| Hey ho there Bruce. No, I'm not complaining about the cost of horns. I have a daughter playing tenor sax AND violin. (Have you checked out the price of bows lately?... I've heard of pros playing in the range of $30,000 JUST FOR THE BLOODY BOW!!! I met a young lady from Japan whose mother has a Bosendorfer piano in the living room...$150,000). I also have a daughter finishing off her degree in French Horn Performance and she's started talking crazy talk about "Alexander", "Berg" (a custom maker), and something else I can't even pronounce. Why? Her leadpipe is starting to develop red rot after 9 years! (I told her...get a new leadpipe installed). Nope, we do have it "easy" when it comes to cost of a decent quality instrument. (Although I did manage to score a mint Yamaha YTR61 tenor sax for $500 Cdn for the youngest one.)
Sax (and clarinet) reeds? The latest trend in non-professional circles is to the plastic reeds and especially with school children or relative beginners. They seem to be less sensitive to humidity changes and, for the price, are a better buy. Taking your example of a box of Rico (yup...junk...try La Vox), and throwing half of 'em away (or using them for only one practice until they are deemed "unsuitable" or they chip or crack), you are looking at shelling out $25 to $30 every month or two for "darling's reeds" (this would be the same child who leaves the reed on the mouthpiece, doesn't use the mouthpiece cover, etc). You can buy a plastic one...make certain it is a good one (the store I buy from will accept a return if one is faulty) for the same price as a box of bamboo and it lasts at least four months as long as it is taken care of.
Everything else being relative, however...when we start talking about "Eclipse, Lawler, Marcinkiewicz (I have no idea why I can spell that without looking it up), Taylor, Smith & Watkins, et al... we are certainly in "la creme de la creme" of instruments. |