School B&O Buying Habits 2009

For many MI dealers, student band and orchestra instrument sales have become an ever-larger segment of their business.

If a dealer and a school develop a good working relationship, both parties benefit: For the dealer, the school can become a consistent, frequent customer; for a school or an idividual music teacher, the dynamic of trust and dependability in such an association is often important. To find out more about MI buying patterns when it comes to student band and orchestra instruments, MMR sent out a survey to over 1,500 music educators across the country. We found out, not surprisingly, that behind every decision is a budget. For most schools, that’s the bottom line.

For the current school year, did you (or are you planning to) purchase more, less, or the same dollar amount of musical instruments as last year?

“Last year we bought about $4,000 in instruments. This year we are putting our money into repairs for older instruments. We have seen an uptick in the number of students who need to rent an instrument from the school as opposed to rent-to-own from a music store.”

John Mueller
Incline Middle School
Incline Village, Nev.

What types of instruments are you purchasing this year?

Which factors are most important when selecting a music store to work with?

“Not that cost isn’t important, but if you want good repairs and reliable service, the cost sometimes comes later in the priorities.”

David Hiett
Regina Dominican High School
Wilmette, Ill.

When do you plan your budget?

When do you make the bulk of your instrument purchases?

What is the ratio of school-owned instruments to student-owned instruments in your program?

“We only provide large instruments for students – baritones, tubas, French horns, and trombones. Even then, some students make the choice to rent/purchase their own instruments. We also provide second instruments, such as tenor saxes, bass clarinets, bari saxes.”

Rick Worley
Central York Middle School
York, Penn.

“The only school-owned instruments in my program are color instruments: bass clarinets; tenor saxophones; baritone saxophones; French horns; flugelhorns; euphoniums; tubas/sousaphones; and percussion.”

Richard Stichler
Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe High School
Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga.

Additional thoughts on buying musical instruments?

“In the current economy, it is getting more and more difficult to purchase new instruments. Our elementary band director started a used instrument program last year which has greatly benefitted our program. Many families have donated older instruments to the elementary band program, and we have been able to have those instruments repaired or even reconditioned/overhauled. Through some fundraising efforts and a couple of benefit concerts, we have been able to raise money to purchase used instruments through sources such as eBay. This has been a very viable option, especially for students who are economically disadvantaged and might not be able to afford to rent or purchase an instrument.”

Rick Worley
Central York Middle School
York, Penn.

“Purchasing new instruments is not typically the biggest budget issue. Maintaining the inventory that we own is often the bigger expenditure.”

David Hiett
Regina Dominican High School
Wilmette, Ill.

“I see the number of students who own (or are renting to own) their instruments dropping. There has been a big increase in the number of students who need to rent an instrument from the school. Some of them cannot even pay the $40 per year school rental cost, and so we try to find sponsors for those students. There has also been an increase in people buying cheap (under $200 new) instruments on the Internet. Most of these have arrived in non-playing condition and have to be repaired (if they can be repaired), and the savings in buying on the cheap is lost.”

John Mueller
Incline Middle School
Incline Village, Nev.