by Dene R Lingard
Mom, I want a new toy! When it comes to their children's schooling, most parents are highly concerned about quality. Many of them want a well-rounded education and a broad culture which public schools are not always able to supply. Music lessons are a popular choice for furthering that education and buying a musical instrument often comes into play. However the cost of an instrument can be substantial, and making the choice of a quality instrument can be daunting. Many parents will hesitate to invest large amounts of money in a new musical instrument as they are afraid their kids will only be interested in it for the first few months, and then let it collect dust in the basement. It's another version of the children who play with the boxes at Christmas rather than the toys themselves.
Would you play the elastic? However, the importance of a high quality instrument can not be stressed enough. Take for example the student who wants to know how to learn the guitar. Buy him a cheap instrument, and you will discourage his motivation and learning skills because the instrument will not perform correctly, will have poor sound quality or will need recurrent repairs. Learning the basics at a new instrument can often be a tedious task, especially for the young student. Guitar scales for beginners and other technical training and practice can become imposing. After studying music, theory and technique, the time will come when the teacher will ask for the student to perform a several octave scale, major or minor, modal (such as pentatonic scale) or chromatic.
If the guitar is cheap, those advanced skills will become incredibly difficult because the instrument will not respond well, and the poor quality of sound will even make it doubtful if the correct techniques are being performed! A cheap guitar will not stay tuned, thus making scales and technical practice sound mediocre and not represent the true progress of the student. Furthermore, if the student has to spend more time changing broken strings and tuning them than actually playing, he will quickly get discouraged. This will greatly hamper his progress on the instrument. In the end, parent and teacher want to put every chance possible for the student to succeed, learn new skills and develop diverse interests, including music. To the risk of sounding sarcastic, if you plan to buy your child a cheap guitar, you might as well make him build his own with an empty tissue box and some elastic, because in all truthfulness, he won't progress any more on the cheap guitar than he would on the home-made instrument!
The drum set. A lot of young music amateurs are drawn to the drum set. If you are a parent thinking of buying that instrument, the same rules apply as for buying a guitar. The lesser the quality of the instrument, the less likely the student will be encouraged to pursue the endeavour, for a variety of reasons that are particular to the drum set.
Most liberals never lost sight of the potential for evil in big government. They have consistently opposed government power in matters of personal and political belief. Liberals are not unconcerned with economic liberty, but they have come to believe that the common good requires that social justice be given a higher priority than absolute economic freedom. Conservatives are—and always have been—on the other side of both questions. They are much more prone than liberals to limiting personal and political liberties, but they place the freedom of an individual to do as he pleases in the economic realm at the top of their concerns. Social justice has held a lower priority for conservatives, from the days of Alexander Hamilton when they favored strong government as a means of protecting their economic privileges to the days of Ronald Reagan when they see government as an instrument of social justice and therefore a threat to their economic position.
— Robert S. McElvaine (b. 1947)
Rhythm is important! The drum set and other percussion instruments are the single most important element to any music group, be it classical, rock, jazz or other, because they are the one supporting the rhythm for the entire ensemble. If the other musicians can not rely on the rhythm of the percussionist, the performance will fall apart. Thus the importance of a good instrument.
What makes a good quality drum set? This instrument is composed of so many parts and attachments, screws and stands, you need first of all for the instrument to be solidly assembled (and to stay assembled!). The quality of sound, just like any other instrument, is also of great importance. Reputable companies will honour excellent guarantees, which is to be considered with the investment you are making. Some more reputable common brands are Pearl, Ludwig, Remo and Yamaha. For cymbals, you might want to consider Zildjian and Sabian that are also well known. A good drum set will stay tuned longer. Tuning a drum consists of evenly tightening pegs around the drum head to get an even pitch all around the skin.
An untuned drum will unconsciously aggravate your musical ear, and become a lesser well known version of noise pollution! A high quality drum set will also mean you won't need to replace the drum heads as often. That's the part you hit on with your drum sticks or the bass pedal. Just like changing strings on a guitar, drum heads need to be replaced every now and then. If you buy a cheap drum set but then need to change all of the drum heads, (a cost that can be substantial), you won't be saving any money. The price you pay for a good quality instrument in the first place is sure to save you expenses in the long run. Furthermore, a good quality percussion set will be more durable and offer more accessories. You will end up paying less for the entire set then buying accessories separately.
How do I proceed? If you have the chance, you should get a percussionist to help you out in your choice of a drum set. In any case, reputable stores have excellent sales representatives who are qualified musicians themselves. (I have yet to encounter a sales person working in a music store that is not a musician in some way). Don't be afraid to ask questions to a store clerk. It will show you that you are interested and you are lowering your chances of having him trying to sell you a cheap instrument at a high price to get an easy commission. Do your homework: make the research and let them know you are serious.
Don't forget the drumsticks. If you spent a lot of time researching and choosing a good instrument, it will become obvious to you that the choice of drum sticks is also very important. One of the more obvious reasons to stay clear of cheap drum sticks is because they will break easily. What do you prefer: the adding cost of constantly replacing cheap drum sticks, or the investment of good sticks that will last you a long time? If you work hard for your money, the answer here should be clear.
Reason transformed into prejudice is the worst form of prejudice, because reason is the only instrument for liberation from prejudice.
— Allan Bloom (1930–1992)
Any good store selling drum sticks gives you the possibility of choosing the sticks separately and not as a pair. The reason is that pairs are not always well matched. First of all, you need to find straight sticks. Roll them on a flat surface. If they wobble, or you see a space between the surface and the stick as you roll it, they are not a good choice. Crooked sticks have a weakness and will be prone to breakage. Once you find straight sticks, gently hit them on your head, one at a time. You need to find two same pitched sticks. They should also let you have the possibility of trying out the sticks on drums in the store. There are a great variety of drum sticks available out there and it can be a feat to try to find the right ones for you. Wooden or plastic tip? Thicker or thinner? As a general rule, the harder you play (rock, heavy metal), the thicker the sticks need to be. If you do lighter playing, such as jazz, thinner sticks are good. There is a whole system of letters and numbers to identify different types of sticks. A sales clerk can help you identifying the type of sticks to suit your needs.
So what are you going to do? If you plan to buy your child a cheap instrument, you are only showing him that his interests and overall quality of education are not important. (What parent would EVER want to portray such message to their child?!) You are guaranteeing him failure through lack of motivation because of a cheap instrument that will present a full spectrum of problems.
In the end, if your child should decide that, after seriously giving the drum set a try, it is not for him, you will have way less difficulty at reselling a high quality instrument than a cheap one. It is also very important not to forget that the training and experience he got at the instrument is by far not lost. Any training or experience will serve him as a valuable asset in his overall musicianship. If your buying a guitar, then it still applies, especially for things like Dene Lingard is the publisher of http://www. LearnGuitarOnlineToday.com a website devoted to Guitar Enthusiasts and people wanting to find a more suitable way to learn guitar. His long-time dedication to learning guitar and theory, as well as drums, has paid off personally for him. He now plans to put a band together which has always been a dream of his. He lives in London and has a daughter. Dene spends his leisure time keeping fit, scuba diving and playing tennis as well as developing his guitar learning website.