Maybe you fell in love with the alto trombone’s beautiful high range. Maybe you’re looking to add a period-appropriate instrument to your collection. The alto trombone is a great instrument, but good musical instruments don’t come cheap, so you’d like to make an informed purchase. I’m a longtime music writer and critic. I’m also a …
Maybe you heard the bass trumpet in Wagner or at a Dave Matthews Band concert. It’s easy to fall in love with the bass trumpet’s powerful yet surprisingly warm sound. But once you start shopping for a bass trumpet, you soon find that pickings are slim and prices are high. Bass trumpets are still an …
Yamaha’s instruments are highly regarded by musicians, and Yamaha saxophones are no exception. For nearly 60 years Yamaha has been making high-quality instruments for students, professionals, and enthusiastic amateur musicians alike. Yamaha saxophones are famous for their reliability, durability, and tone. But which Yamaha saxophone is best for you? I’ve consulted musicians, studied specs, and …
For nearly 100 years professional trumpet players have considered Bach Stradivarius trumpets to be among the finest instruments available. Bach Stradivarius trumpets can be found in jazz clubs, orchestra pits, and recording studios around the world. But given the dizzying number of keys, bell sizes, bores, and finishes, how do you decide which Bach Stradivarius …
The trumpet is one of the jazz world’s iconic instruments. Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Chet Baker – the list of great jazz trumpet players is long and gets longer every day. And for every jazz trumpet player, there is an opinion about what is the best jazz trumpet. Jazz covers an enormous variety of styles. …
In 1887 Torakusa Yamaha opened the Nikkon Gakki (Japan Musical Instrument) Company to sell his reed organs. Today, his company, Yamaha Instruments, is one of the world’s largest and most highly-regarded instrument makers. Yamaha makes instruments for performers at every level and is one of the few companies highly regarded for both their student and …
The bass flute has a haunting, ethereal sound that is easy to love. You’d like to add one to your collection, but when you start shopping for a bass flute you soon come down with sticker shock! There’s no easy way around it: bass flutes are expensive. Before you make a big investment, you want …
While it is widely considered the most difficult of brass instruments (some say the most difficult of orchestral instruments), the French horn can also be the most versatile. A French horn can produce a thrilling clarion call that cuts through an orchestral crescendo and provides warm, soft support behind the flutes and clarinets. Mastering the …
The baritone sax has the reedy, piercing sound you expect from saxophones. But it can also play with a mellow, smoky sweetness like a euphonium or French horn. While it’s the biggest commonly used saxophone, the baritone can handle quick passages with a speed and delicacy that belies its size. It’s easy to fall in …
French horns generally aren’t the sort of instrument you can pinch pennies on. The French horn’s design is notoriously complex and even the best French horn is among the most challenging of all instruments to play well. You might, after taking a look at Amazon’s many cheap instruments of dubious playability, think that the giant …
