Skip to main content

How to Select Band Instruments

Band directors need to know which instruments to purchase for a new band program. It can be a painful and complicated process to select the most important instruments and to fit them all within a program's budget. It is important to start with the essential instruments, and then each year gradually add additional instruments. The most important instruments, in the beginning, are the instruments that students typically can't afford to purchase by themselves.

Instruments 

Step 1 Percussion instruments are the top priority. Purchase several percussion instruments. Students do not typically buy these instruments due to their expense and music stores will not rent them. Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibraphone, wind chimes, and various small percussion items such as castanets and woodblocks are required.

Step 2 Low brass are expensive instruments that need to be purchased. Purchase some of the low brass instruments that are more expensive. Instruments like the tuba, euphonium, and baritone saxophone are generally too expensive for most families to rent or purchase. The school typically provides these instruments.

Step 3 Woodwind instruments sometimes need to be purchased by the school. Purchase the more expensive woodwind instruments. These instruments include the bass clarinet and the bassoon. Parents seem less inclined to rent or buy these instruments on their own.

Step 4 Pianos are extremely useful for rehearsing an ensemble. Purchase a piano for the school's use. While this isn't typically used in a marching band, it can be useful for sectional rehearsals and will be needed when the time comes for the concert wind ensemble season.

Step 5 Purchase some of the less expensive, more commonly used instruments with any money left over. Flutes, oboes, clarinets, trumpets, and trombones are useful instruments to have on hand. Purchasing these instruments will ensure that there is a well-stocked inventory for students to borrow from. Many parents will buy or rent these instruments, so it is not necessary to stock many of these.

Watch your budget, and make sure there is money left for music. Carefully select a proportional number of instruments so that there isn't an imbalanced ensemble. It is better to rent-to-own high-quality instruments than purchase instruments of low quality. Low-quality instruments will cause intonation problems, break down easier, and cost more in maintenance and replacement over time.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Claude Debussy Never Cared About Music Theory

  Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862. So, I felt writing a blog post to celebrate would be appropriate. Debussy was a revolutionary composer who challenged the conventions of Western music. He was influenced by the impressionist painters, the exotic sounds of gamelan music, and the symbolist poets. He created a musical language that was expressive, colorful, and atmospheric. One of the most remarkable aspects of Debussy's music is his use of harmony. He did not follow the rules of tonality and functional harmony that dominated the music of his time. Instead, he used modes, scales, chords, and parallel movements that created a sense of ambiguity and fluidity. He also experimented with timbre, texture, rhythm, and form to create musical images that evoked moods and emotions. Debussy's music can inspire us to think outside the box and explore new possibilities in our own compositions. We can learn from his innovative techniques and his artistic vision. We can also apprecia...
Post a Comment
Read more

List of Musical Techniques and Their Meanings

Musical techniques are the building blocks of any basic music training. These techniques allow performers to improve their coordination and develop accuracy through repetitive daily exercises. Musical techniques progressively build upon previously learned techniques. Scales Scales form the basis for other musical techniques. Student may study major and minor scales as well as modern scales, such as the whole-tone and octatonic scales. A scale consists of patterns of half steps and whole steps. These whole steps and half-step arrangements will be different for each scale. Scales are musical techniques that can help a performer to play faster and more accurately, and make learning new pieces easier. Chords Chords require knowledge of major and minor scales. Chords come in several different forms that affect the sound. Triads consist of three notes spaced a third apart and classified as major, minor, augmented and diminished chords. Seventh chords build on triads and have an additional no...
Post a Comment
Read more

Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music

Music has evolved through the centuries and undergone drastic changes. One of the most significant transitions was from the Baroque to the Classical period of music. In this paragraph, I will compare and contrast some of the main features of these two styles, such as ensembles, instrumentation, and counterpoint study. The Baroque and Classical periods of music have many similarities. While the style of music changed drastically, certain key elements remained the same between the two styles. Composers in the Classical period sought to simplify music and create clearly audible musical lines. In contrast, composers from the Baroque period were interested in creating complex and highly ornamented musical lines. The Baroque period occurs from approximately 1600 to 1750, and the Classical period extends from 1750 to 1820. Ensembles Ensembles are groups of musicians that perform together. Both the Baroque and the Classical period had similar types of ensembles, such as operas, orchestras, str...
Post a Comment
Read more