<p>“A cheap new plastic clarinet might be a better choice.”</p>
<p>I didn’t even know where was such a thing. I’m going to definitely find one. Thanks!</p>
<p>Yea for the band zoosermom! Good decision! </p>
<p>My d did school and competitive cheerleading and my son is now a sophomore in high school band. ldgirl was the first to observe that the band experience seems to be so much more positive and productive than the cheerleading experience. There is just ‘something’ about being in the band…the kids seem immune to peer pressure, they exude confidence and they learn great time management skills that pay off big later in college and adult life.</p>
<p>And I laugh because it is just so apparent that the football games don’t really seem to begin until the band shows up and the drumline starts ‘playing them in’ to the stadium. It’s like everyone is waiting for them to show up.</p>
<p>btw…concur with simba re: Texas heat and marching band…lol! As a drumline mom (extra duties), and game and competition chaperone, I found myself wishing the football team major ill-will many times during last football season. I was also in band back in the 70s in the Rio Grande Valley. We wore three piece lined wool uniforms with embroidered overlays back then. So during last football season, I kept telling myself…‘you’ve been through worse…you can do this’ as sweat was pouring down my face in those hot football stands.</p>
<p>On that note, hydration is a must. My son’s band director sends members home if they appear on the practice field without their water jug. White t-shirts are required during practice (even drumline must shed their black gear at this time), good shoes, sunscreen, hats etc… Underarmour is a great tip. </p>
<p>Also, do volunteer for the pit crew or as a chaperone…you’ll actually have a blast (despite the hot weather moments). ;)</p>
<p>And zoos - I envy you on the clarinet thing. I have the snare and bass to listen to in my home. Thank goodness for concert season and region band…at least a little marimba gets interspersed in there. But whooooa when he hauls home that timpani for practice.</p>
<p>“And zoos - I envy you on the clarinet thing. I have the snare and bass to listen to in my home. Thank goodness for concert season and region band…at least a little marimba gets interspersed in there. But whooooa when he hauls home that timpani for practice.”</p>
<p>Idmom, I think you would have had a great laugh at the Memorial Day parade. The little folks couldn’t carry those instruments, so the moms had to carry or pull them and try to hide at the same time. It was comical and sweet to see these tiny people trying to be like “the big kids.” I think this might be one activity of my kids’ that I really enjoy. And I appreciate the tips! I didn’t think of sunblock last time, but thankfully another mom did for my extremely fair-skinned child!. Of course, I got burned to a crisp, but whose fault is that?</p>
<p>You can buy an “ebonite” (plastic) clarinet for around $200.</p>
<p>awww zoos - they sound too cute! Brings back great memories…of being a youngster in beginner band and the mom of a youngster in beginner band.<br>
It sounds like you have an excellent music/band program there as well. I think my kids were still playing the kazoo at age 9 (jk…but they were just on those annoying flutophones). </p>
<p>I’ll weigh in on instrument quality. I think ‘move-up’ advice varies according to instrument. We just purchased a top quality Pearl Philharmonic concert snare for our son. We have to be careful with purchases because of the wide variety of percussion instruments he has to play and the potential to go broke. He made do with an intermediate quality snare until this year, but after last UIL solos and ensembles where damaged school drums were accidentally transported to the competition, it became apparent he needed his own quality concert snare. </p>
<p>Marching season (fall) requires expertise on a corp or marching style drum, but concert drums and keyboard instruments are completely different. Fortunately, they allow the students to take their school-owned marching drum home. And last concert season (spring), he played marimba on a couple of pieces, timpani on another. Of course marimbas and timpani are also school-owned, but we rent a practice marimba ($75/month) which takes up over 8 feet of wall in his room. He has also played glocks, vibes, xylophone, bass and about half dozen other percussion instruments. We just could not possibly buy or rent them all. Good mallets are $50 a pair and four mallet pieces require two pair. And there are literally dozens of different type mallets (hardness and stick weight varies) and each piece will require a specific type. The list of sticks and mallets required by high schools, and especially colleges, and the related cost will amaze.</p>
<p>That’s the percussion angle. But I played a flute and remember getting a very good quality flute no later than 8th grade. There is a definitely need for the instrument to keep up with the skills…however I cringe when I see a $3000 flute lying in the grass on the practice field. (Yes…even high schoolers do this.) So I like hunt’s advice about acquiring a cheap marching instrument.</p>
<p>I know very little about clarinets except that my younger sister tortured us with one for about a year before she ventured off into volleyball…lol! (I was on piccolo at the time, so the torture was mutual. Funny…now clarinet is one of my favorite instruments…beautiful sound.) But I can sympathize on the reed issue. I briefly played the bassoon and we actually made our own reeds. (Had to switch back to flute when my hand refused to grow big enough.)</p>
<p>I played Bflat- flat (not a musical family here either) clarinet, switching to bassoon as a HS sophomore, we only started marching in HS, color guard thereafter, clarinet for pep band. I highly reccommend playing a musical instrument to everyone, hopefully your son will continue beyond the marching band phase. Up north we worried about keeping warm- Band was first period of the school day, it got cold practicing outdoors and at some football games. Wish our uniforms had been school colors instead of the black wool for the hot, sunny Memorial Day parades.</p>
<p>Regarding clarinet reeds- be aware that they come in different sizes, such as 2, 2 1/2, 3. The higher numbered ones are harder to make the sounds with, beginners start with a lower number… have forgotten so much… but do be aware that when your son needs a new reed the number makes a difference. I don’t imagine you can buy them for a quarter anymore, either.</p>
<p>If the student plays a brass instrument, make sure they are using the correct size mouthpiece. Son played on a way too small mouthpiece until he was a junior. Made all the difference in the world. </p>
<p>Texas heat + band practice = son wanting to go to college in a cold climate</p>
<p>Both of my kids are long time band members and many of their friends are also band members. It’s a great way for kids to make friends within a big high school.</p>
<p>Also, the band kids in our school seem to be more “tame” than other groups. One mother had a son in football and another in band. The football parties had booze; she never had to worry when her son partied with his band friends.</p>
<p>We are a total band family. My husband and I both joined the Penn Band 30+ years ago and now both our kids are in the Penn Band. They each won the “Bandcest” award and next year DS will be drum major. We have lifelong friends from all our years in band and always have a place to go back to when homecoming or alumni day comes around. Sometimes it’s hard for kids in middle and high school to juggle their schedules to fit in band with all the academics they want and need to take, but it’s worth the creative scheduling to give them a lifetime of fun, friends and appreciation for the arts.</p>
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<p>A good instrument makes all the difference. I wouldn’t have been nearly as strong a pianist as I am now if I’d had to play on a lousy piano growing up. The Baldwin upright that my mom purchased for herself after college wasn’t a Steinway concert grand, but it’s a beautiful instrument. Once my skills were finally up to snuff, having a good piano made it fun and relaxing to practice, and was good emotional therapy after a rough day. I could run through my grandiose fortissimo pieces to get out any aggression and then pull back to some Chopin or Beethoven adagios and calm myself down.</p>
<p>LOL @ bandcest. =)</p>
<p>Another fact about becoming a band family:
All the black socks in the house belong to the band kid so that the uniform is complete on a Friday night. It was with a lump in my throat that I realized I had 6 pair of black socks in my drawer this fall - they had all come back to me when the last band kid left for college.</p>
<p>Hubby the bass trombonist used to tell me about colleagues that would carry black shoe polish in their cases for use as ankle-colorant in the event that they’d forgotten socks.</p>
<p>Let me join the group that says that if your son continues in instrumental music, he should own a really good instrument – but he should NEVER use it for marching band.</p>
<p>Marching band instruments get thrown on the ground, exposed to all kinds of weather, and bounced around in the belly of the bus (although clarinets and flutes don’t suffer the last of these outrages because the musician can carry them into the passenger compartment, which is not allowed for larger instruments).</p>
<p>Marching band is also good for getting over excessive physical modesty. At my daughter’s high school, the kids weren’t allowed to wear their uniforms while eating for fear that the uniforms would get damaged. After competitions, the kids had to change out of the uniforms on the band bus before going to the food stands. Guys and girls did this together. They quickly learned not to wear silly underwear.</p>
<p>Here’s my best band tip for a little guy. If the uniform is black pants, white shirt, conservative tie; head right for the Catholic school uniform section at Sears! It comes all together in a package at a very reasonable price. We started with size 10 a couple of years ago, and have finally moved up to the highest size (14) this spring. It was sort of bittersweet!</p>
<p>Instrument Repair - talk to your son’s music teacher or private teacher. See if you can find someone who is reputable and does instrument repair.</p>
<p>All four of mine played instruments - from 4th grade through 12th grade and two were in marching band - good times.
They played 4 different instruments and 3 of them ended up with upgrades and now have very nice instruments. No - they have never played together!</p>
<p>Early on, their private music teacher found me a former music teacher who does instrument cleaning and repair in his home. I am indebted to this man to this day! Not only would he clean and sterilized their instruments he was amazing in an emergency - yep, you will have them!
He also would take the time to go over the instruments with the girls.
He was much quicker, cheaper and did higher quality repair than the local music store.</p>
<p>PS - I had a clarinetist as well. There is nothing quite like the admonishment given for showing up at a private lesson with ONE moldy, chipped reed - made me retreat to the car in a hurry! </p>
<p>Ahhh - Music teaches many lessons other than - music!</p>
<p>Uhhhh …band and Texas heat and cold. Precision military marching band. State ranked marching band that was a precision military marching band. Texas. Tuba. That just about explains it. She would not quit. She and her tuba playing bestie were the only two varsity team sport athletes left in the band. </p>
<p>Her mother and I were in shock when she came home after school in grade school and announced she had selected the tuba. We tried to explain things but no…tuba it was. ;)</p>
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<p>Rice MOB uniforms are three-piece wool suits and fedoras. Until we got wise and started having partial uniforms for the first few games, we’d wear full pants-vest-jacket-hat pinstriped suits in the Houston heat and humidity. Sousaphone players would walk off the field after halftime, hand their horns to the nearest piccolo, and pass out cold on the sidelines. There were times I nearly fell off the ladder while conducting.</p>
<p>It’s deceptive, how much water you’re losing out there, so be sure to harass him about staying hydrated…</p>
<p>Curm, tuba? that’s a side of your d we hadn’t heard as much of. My youngest settled on the bassoon because it wasn’t “little and silly” like all her friends in flute class - it was a serious instrument with serious musical talent required. BUt she marched with her sister’s clarinet. Wanted to do saxiphone but I pointed out that we had a marching clarinet and a marching trumpet in the house and I wasn’t paying for any more instruments. Choose one or do color guard!</p>
<p>Ahhh, band! My two sons both played (trombone and tuba), one majored in music and is a professional musician today. In fact, you could say if it weren’t for band, they would not even be here today, since h and I met in HS band!!!</p>
<p>GREAT decision!</p>
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<p>Hey, it was the three B’s . Band, Basketball, and Books. She made state in solo and ensemble on the dang thing and her mom and I can’t play a note. I came to think it was important to her precisely BECAUSE it wasn’t our thing. Looking back, I think it helped her define herself.</p>