Thursday, August 05, 2010

Day +1492 : Daniel registered for Saxophone lesson

I am fine today.

Daniel went for a trial Saxophone class yesterday evening. In fact, it was just a briefing and discussion session with the Saxophone teacher rather than a lesson.

"Why you want to learn Saxophone?" asked the teacher.

Daniel didn't know how to answer the question and he looked at me for an answer. Very few people learn Saxophone compared to other more popular instruments such as piano and guitar. Then why he chose to learn Saxophone? Frankly speaking, I am the one who influences him making the decision.

I told him long time ago that he should pick up a musical instrument seriously and Saxophone is not a bad choice for him for the following reasons:
  1. He can serve in the praise and worship team in the church since no one in the church is able to play the instrument.
  2. His is big and strong enough to play the instrument that requires certain degree of strength.
However, I told him that he is free to choose any other instruments that he likes. Heeding my advice, he chose Saxophone finally.

For beginner level, a half an hour session per week cost RM100 per month but the cost doesn't end here as we need to get him a Saxophone which is very costly. A cheaper one from China costs two to three thousands Malaysia ringgit. According to the teacher, this type of Saxophone is not reliable and hard to blow. He recommended Yamaha Saxophones which are made in Japan.

There are two models Yamaha student Alto Saxophone: YAS-23 and YAS-275 costing RM4900 and RM6500 respectively. The later offers a high F# key and adjustable thumb key. From some forum online, many people who own both prefer YAS-275, so I decided to purchase this one as well.

I called Yahama Music Malaysia, they are willing to give me 5% discount only. I believe I can get better price through the music centre which normally enjoy a higher discount.

The price of YAS-275 in UK is almost half of that of Malaysia. There are also Saxophone shops which sell Saxophone and accessories alone. You can find one here. Not only this, we can even order it online. The shop accepts international order and thus I can choose to mail order but what worried me is the custom department. The price of the instrument ordered from UK might be close to that of Malaysia after tax. So I decided to get it locally.

Sending Daniel for Saxophone lesson is a risky "business". If later Daniel finds no interest in this instrument, I will be losing thousands of ringgit. But anyway, I am willing to take the risk :-)

Yahama YAS-275 Alto Saxophone - £673.19 (£791.00 Including VAT at 17.5%, excluding delivery fee)
See you next post :-)

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