Peculiar customers

Many years ago, we started keeping a collection of tales of some of the funniest things that have happened in the shop. I came across the folder by accident this morning, and had a look. Some of the entries are hilarious. Some are so un-hilarious you wonder why anybody bothered to write them down. Some of the funny conversations with customers have been repeated so often that they’re no longer surreal, merely routine. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked if I know who wrote Pachelbel’s Canon.

Many of the best ones are telephone conversations. I remember picking up a phone call one night just after we’d closed. The voice said “Is that Mr Pullman?”

“No we don’t have a Mr Pullman. Perhaps you have a wrong number. This is Balaams Music on 766933 “

“Are you a trombonist?” asked the caller, in a baffling non sequitur.

“No I’m not..”

“Then how do you know that 766933 is Balaam’s Music ?”

“Because I am answering the phone from there”

Caller hangs up…..

No it doesn't make sense, does it?

Diddley Bow

Around a hundred years ago Delta Blues musicians made and played their own basic one-string ‘guitars’ and created powerful music. Sometimes known as ‘diddley bows’, ‘jitterbugs’ or ‘one-strings’ , the instruments were built from a wide variety of available (often discarded) materials. The single string was either hammered or plucked and different note pitches were obtained by sliding a bottle neck (or a key or any hard object) along the wire or guitar string .

It has been re-invented as the Nineboys Wedge, and we have it in stock, full of amazing possibilities. Watch the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktPPZKe6cBg  and then come in and try ity out!


Next to it in the shop is another amazing guitar innovation.............but I'll tell you about that another day!

A World of her Own....

A friend of mine was recently asked to accompany a soprano singing at a funeral. Meeting up before the service, they had a fairly routine run-through of Schubert's Ave Maria.
"That'll be fine" she said, "but I don't know what to do if they want an encore...."

Improve your Sax Life !

Here's a way to make your sax sound like a Yanagisawa (if it isn't already!) without spending a fortune:
1 Try a Yanagisawa mouthpiece on your Sax. £95  for the Alto
2. Try a Yanagisawa Crook on your Sax. £175 for the Alto, £195 for the Tenor.
Simple really.............
(These prices for stock items only)

Something Good Made in England !

Now that we’re so used to the high quality of some of the stringed instruments coming from China, it came as a surprise to find decent hand-made violins made in England for less than one might expect.

The Wessex Violin Co. aims to offer young musicians going to University or Conservatoire the opportunity to own a handmade modern interpretation of the English school of Violin making. The company is building on a tradition of English workshop craftsmanship, lost since the middle of the last century, and reinvigorated by the excellent tradition of the Newark school.

The instruments are made to the highest standards using Balkan maple and Bavarian spruce, and they are finished with a traditional chestnut-brown oil-based varnish that is intended to recreate the look of the great English makers Kennedy and Hill.

We have a pair in stock at the moment. They would be eligible for the Take it Away scheme if purchased for a young person under the age of 18.

Rebecca Clarke

I've been spending the last few days getting to know the viola music of Rebecca Clarke, which I first heard "blind" so to speak, not knowing who the composer was.

She was born in 1886, and as far as I can see, must have been one of the first really professional female musicians, working as a violist first in London, where she'd been taught composition by Stanford, and then in the USA. She must have been hot stuff, because she appeared with the likes of Heifetz.

Her most famous composition was the Viola Sonata of 1919 - which was considered too good to have been composed by a "mere woman" - but there are other absolute gems in her admittedly rather small output. Try "Morpheus" or "Lullaby on an Ancient Irish Tune". Each one is a real pleasure.

Try them all - there's a good CD of her compositions on Naxos, played by Philip Dukes and Sonia Rahman, along with Daniel Hope, and our one-time customer Robert Plane (he bought his first wooden clarinet here.)

Ironically in this week of International Womens Day, Rebecca Clarke appears to have been ignored by BBC Radio 3. But her work is so good it doesn't need special pleading.

And Now Some Good News ....

The entire UK music industry is celebrating after the Live Music Bill passed its third reading and report stage in the House of Commons. The Bill, introduced by Lib Dem Peer Tim Clement-Jones and promoted in the Commons by Bath MP Don Foster, should now proceed to Royal Assent.

As a result, small venues wanting to host live music events will no longer need a local authority entertainment licence – cutting bureaucracy and expense, and making it easier for pubs and clubs to host live performances.

The current Licensing Act has created an excess of bureaucracy - making it almost prohibitive for pubs and other small venues to host live gigs. Good to see politicians now doing something constructive, even though a lot of pubs amd small venues have already been closed down for good.