Why I don’t loan out instruments

ByBret Pimentel

I am slowly building a good collection of high-quality instruments. It’s not easy to do that on a graduate student’s budget; I accomplish it by living frugally, saving carefully, shopping around, and generally putting a great deal of thought and planning into each purchase. I don’t buy instruments on credit. I protect my investments with conscientious care and maintenance, as well as an excellent insurance policy by a company that specializes in musical instrument coverage. (Incidentally, this policy quickly paid for itself, several times over, when there was an “incident” with my flute a couple of years ago. Seriously consider getting one if you don’t have one already!)

Every now and then someone asks to borrow an instrument from me. Often it will be a saxophonist who needs a flute or clarinet for a gig they have already agreed to play. My policy, which I have upheld almost perfectly for several years now, is simple: I don’t loan instruments to anybody, for anything, period.

Most people who feel comfortable asking me a favor like this are people who I know well, and who I know would take good care of my instruments. It’s tough to turn down a seemingly reasonable request from a friend, and in the past I have made exceptions in moments of weakness (though I am getting dangerously good at saying “no”).

But it isn’t fair for me to save and sacrifice to have expensive instruments, and then allow others to use them freely to get gigs that perhaps should be rightfully mine. A saxophonist who doesn’t have his or her own flute or clarinet (at least a cheap student model!) likely isn’t a strong or committed enough doubler to be doing doubling gigs. It’s not surprising that people who make these requests often also want to borrow a fingering chart or ask for help with reeds. I spend serious time and money obtaining instruments and paying my dues learning to play them. If you want to get those gigs, you should, too!

I suppose it’s possible that a good doubler could at times find themselves without the gear they need for one reason or another, but I have taken all necessary steps to ensure that I have what I need, and that’s the cost of doing business. Woodwind playing is a bring-your-own-tools situation, and I am acquiring the tools I need while some of my colleagues are driving nicer cars than mine. I’ve made my choice, and they have made theirs.

On the other hand, I’m fairly willing to loan out instrument stands or other non-instrument gear to trusted friends when I can. Serious doublers should own these, too, but to me they are far less personal items, certainly less valuable, and are matters of convenience more than gig deal-makers or -breakers.

I have also had people offer to “rent” instruments from me; I have turned them down as well. While a few incoming bucks to defray the cost of owning and maintaining my instruments might take some of the sting out of loaning them out, there are additional intangible costs that come into play. Every gig that I play myself means additional networking and reputation-building, accumulated experience, and polishing of my skills; I sacrifice these when I enable someone else to play a gig for which I am prepared equipment-wise and they are not. I also enter the treacherous territory of charging my friends and colleagues money, which I am happy to avoid when I can.

So if you find yourself lacking an instrument for a gig, don’t hesitate to give me a call—I’ll be happy to take that gig off your hands.

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    I think memorization is a useful practice technique, even if you don’t intend to perform “from memory.” Memorization of music has several facets:

    • Aural memory: I should be able to sing the music (at least in my mind) from beginning to end with confidence and accuracy.
    • Content/visual/analytical memory: I should be able to more or less transcribe or describe the music from memory. This might include being able to picture the printed music, being able to describe it in reasonably specific terms (“then there’s a fast run up a C minor scale, ending on a long high F with a fermata”), and/or being able to discuss the formal and phrase structures. (I don’t think you necessarily need to be able to think in terms of formal classical music theory, as long as you have some kind of vocabulary for talking about music.)
    • Physical/muscle memory: If I have practiced in a thorough, detailed way, I should be able to more or less play on “autopilot.” I don’t want to perform in a disengaged way, but I do want to be able to focus my mind on non-technical things.
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    Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet (L to R: Cornelius Boots, Jonathan Russell, Aaron Novik, Jeff Anderle). Photo, Rick Shinozaki

    The benefits of memorization, even for not-strictly-from-memory performance, include:

    • Confidence born from deep mastery of the music.
    • The ability to handle minor on-stage crises, like a missed page turn or a sudden distraction, with ease and grace.
    • Internalization of the music in such a way that interpretation becomes natural, expressive, and personal.
    • Freedom from “reading” issues. Sometimes musical passages are made difficult by visual factors, like hard-to-read notation, a personal reading difficulty (such as dyslexia or poor eyesight, perhaps), or something that simply doesn’t “click” visually for the reader. If looking at the page is causing problems, then just don’t look.
    • Ability to take a step back from the page, literally and figuratively, which encourages greater connection with collaborators and audiences.

    If you are already practicing in a thorough and deliberate way, you are probably well on your way to memorization already without any extra effort. Use good practice techniques and memorization together to support better preparation and performance.

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    Me: Wait—

    Student: [Begins again at breakneck speed, makes a different mistake, stops.]

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    Student: [Begins again at same speed as before, makes a different mistake, stops.]

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    ByBret Pimentel
    Photo, caruba

    A couple of blog posts related to airline travel with musical instruments have caught my eye so far this week:

    Saxophonist Greg Vail had a bad experience checking his horn. Yes, he did check it—sent it to be stowed in the airplane’s cargo hold rather than carrying it on himself. But it wasn’t the baggage handlers who caused a problem. It was security inspectors who opened the strong custom flight case, damaged the key clamps, broke some reeds, and couldn’t get everything packed up properly again.

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4 Comments

  1. If I played as well as you do Brett, I’d be following these well thought out guidelines about loaning instruments. But the folks I lend my instruments to know they may be called upon to sub in one of my bands with or without pay. And these players rock! Evil, I know…

    Reply

  2. I have never had a person ask to borrow a horn from me…Although I have had the director of a high school band program suggest that I will my instrument collection to his school. Huh? I wasn’t even a graduate of that school, or even of the city or province. It takes all kinds I guess…

    Your point is on the mark though. If a player accepts a gig, without the proper equipment, and then comes to you looking to borrow what they are lacking, that takes a certain kind of nerve.

    “No” would be the only answer someone would hear from me under those circumstances. Good to read that you’re getting good at saying the word. Keep on practicing it. “No”.

    By rights, the gig should go to the person with the gear. Student model instruments are reasonably priced and plentiful. There’s no reason a serious player shouldn’t have the standard “doubles” in their closet.

    Reply

  3. Thanks for the post Bret. I feel the exact same way that you do. Now that I’ve read this post I feel so much better about politely telling people “no, but thank-you for asking.”

    Why should others benefit from the sacrifices you choose to make so you can have great horns to double on? The answer is they shouldn’t.

    My thoughts are: I choose to invest in all intermediate to professional horns (I have 6-7 now) … don’t come crying to me if you don’t have any doubles or when your plastic student model clarinet or your leaky cheap flute isn’t going to cut it for the gig.

    Your statement “So if you find yourself lacking an instrument for a gig, don’t hesitate to give me a call—I’ll be happy to take that gig off your hands,” says it all. :o)!

    Reply

  4. Thanks for this article ,was helpful for me because I’m a drummer and had a friend who hired me for a church gig and later mentioned that some kid was gonna play drums for one song and I kindly asked if the kid was gonna use the church kit or bring his own, friend told me he was gonna use mine ,I was kind of bothered that my friend didn’t care to ask me if it was ok for a kid to play my kit,I kindly declined that the kid could not play my drum kit because it’s mine and I don’t let anyone play my gear and also because it cost me 14k which I bought by myself and anywho he kept insisting it wasn’t a big deal and was just one song and perfered for me to use my kit I got irritated that he still kept insisting and finally I just told him I don’t loan my head and I’ll use whatever the church has and my friend hasn’t really talked to me since but I don’t care since I worked hard to have what I have

    Reply

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