Hi,
We've recently moved from a school district where my son was playing Euphonium with a stellar Middle School Band teacher and was lucky to get to play on a Jupiter 4-valve inline Euphonium at no cost to him. His new Jr. High has no such resources, so we need to get a Euphonium for him. I've spent days pouring over the articles on this site and others and have a few questions. For reference, my son is in 7th grade, has been playing for 2 years, is very serious about playing, and based on the assessment of brass players I trust, is rather talented. (He sounds great to me, but I am a strings player, so what do I know!)
so here are some questions:
1. He really wants to keep playing a 4-valve, inline Euphonium since that is what he knows, but I see that the Wessex Dolce and Mack Brass seem like a good bang for the buck. Would moving him to a compensating Euphonium be too much of a learning curve? Is that even something he should be doing at this point?
2. We are in UT, and the rentals are limited to one shop as far as I can tell and the 4-valve Euphoniums are all Accent brand priced at about $2,000, and rent for about ~$90 a month which is pretty steep when considering that the rent-to-own is at a 15% interest. I can find very little about this brand online, is it worth renting at this rate?
3. I see several Euphoniums in the $400 range, that are definitely not recommend by folks on this forum, but would that be reasonable for for a talented 7th grader?
4. My son can be uncoordinated, as most 7th grade boys can be, and so I worry about buying a $1000 horn and seeing it dented up, is there an especially sturdy brand if I am try to stay at about ~1000 or below?
I guess all in all, I'm wondering on any input on this, especially since he's likely to be using this instrument through high school.
---
Ted Maxwell
We've recently moved from a school district where my son was playing Euphonium with a stellar Middle School Band teacher and was lucky to get to play on a Jupiter 4-valve inline Euphonium at no cost to him. His new Jr. High has no such resources, so we need to get a Euphonium for him. I've spent days pouring over the articles on this site and others and have a few questions. For reference, my son is in 7th grade, has been playing for 2 years, is very serious about playing, and based on the assessment of brass players I trust, is rather talented. (He sounds great to me, but I am a strings player, so what do I know!)
so here are some questions:
1. He really wants to keep playing a 4-valve, inline Euphonium since that is what he knows, but I see that the Wessex Dolce and Mack Brass seem like a good bang for the buck. Would moving him to a compensating Euphonium be too much of a learning curve? Is that even something he should be doing at this point?
2. We are in UT, and the rentals are limited to one shop as far as I can tell and the 4-valve Euphoniums are all Accent brand priced at about $2,000, and rent for about ~$90 a month which is pretty steep when considering that the rent-to-own is at a 15% interest. I can find very little about this brand online, is it worth renting at this rate?
3. I see several Euphoniums in the $400 range, that are definitely not recommend by folks on this forum, but would that be reasonable for for a talented 7th grader?
4. My son can be uncoordinated, as most 7th grade boys can be, and so I worry about buying a $1000 horn and seeing it dented up, is there an especially sturdy brand if I am try to stay at about ~1000 or below?
I guess all in all, I'm wondering on any input on this, especially since he's likely to be using this instrument through high school.
---
Ted Maxwell
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