Advice to Parents
Buying an instrument
Once your child has established a serious interest in music, you may wish to consider buying them their own instrument.
Your child's tutor will be able to give you advice on which reputable dealers to use. Their advice will centre around affordability, brand and future use.
We caution against buying something cheap and unknown from the internet. This can result in an expensive mistake and your child left with an instrument which is unusable.
Whilst flutes, clarinets, trumpets, violins etc can be reasonably cheap, others like tubas, double basses and bassoons can be expensive.
Example case:
Nikki started bassoon in P7. He showed early promise which was flagged to the parents. His mum asked how much a new bassoon would be. She was told between £1800 and £2400. Nikki's mum put £300 a year away so that when he left school at 18, she would be able to buy a bassoon for him to use at university orchestra/wind band.
You can check prices on these websites:
FAQs
Q. My child receives lessons privately. Can they still take part in Angus Council bands and orchestras?
A. There is no bar to participating in any regional or school music activity.
Q. Should my child have a private teacher in addition to an Angus Council tutor?
A. There are two issues here.
- It is not in the interest of a pupil to receive tuition on the same instrument from more than one teacher. Confusion of primacy arises in decisions about technique, tone and interpretation when a child listens to two voices at the same time. Angus Council is not responsible for depreciation in playing or confusion when sitting SQA exams if an unvetted teacher outwith our quality control has influence over your child’s musical development in this respect.
- We provide a subsidized service with limited places. We ask that parents whose children attend private lessons do not put them forward for instruction in school. This allows other children the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. We feel this is entirely fair.
Q. My child has received an instrument from a local town band./We have bought an instrument for our child. Should we hand in the council instrument?
A. If you buy an instrument or your child receives an instrument from a town band etc, giving the council instrument in will give another child the opportunity to learn. We are trying to give as many children the opportunity to learn an instrument as possible.
We have waiting lists and feel this is entirely fair.
Your child can still receive their lessons at school. This happens in various schools in Angus.
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