blog
Last week I found myself thinking about visiting a music store on the weekend!
This urge was probably triggered by some reports and commercials I saw about new synthesizers on the market and some of them really made me curious.
Especially BEHRINGER seem to have released some interesting instruments and I was particularly interested in their SOLINA String Ensemble.
Before the Pandemia I often went to music shops, like probably most musicians, always looking out for new and interesting stuff.
But when Saturday came, there was an idea for a song in my mind and I sat down at the piano to play and see what comes out.
It wasn’t too successful, my concentration slipped away, I just sat there with my hands still on the keys…
Like many times before, I noticed the beauty of this old instrument.
It’s a baby Grand, only 1.50m long and it was built in 1926 by Carl Mandt.
He called it “Glocken-Flügel” (bell shaped grand) after its unique shape.
Like many times before I thought about how it survived WW II, how many students it had seen in its life, how much joy but also desperation it has felt and that – despite of its age – it will most likely still be here when I am gone.
When I came back from my short journey of the mind it was clear that I would neither go to the Shop nor buy a new instrument unless there would be no possibility to get a used one. What happened?
Well, I can't imagine nowadays instruments have more than around 10 years until they fall apart (ok, might be a bit exaggerated but you get my point;-)
There are great vintage synths and keyboards available which exist since about 30 years and still work fine. Hard to face but isn’t it just more plastic and less quality?
It’s even easier when it’s about recording. Thousands of great Plugins available, even replicas of famous synths. They might not always sound like the real thing but it’s a small sacrifice compared to polluting the world even more.
On the other hand: how many people do you know who are still able to repair vintage instruments? Where get the spare parts if they are sold out over the years?
Wouldn’t it be great to have a new culture of “repairing”?
Musicians don’t live on a pretty, peaceful island (although we sometimes feel as if we would ;-), we are as responsible as the rest of the world for our and the following generations future.
Let’s think twice before we surrender to GEAR G.A.S.!