Posted by dw on October 10, 2001 at 09:58:31:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: St. Petersburg Rumor posted by Matt G on October 09, 2001 at 21:44:29:
You mention the marketing aspect of the instrument. Are any of you old enough to remember the original Mirafone brochures? According to the literature, anybody who was somebody played a Mirafone. Let's see: Arnold Jacobs was holding one (what did he really play?), Joe Novotny (New York), Ron Bishop (Cleveland), Abe Torchinsky (Philadelphia), and a whole bunch more to fill up the brochure. Okay, a few of the players really did use a Mirafone, most notably Roger Bobo, but he doesn't anymore, does he? That was certainly good marketing as "most" of those players did not use a Mirafone.
Another thing to consider, those who can market the longest win no matter what. Originally Yamaha was considered in just about the same light as some lesser brands today. Look where they are now. (BTW, most repair people I know hate to work on their student stuff -the bells are too stiff, euphonium valves and casings are notorious for dents and hard to get out valves, the slides stick at the slightest provocation, parts are expensive and not always readily available, solder joints don't stay soldered, and that's just the brass instruments. The woodwinds are actually easier to work on, but are still considered, by many, to be copies of their more famous counterparts, i.e. Buffet, Selmer, Haynes, Powell, Leblanc, etc.
We will see, but in the long run, it is the marketing that wins.
The vast majority of instruments, however, are sold at state music conventions. The band directors or music education directors are the ones making the decisions, not the student players. They don't play the instruments and are concerned with the bottom line only, in other words, "how much will it cost us?". This is where marketing wins. The best marketing gets the local music store to carry a line of instruments and he/she sells the instrument to the school district. Now, add to this the fact that a certain out-of-state dealer, who also exhibits at the state music convention and has a whole bunch of instruments with him, is selling an instrument that costs considerably less than the local dealer (who knows he can get full list price) and who do you think is getting the sale? Particularly when it's tubas we're talking about?
This is a wonderful forum for talking about all questions concerning instruments for individuals. I am still of the opinion that we should not talk poorly about an instrument that we do not play ourselves. Let us talk about the good attributes of the instrument we do play and let each individual make up his or her mind about his or her choice.