<p>My dd is primarily a bass clarinet player and would like to continue on it in college, although I understand that she will most likely need to audition on Bb clarinet, as we have not found many institutions that allow one to focus solely on bass clarinet. A low C Selmer or Buffet runs in the neighborhood of $10,000-$14,000. Throughout her public school time, the school district has provided her with the bass ( she owns her own Bb ). Will most colleges also lend out a bass, or is that something we need to include in our budget? I know she will eventually want to purchase her own bass, but I'd like to make sure that she can successfully be accepted into a music program and that majoring in music is everything she thinks it will be before we make such an expensive purchase. Anyone have any knowledge/experience about this? Advice?</p>
<p>Rent the model she is thinking of buying.</p>
<p>Is she taking private lessons, maybe her teacher has an instrument to borrow.</p>
<p>Her private teacher does not have one for her to borrow, certainly not for several years of college. Do you know of places that rent high end instruments? All the places I know of only rent school/student level types of instruments. She would need/want a professional level Selmer Paris Low C or a Buffet Prestige Low C.</p>
<p>Call <a href="mailto:music@kesslermusic.com">music@kesslermusic.com</a> to start your search.
They have Selmer.
They do national rentals and rent to own.</p>
<p>There comes a time when you just have to bite the bullet and make the purchase.
Conservatories will usually loan out an orchestral instrument if it’s unusual and needed for a certain piece, such as an alto flute or an English Horn, but I’m not at all sure about a bass clarinet.
May I suggest that your D get in touch with Linnea Nereim at CIM. She teaches clarinet/bass clari there and is the bass clarinetist for the Cleveland Orchestra. You can find her contact info on the conservatory’s web site- I know she’ll be honest with you and could be a valuable source of information.</p>
<p>Not WW player but lots of friends who are. I think most schools have a few bass clarinets, contra-bassoon, piccolos, wagner tuben, etc… that they let people borrow if they are assigned to an orchestra cycle that will require them to play such instruments. I think one thing to think about is whether or not the school one would attend has many different orchestra rotations at once (so different people rotating on those bass cl within short periods of time), or if it would be a situation where there is one main orchestra and if it’s likely that one would mainly be assigned to bass cl parts (in which case it sounds possible that one would get priority access over one particular instrument). </p>
<p>I’m getting an expensive/collection instrument from my school, way beyond what my family could afford, and I think two things I wish I’d asked about before enrolling was how it works as far as taking it to job auditions and competitions around the country, and summer access (whether taking it back home to practice, or to a festival). I’ve def. missed quite a few opportunities because of rules imposed by the school on using borrowed instruments outside of the academic calendar and traveling with them. That could be something to think/ask about if she was anticipating wanting to take that instrument to auditions, competitions, festivals, etc… or at least keep practicing on it over breaks.</p>
<p>Thank you, that’s very good info Gradschool! Definitely gave us some thinking to do. Since we are actively trying to estimate our costs for college, could you answer another question seeing that you gave already been through this? Do you have to continue paying for private lessons while in college or is that included with the cost of your tuition?</p>
<p>If one is enrolled in a BM program, lessons on the primary instrument are included. For singers, piano class is included too.</p>
<p>If music performance is her major (not just BA music) then tuition will definitely include lessons. If it’s not her major then it may or may not. At a lot of liberal arts school one can have free or near free private lessons, but sometimes those will only be every other week, and sometimes there is a limit as to for how long one can take the private lessons. Like if one is doing a BA in music and those lessons are taken for credit as electives and count as “course”, it’s possible that one wouldn’t be able to take that private lesson “course” after they have fulfilled the electives requirements, and there might be other things such as if there more people who want lessons than the teacher can give or the school can pay for, and upperclassmen have the registration priority, then lessons spots filling up, or the “course” might not even be available to freshmen, etc…). A friend of mine who did a BA in Music at an Ivy was telling me about it.</p>
<p>Piano class is included at most conservatories for all instruments, but usually only for 4 semesters (or less if one placed out).</p>