August 23, 2007

Dear Parent,

On Saturday, September 8, from 9:30 to 11:30, The Music Stop will be at South Middle School for instrument rentals and purchases. You may obtain an instrument from the place of your choice, however The Music Stop is the company we work with for our band program and they have a representative that visits South weekly making it very convenient for the parent for repairs and purchases.

Each student must have an instrument Monday, September 10. We will be experimenting with instruments over the next two weeks for each student to be able to decide what they wish to play. I have a limited number of school instruments available if it is not possible to rent or purchase an instrument at this time. These may also be picked up September 8. Please do not go out on ebay and purchase an instrument unless you are very familiar with that instrument and can identify if it is a good playable instrument or not. I will be glad to look at it on ebay if you find something. I will help in any way I can to find affordable instruments. Buying instruments from Wal-Mart and Sam’s is not a good idea. They break very easily and often can’t be repaired because of the cheap materials used to make the instrument. Very often it is more expensive in the long run to buy a poor quality instrument such as these.

If you choose to rent an instrument, you must have a credit card with you at the rental. They require this as security, although nothing will be posted to it. It is simply to protect the rental company. They will require the first month’s rent at the time of rental. This varies depending on the instrument and can be anywhere from $30 to $50 a month. Each student will need to purchase a book and cleaning kit and those may be purchased on 9/8 as well. Percussion books are approximately $14.95 all other books are approximately $7.95. Cleaning kits are approximately $15-17 and percussion do not need one.

Please let me know via email, hammerj@k12tn.net, or a note how you plan to obtain an instrument so I can make sure enough are available. I appreciate your help in getting an instrument for each student.

Sincerely,

Jonanne Hammer

Band Director