Buying School Instruments

One of the largest expenditures of every band is for buying instruments. Most schools own almost all of the background instruments — tubas, sousaphones, baritone saxophones, bass clarinets, bass drums, concert percussion and others.

School instruments seem to take more of a beating than privately owned instruments, possibly because most are large and unwieldy. As a result you'll find them continuously in need of replacement. If you are successful in getting the band to grow, you'll also need to add more background instruments each year.

Most school systems provide a yearly band budget to cover instrument replacement and additions. School band budgets are never big enough to buy all the instruments a band needs, or to replace instruments as soon as they would be in an ideal situation. However, some advance planning and budgeting can help you accomplish as much as possible with the funds that are available.

A well-thought out budget and a plan can be a powerful tool in convincing a superintendent and/or a school board that school money is being spent wisely and that additional amounts are needed. If you do a budget or decide to put together a budget presentation, your rep can probably help you with typical instrumentations, and the costs and life-expectancies of school instruments. He might also be able to provide some sample budgets and formats.

When it's time to buy instruments, your rep or the Amro in-store reps can help you choose which models of each instrument would be the best for your band and can give you estimates of what they will cost. Also, Amro often has good used school instruments in stock.

Most of the instruments that schools purchase require some time for delivery, and the most popular brands and models are often completely sold out by the factory during certain times of the year. Therefore, it's good practice to begin the purchasing process at least a couple of months before you need the instruments. Marching instruments (drums, marching tubas and other marching brass) typically need to be ordered early in the summer; by the beginning of marching season they are often sold out or have long delivery waits. If your budget money is not available until July 1 or August 1, we can usually place your order with the understanding that the items shouldn't be billed and delivered until after the date you specify. To keep relations smooth with your administration, you will probably want to get their OK on this.

Another option for acquiring school-owned instruments is leasing. With this plan the school pays yearly lease payments to the lease company. At the end of a period of two to five years the instruments belong to the school. This is a good way for a school to get expensive instruments that it needs now when it has only a portion of the funds in each year's budget. In considering whether this plan is right for you, you should be aware of several of its drawbacks. First, it costs slightly more to buy instruments by this method. Second, it commits your funds for 2-5 years during which time you'll probably have more needs. Third, there is some paperwork involved; including having the principal or superintendent sign the leases. Finally, you might have to get the school board to approve it.

Amro's prices on school-owned instruments are calculated on a cost-plus basis; the small plus amount is meant to cover the expenses of freight and processing. Although purchases of school instruments can be a significant expenditure for the school, it actually doesn't represent a source of profit for the music store or your rep. Most of the price goes to the factory as the wholesale cost of the instruments.

You'll generally find Amro's prices for school instruments lower than most other companies. If Amro's price is not the lowest of your bids, neither Amro nor your rep will be disappointed if you order from the lower bidder. School policy generally requires that you order from the lowest bidder provided product and service are equal. Sometimes when you need an unusual school instrument, your rep might even suggest that you also get a bid on it from a certain supplier who can provide a better price on that particular product. For the vast majority of instruments, though, you'll find Amro's prices to be the lowest available to you.