September 13,
2006
Dear
Parents:
The
display consists of a meeting with you, your child, several local music stores,
and myself. The dealers will have
an opportunity to show their merchandise and explain their rental/purchase plan
in detail. At the display it will
be possible to comparison shop and try the instruments before committing to any
financial deal.
It
is usually sound financial reasoning to start on a rental instrument for the
three-month starter rate, and then secure a permanent instrument later.
A permanent instrument may be the one you started with, a family owned
instrument, neighbor/friend instrument, or buying from a private seller.
Whatever you may decide to do, you do not need to have an instrument
lined-up now! If you do find a used
horn, always remember, an instrument may need some work just to make the
beginning experience work at all. Starting
an instrument is hard enough with a great horn, do not compound any problems for
your child by borrowing an
instrument that is out of sync.
After
you have secured an instrument, we start lessons. From July 31 to August 18, your child and I will be having
two small group lessons per week.
Each student will have attended six lessons before school starts.
This will mark our twelfth summer of early start lessons, and the success
of the process is very favorable.
I
am including a list of starter instruments for you to review before the display
day.
Flute
Eb Alto Sax (start on clar.)
Trombone
Oboe
Bb Tenor
Sax
Baritone Horn **
Bassoon **
Trumpet
Tuba **
Bb Clarinet
French Horn **
Snare Kit
**
School equipment is rented according to availability.
Bell Kit
It
is very important for our beginning band to have a balanced instrumentation;
therefore, it is essential to consider more than just flute, saxophone, trumpet,
and drums when picking an instrument. Talk
to me about saxophones. I
start all saxes on clarinet and keep them there until after the first concert in
January. Please consider the unique qualities of all of the
instruments of the band.
Sincerely,
Scott
W. Stich
Director
of Bands
stichs@le-win.net or 369-3127