[SOLVED]Best option for band/student clarinet? Helping my nephew...

AgentBryson

[UPDATE]
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I was going to go with renting a clarinet for the time being, but his father finally decided to pitch in on buying a clarinet with his mom. Hopefully he sticks with it! His mom was able to find a decently low-priced clarinet. I think I'm going to pitch in some $$ to help her out anyway since I didn't have to take care of the rental now. Thanks again for all the help and suggestions! And yes, my nephew was very happy to come home from school to a new clarinet.

/update

Long story short my nephew needs a clarinet for his first year in band. Unfortunately his parents are separated and neither one can/will foot the bill to rent or buy one. His mom has been out of work, and his dad is using the "That's what child support is for - I don't have anymore money" party line. Meanwhile there's my poor nephew stuck in the middle of his parents arguing and him crying and upset.

That's where AgentBryson needs to step in...

I talked to the local music shops his school recommends (I don't live in his area) Buying is expensive of course, and not a good idea I know, as he may decide he hates band.

Renting I'm looking at $25 a month for just the clarinet, a $4/month care service (optional), and $30 for a starter kit with cleaning kit and additional reeds.

It was suggested to me by others to ebay one, which ew... and can't guarantee that it won't be all broken. It was also suggested at looking into a Vito Clarinet? http://cgi.ebay.com/Vito-Resotone-Clarinet-w-CASE-School-READY-/270634994577?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f031a4b91

I know nothing about this stuff - I just want to make sure that my nephew gets a clarinet soon as he's been in band a couple weeks now without one.

Any suggestions on buying a cheapy vs. renting and what else I need to get for him?

CorcoranCadet

I would say that you should just go ahead and rent one. If your nephew decides to continue his studies on the instrument, he will eventually be purchasing one anyways. So, you can either purchase one now and then have him purchase another one, or rent one now and have him purchase another one. Seems to me that renting is going to be your better option.

A used clarinet also might work. If you're buying off of ebay then Selmer, Vito, Armstrong, Buffet-Crampon, Jupiter, and Yamaha are all reputable. I would personally recommend Yamaha for a beginner, but all are good as I said. Alternatively, there are several small music stores that sell woodwinds and could probably ship one to you. Due to the private ownership, the staff at these stores generally give you a fairly honest answer about what you're getting into. They can tell you if the instrument is in good condition. However, the price is probably going to be above what you find on ebay. If you expect that he will play the instrument for more than a year, then go ahead and buy a used one I guess.

Some bands also start students on one instrument and then switch them to a more difficult instrument later in the year after they've learned the basics. If it seems like he might want to do that, then a rental is probably best. No point in buying a clarinet when he decides to switch to saxophone halfway through the year.

Daenris

Until you know that he's going to stick with it I would either just rent, or buy an extremely cheap one -- personally I'd probably rent since you can be more certain that it's been well taken care of and serviced by the rental company.

If he's serious about it after awhile, he/you will want to consider getting a better clarinet for the long term. Overall I'd probably go step-wise. Rent for a while until you're sure he's not going to drop it right away, then look into getting a fairly cheap student clarinet, then after a few years if he's really serious he'll want to look into getting a better one, though that can get very pricey like most instruments.

VisionOfClarity

Oh budget cuts, I used to rent mine from the school for free. Definitely rent for now, you have no way of knowing if he'll stick with this.

Chickeen

Rent. I picked clarinet and quickly grew to hate it.

Pure Din

I play the clarinet, and own a few. Compared to buying a used clarinet $25 dollars a month seems kind of steep, unless you think the kid is going to give up after a month or two.

Go to local music stores, and post signs saying that you're looking to buy a used clarinet. Also ask for a list of private clarinet teachers, and call them and ask if they know anyone who is selling a clarinet. Their students usually have their old clarinets lying around once they decide to get something nicer. That's how I got my last clarinet.

Also I don't use my resin clarinet much anymore, but you shouldn't need a lot for cleaning supplies. Just a swab to get the spit out, and some cork grease. And reeds, of course.

DustyBottoms

Pure Din wrote: »

I play the clarinet, and own a few. Compared to buying a used clarinet $25 dollars a month seems kind of steep, unless you think the kid is going to give up after a month or two. Does the rental place offer rent-to-buy?

Go to local music stores, and post signs saying that you're looking to buy a used clarinet. Also ask for a list of private clarinet teachers, and call them and ask if they know anyone who is selling a clarinet. Their students usually have their old clarinets lying around once they decide to get something nicer. That's how I got my last clarinet.

Also I don't use my resin clarinet much anymore, but you shouldn't need a lot for cleaning supplies. Just a swab to get the spit out, and some cork grease. And reeds, of course.

All excellent advice that I second wholeheartedly. To clarify, a rent-to-buy program is a program where some or all of the money you spend on the rental fees can be used as a credit toward the purchase of an instrument from the same store at a later date. Keeps you from feeling like you wasted your money renting something, but still gives your nephew the flexibility to decide if he actually likes clarinet before he (or really, you) commits to it.

Gdiguy

Unless I'm massively mis-remembering the costs, that seems absurdly expensive for renting a clarinet for a just-starting player - why not something on the order of http://www.amazon.com/Barcelona-Black-Student-Clarinet-Accessories/dp/B0007WDRQU/ref=sr_1_5?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1285039383&sr=1-5 ? (NOTE: I have zero idea about that brand / specific model / etc, but it seems to be more the price range I was recalling)

My parents eventually bought me one of the expensive wood ones that I could see renting being that expensive (or more), but that was after 3 years or so and when I was going to play throughout high school; before that, I had a plastic (crappier) one that worked perfectly fine for learning (and that I wound up actually using throughout high school for marching band/etc anyway, since you don't want to be playing a wooden clarinet while march for 2 miles in mid-october in NY)

I'd have to look up exactly what brand it was, but a local music store should have a beginning plastic one for not much more than $100 or so, that will work perfectly fine for something he may love or may want to dump in a year for a saxophone

Vater5B

Really, any cheap plastic clarinet is going to work out fine. What will not work out fine is the terrible mouthpiece that is going to come with the cheap clarinet. There are two ways I would go about it:

1) Buy a cheap clarinet and get a good mouthpiece like a Vandoren 5RV for around $250.

2) Rent one from the store that the band program is affiliated with. They'll usually set them up with exactly what the directors are looking for and when your nephew decides that Saxophone is what's up, you won't have to go through the trouble of selling the old instrument.

3) For the love of God if he is going to be marching DO NOT let him use a wooden clarinet. It breaks my heart every time I see one of those gorgeous instruments on the marching field. It's almost as bad as these drum corps using rosewood marimbas outdoors now.