Music & Instruments

Wood, brass and reeds on one side, circuit boards on the other:

that line decides how well an instrument holds its value. A solid-top guitar, a Yamaha student trumpet or a well-kept button accordion is worth what its condition says for decades. Keyboards and digital pianos and DJ equipment age the way electronics do: the maker replaces the model every few years, the onboard sounds start to date it, and a controller can lose support in newer versions of Serato or rekordbox.

Band instruments for the national holiday parades:

follow a calendar of their own. School bands compete in separate classes for full bands, for bell lyres, and for bugles and drums, and the independent bands, formed by former school band members, add dance steps and stunts to the march: drummers tie cords to their sticks to spin them, and bass drummers hang the drum from a neck strap so they can throw it in the air. That is why bell lyres, trumpets and marching drums are what a family goes looking for once a child joins the band, and what a graduate passes on after the last parade. They are working tools, so judge them on how they play rather than how they shine.

A portable keyboard or a digital piano for lessons:

the choice depends on what the player is learning. A portable keyboard with built-in rhythms and hundreds of voices suits someone playing for fun or at church, and its light keys are easy on small hands. A child taking piano lessons is better off with a digital piano that has full-size weighted keys, because the touch learned on a light keyboard carries over poorly to a real piano. In Panama a 61-key portable keyboard costs under $200 new, while an 88-key weighted digital piano starts around $500 and goes well past $1,000 for a console model with its own stand and bench. Both lose ground every time the maker refreshes its range, and a used one is priced against the newer model that replaced it, not against what it cost. Many keyboards are also sold new without a power adapter, so a used one often turns up with a generic replacement or none at all: check that the voltage and polarity printed beside the socket match the adapter before you plug it in, because the wrong one can damage the instrument.

The trumpet that has marched through several parade seasons:

shows its history in a few places. Press each valve: once oiled it should spring back quickly and quietly, and one that sticks or drags may be worn or bent. Dents in the bell are mostly cosmetic, but a dent in the leadpipe or a tuning slide changes how the horn plays. Pink or reddish blotches on bare brass, often along the leadpipe, mean the metal itself is breaking down, and that repair is not cheap. On a bell lyre, check that every bar is there and sits on its pegs without rattling. On a marching snare or bass drum, look for dents and tears in the heads, turn each tension rod to see that it grips, and make sure the snare wires lie flat against the bottom head.

Passing on an instrument after the last parade or the last lesson:

most used instruments come from a player who has moved on, so say how much it was played and where it was kept. Photograph the maker’s name and serial number, and show the case, the mouthpiece or the keyboard’s adapter and sustain pedal if they are included. Say whether a brass instrument has been serviced or repaired. School bands lend instruments too, so mention that a band instrument was bought privately. A parent coming from Santiago to look at a trumpet for a child about to join the band will often bring the band director or an older player to try it, so keep valve oil to hand: a horn that has sat in its case since the last parade needs a drop before it plays freely.