story window and fractured his skull
When he was 6 years old, he mistakenly drank boric acid
When he was 9 years old, he fell over a small cliff and broke his leg
When he was 11 years old, he contracted measles and was in coma for nine days
When he was 14 years old, he broke his arm when he caught it in a carriage door
When he was 19 years old, he was struck on the head by a falling brick
When he was 23 years old, he almost died from the effects of tainted wine
When he was 29 years old, Adolph Sax invented the saxophone
Clearly someone didn't want that saxophone invented
I'm guessing some shadowing organization was working to protect him from an equally shadowy rival organization. Can't wait for that to come as a plot on Star Trek this season.
I thought I had lucked out in the band issue when my son declared he was going to be playing percussion. I knew they wouldn't require me to buy a whole set, just the things you use to hit the things the school owns. Little did I know that there were five sets of ridiculously expensive sticks with different types of ends. Easily lost sticks. Oh, and the added bonus of my parents deciding to buy the boy a drum set that didn't fit in our apartment.
Oh, I've already had my revenge. The set is back at their house, which is where my brother is living at the moment. The same brother who BEGGED to have a drum set for his entire school career. Guess who's been playing it regularly? XD
Seems to me that the sax was one of the more expensive instruments to buy, so boy did you get lucky. I'm with the "purchase a 2nd-hand" group because if she does stick with it, you can buy a new one later. We bought a friend's son's trombone for maybe $50 (back in the mid-80s) for our son and when he quit a few months later, we had no regrets. Son couldn't tell the difference between old and new but was unhappy with the case because it looked used while the other kids' were brand new. So you could buy a good 2nd hander but a new case and no one will ever know.
I played flute all the way through h.s. I don't recall anything other than a few sticky keys that ever needed fixing. I don't think any of the other players had any instrument injuries that had to get fixed, so I doubt you'll run into that problem. Well, there was that one kid who broke the band's bass drum because he tripped over the concrete bumper in the parking lot as we were first marching into the parade. Seeing as how the drum was strapped to him, it was a funny sight as he sorta rolled along. He never lived it down.
I used to twirl my flute as if it were a baton (I was also the majorette) which resulted in a good sized dent in the neck of it. One of those twirls got out of hand and I was right below my folk's crystal chandelier when practicing at home. My mom was very unhappy for the chandelier damage and I lived with the dent the rest of my playing days with no problems. My mom never forgave me....so she willed it to me and it sits in my basement with one glass globe instead of a crystal one. And yes, I also still have my flute for no reason other than the good memories.
I think you're on the right track for buying a used instrument. Don't spend real money until she proves herself a dedicated long-term student of the instrument.
Buy second hand! I can't recommend this highly enough. If it turns out she's a saxophone prodigy, you can always spend her college tuition money on a really nice one!
She's 12, right? Buy second hand. Do your due diligence in checking out any sax in question before you buy, of course, but chances are good that you'll be able to find a solid student model for a decent price. (Hint: include the term "student model" in your search.) If she ends up sticking with it, you can go for an internediate model next year or the year after, and then she can have one sax for marching season and one for concert season.
Oh, also: brace yourself (and your wallet) for future marching seasons.
(Further advice, should you need it: Yamaha is a popular name in student instruments, for a good reason. They produce solid products are meant to last more than just one year, even taking middle schoolers into consideration.)
That's the name brand everyone keeps recommending. It seems like, at the very least, there should be lots of spare parts around for when we need to get it repaired.
My sons trombone sits buried in his closet now that he’s out of high school, where it will remain until the apocalypse. And it will probably withstand that. I would love to sell it for some xtra $$$ but I know wifey will want to hold onto it for the “memories”. As usual, I am losing this argument
Music professional here! Buy the name brand instrument used and have it fixed by a reputable repair tech. The mark up on lease-to-own instruments is incredibly high. Yamaha, Vito, and Selmer instruments will always have quality parts that can be repaired. Do another band parent a favor and take an unused instrument out of their closet!
Yes! This is exactly the kind of validation I was looking for.
Could not agree more!
Saxophone mom here...you will need mouthpieces and reeds in addition to the unit(s). Get #3 reeds to start (about 25 bucks a box for Alto).
Set an ebay alert for the instrument...especially towards the end of the school year.
Find out which local instrument repair the school uses, and talk to them about any tune-ups or repair directly. Bonus- talk to the high school folks who desperately want to keep your daughter on an instrument. They'll send you to someone who can get the instrument back quickly.
Just as a warning... There are four saxophones. My kid has cultivated all four in five years. If they mention Bari, run for the hills. And count your blessings it's not a violin....
This all sounds like excellent advice. Especially the run for the hills part. I'm always in the mood to flee.
^ all this
and don't forget the cork grease.
Ooo, I forgot to warn him away from woodwinds in his last band post. Yay, reeds!
(Well, at least she didn't go with an oboe, since most I knew made their own reeds!)
Second hand is fine for beginners. I remember my mother got my instrument from a pawn shop. Played it off and on throughout school. I think I sold it after college. $300 for years of use and a solid line on the college application was a good investment for us.
You and your mom did it right.
Did I miss the part where you actually tell us what you decided to do? I’m sitting on the edge of my seat. Well, laying down in my bed, but still, I want to know. I remember trying out and play a french horn but when it came to buying an instrument my parents said no. Period. Full stop. None of my kids expressed any interest, I got lucky there. My granddaughter took up violin and my daughter, being who she is, stayed on her every day for 1 hour a day to practice. I would have never had the time or desire to do that...listening to screeching notes. Shudder. Good luck in whatever you decide because you’ll need it.
I'll definitely go the used route. I'm currently stalking Facebook Marketplace pretty hard. That budget rate saxophone will be mine.
Hello from bassoon mom! We could rent for only $60 a year which sounded like a bargain until I bought his first reed - for $15. And he said it was not good. We were buying one a week until i paid for lessons- with the specific instructions of “tell him it’s not the reed”. He loved it, so then we progressed to the $200 reed-making kit (reed blanks not included). And then he got good enough to need his own good one ($18,000 - which I now pay an annual insurance policy for). After one semester of music major in college, I think he stopped playing. It was a fun ride.
I would have died inside and outside at the $18,000 mark. And again when he stopped playing. You are a candidate for sainthood.
Take a look at Reverb - we bought a used oboe there (he was pretty heavily into the music stuff for a long time!). They had a wide range of "niceness" and expense.
One kid went Band, the other Orchestra. Flute and viola. They both stayed with it through HS graduation, which was fortunate. They both have their instruments to this day, and Orchestra kid still plays. We keep trying to give Band kid her flute, but she gets better at hiding it somewhere in the house before she leaves. We've even tried leaving it at her house, but it keeps reappearing back here. Damn, she's good. 😆
We far as lowering your payout, would getting a loan at your bank at a lower interest rate help?
At this rate, I'd only break even if I robbed the bank.
I was in band. Please buy a used one, get it repaired/refurbished (pads replaced, keys re-bent), buy a hecking ton of reeds, and just call it a day. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with a second hand instrument as long as you take it to a repair shop and have them make it fully functional. And even if she uses it as a cudgel, you don't HAVE to have the instrument. As long as we aren't talking concert night. Simply say it's in the shop.
I appreciate the affirmation of Operation Be As Cheap As Possible. Apparently I wasn't far off the mark after all.
I feel your pain. At 10 years old my son decided to play the baritone horn in the school band—the largest horn except the tuba! We rented it (not rent to own). He continued to play throughout middle and high school, so many years of payments later we ended up buying one his sophomore year. His school was marching in the Tournament of Roses parade. That year he won the John Philip Sousa award. He then decided to be a music major in college; he wanted to be a high school band director. We were relieved because as music jobs go, at least this one comes with insurance and a retirement plan! He continued to play through college, graduate with a degree in Music education and is now finishing his teaching credential. If you count college tuition, this music thing has been quite expensive for us! But he graduates in December and teaching jobs are abundant where we live, so it worked out ok for us in the end. So you never know, this instrument could be launching a career!
He really went all in. Congrats on it working out. I can't imagine we would be so lucky.
My school lent euphoniums (baritones) and tubas. Your district is uncool. 😂
Both my kids took band for exactly one year before taking up choir full time. Nothing made me feel better than the day I returned those rental instruments and stopped those monthly payments. And choir ended up paying for itself as my son got significant scholarships to both college and grad school for music performance. Of course we have yet to see how a degree in musical performance will translate into actual work (fingers crossed).
I suppose the job outcome determines if choir was the best decision ever or the start of a disaster. I'm rooting for him. The world needs talented singers. That's one thing that can't be replaced by AI.
So she chose sax over clarinet? Go Mae! Have you tried a Google shopping search? https://www.google.com/search?q=saxophone&source=lnms&tbm=shop shows saxophones as low as $199.99. That one is from Walmart, and I assume the super low end ones aren't as good. But at least there are options.
You apparently aren't the only one who feels this way about the instrument, either. A little about the life of Adolph Sax, the inventor, found randomly on the internet:
When he was 2 years old, he fell out of a second story window and fractured his skull
When he was 6 years old, he mistakenly drank boric acid
When he was 9 years old, he fell over a small cliff and broke his leg
When he was 11 years old, he contracted measles and was in coma for nine days
When he was 14 years old, he broke his arm when he caught it in a carriage door
When he was 19 years old, he was struck on the head by a falling brick
When he was 23 years old, he almost died from the effects of tainted wine
When he was 29 years old, Adolph Sax invented the saxophone
Clearly someone didn't want that saxophone invented
#incompetent time-travelling saxophone haters
I'm guessing some shadowing organization was working to protect him from an equally shadowy rival organization. Can't wait for that to come as a plot on Star Trek this season.
I thought I had lucked out in the band issue when my son declared he was going to be playing percussion. I knew they wouldn't require me to buy a whole set, just the things you use to hit the things the school owns. Little did I know that there were five sets of ridiculously expensive sticks with different types of ends. Easily lost sticks. Oh, and the added bonus of my parents deciding to buy the boy a drum set that didn't fit in our apartment.
I can't wait to hear the revenge plot you've worked up against your parents. Maybe send him with his drums to stay at their house over the summer.
Oh, I've already had my revenge. The set is back at their house, which is where my brother is living at the moment. The same brother who BEGGED to have a drum set for his entire school career. Guess who's been playing it regularly? XD
Seems to me that the sax was one of the more expensive instruments to buy, so boy did you get lucky. I'm with the "purchase a 2nd-hand" group because if she does stick with it, you can buy a new one later. We bought a friend's son's trombone for maybe $50 (back in the mid-80s) for our son and when he quit a few months later, we had no regrets. Son couldn't tell the difference between old and new but was unhappy with the case because it looked used while the other kids' were brand new. So you could buy a good 2nd hander but a new case and no one will ever know.
I played flute all the way through h.s. I don't recall anything other than a few sticky keys that ever needed fixing. I don't think any of the other players had any instrument injuries that had to get fixed, so I doubt you'll run into that problem. Well, there was that one kid who broke the band's bass drum because he tripped over the concrete bumper in the parking lot as we were first marching into the parade. Seeing as how the drum was strapped to him, it was a funny sight as he sorta rolled along. He never lived it down.
I used to twirl my flute as if it were a baton (I was also the majorette) which resulted in a good sized dent in the neck of it. One of those twirls got out of hand and I was right below my folk's crystal chandelier when practicing at home. My mom was very unhappy for the chandelier damage and I lived with the dent the rest of my playing days with no problems. My mom never forgave me....so she willed it to me and it sits in my basement with one glass globe instead of a crystal one. And yes, I also still have my flute for no reason other than the good memories.
I like the used instrument with a new case idea. That's quite ingenious and cost effective. Thanks for saving the day.
I think you're on the right track for buying a used instrument. Don't spend real money until she proves herself a dedicated long-term student of the instrument.
Yes! I am all for putting off spending real money for a good reason, or for any reason at all.
Buy second hand! I can't recommend this highly enough. If it turns out she's a saxophone prodigy, you can always spend her college tuition money on a really nice one!
This is sound advice all around. If she turns out to a prodigy, I'll be happy to spend the money. Well, not happy, but reluctantly willing.
She's 12, right? Buy second hand. Do your due diligence in checking out any sax in question before you buy, of course, but chances are good that you'll be able to find a solid student model for a decent price. (Hint: include the term "student model" in your search.) If she ends up sticking with it, you can go for an internediate model next year or the year after, and then she can have one sax for marching season and one for concert season.
Oh, also: brace yourself (and your wallet) for future marching seasons.
(Further advice, should you need it: Yamaha is a popular name in student instruments, for a good reason. They produce solid products are meant to last more than just one year, even taking middle schoolers into consideration.)
That's the name brand everyone keeps recommending. It seems like, at the very least, there should be lots of spare parts around for when we need to get it repaired.
My sons trombone sits buried in his closet now that he’s out of high school, where it will remain until the apocalypse. And it will probably withstand that. I would love to sell it for some xtra $$$ but I know wifey will want to hold onto it for the “memories”. As usual, I am losing this argument
The obvious solution is to secretly sell it and see if she notices. I'm guessing you can get away with it for a decade or two before anyone notices.
True. Plus it is easier to ask forgiveness than permission