Dropping your instrument

Kar · Post by **Kar** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:33 am

I dropped my violin last night during my lesson--my teacher was coaching me on my bowhold and I got so distracted with concentrating on that, I looked over too far at him and lost the tension and the thing just dropped. Luckily, I managed to deflect it from the WOOD coffee table I was standing next to so it hit the relatively soft carpet instead. AND it's an old instrument that was not cared for and doesn't play so well and was banged up anyway....but am I glad I didn't have a rental or worse, my teacher's! My fiddle survived the fall and I think will be fine.

However, it got me thinking...I've heard whistle players say they worry about dropping the whistle. Well, most of them are plastic or metal--you can drop 'em and they come up none the worse for wear. Witness the Village Smithy, designed to be run over by a car and live. I never quite appreciated this quality of whistles before.

Because now I'm going to be playing something that is, at some point, going to be expensive and could conceivably be totally ruined if I drop it....AND you don't even hold it with your hands! Yikes!

Anyone have stories of dropping their instrument that would make me feel better about my clutziness?

glauber · Post by **glauber** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:35 am

Sorry, no.

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:37 am

Well, there is one among us who dropped his brand new plastic low D whistle the day after he got it and shattered it completely. No one knows how or why, but there you have it. I'll let him fill in the details.

I've had most or all of my whistles roll on the floor. But I've never dropped one playing. And if a whistle can't take a fair amount of punishment, it's not for me.

lollycross · Post by **lollycross** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:38 am

Yes, I dropped my Whistle on stage right before a show.
The fipple came apart and I had to push it back together. I
was petrified I had ruined it. It hasn't come apart again, so I
guess all is o.k.; I hope,
Lolly

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:39 am

Kar wrote:...AND you don't even hold it with your hands!

?????

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:05 pm

My daughter dropped an Oak on its mouthpiece once, and the mouthpiece shattered. I dropped a Thin Weasel Bflat, and the mouthpiece ring got knocked out of whack. Glenn fixed it at no charge. The man's a saint.

I do sometimes leave a flute on a counter in the kitchen. That worries me, because if it dropped onto the ceramic floor (the Oak fell from all of a foot when it shattered), I think it would do major damage.

antstastegood · Post by **antstastegood** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:05 pm

For a little while in junior high I played the trombone. I lost grip of the slide once, and it came all the way off, dropping hard on the floor. It got a little dent, but it lived.

Nanohedron wrote:
Kar wrote:...AND you don't even hold it with your hands!
?????

A theremin?

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:08 pm

antstastegood wrote:For a little while in junior high I played the trombone. I lost grip of the slide once, and it came all the way off, dropping hard on the floor. It got a little dent, but it lived.

Nanohedron wrote:
Kar wrote:...AND you don't even hold it with your hands!
?????
A theremin?

That was my next thought.

TonyHiggins · Post by **TonyHiggins** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:24 pm

I was playing whistle for a grade school music class (recorder class). I had a Harper D aluminum, which is thick walled and tough. I shook it hard to get rid of condensation and threw it to the floor. It bounced off the carpet. The kids looked stunned, as did I, I'm sure.

I had a similar incident with a brass Burke d, which I shook and smacked against a picnic table bench and dented the end. I felt nauseated. I mostly straightened it out at home with a pliers.

The worst thing was when I had my Copeland low d brass leaning against a swivel living room chair at Weekender's house. I swiveled and the whistle got pinched by the chair and put a dent near the tuning slide. I put poison in Weekender's beer, but then I felt bad and poured it down the sink before he took a sip. I sent the whistle to Copeland and got it fixed and had them improve the voicing at the same time, which was cool. I asked for lower air requirements if it didn't take anything from the tone. The low end got stronger, which was a bonus.
Tony

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:35 pm

Bloomfield wrote:And if a whistle can't take a fair amount of punishment, it's not for me.

I hear Overtons are sometimes used as jackhammer bits in a pinch.

FJohnSharp · Post by **FJohnSharp** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:37 pm

One day I found my Generation tube with a crease in it, like it had been sat on or stepped on. No one owned up to it. I suspect the kids. They hate the whistle.

Redwolf · Post by **Redwolf** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:38 pm

I haven't dropped an expensive whistle (yet!), but when I was 16, I dropped my guitar. I was standing, with the guitar on a strap, resting my arms on top, when the end pin pulled out...dropping my beloved 12-sting onto a linoleum floor! There was quite a bit of crazed cracking on the back near where it hit, but the good people at my favorite music store were able to stabilize it so it wouldn't get any worse.

To this day, that moment defined "heartsick" for me. Aside from the fact that no one wants to injure a well-loved instrument, my family was poor...the only reason I had a really nice guitar was I'd inherited it from another family member, and if it hadn't been fixable (which I managed with my babysitting money), that would have been the end of guitar playing for me.

Redwolf

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:45 pm

TonyHiggins wrote:
The worst thing was when I had my Copeland low d brass leaning against a swivel living room chair at Weekender's house. I swiveled and the whistle got pinched by the chair and put a dent near the tuning slide. I put poison in Weekender's beer, but then I felt bad and poured it down the sink before he took a sip. I sent the whistle to Copeland and got it fixed and had them improve the voicing at the same time, which was cool. I asked for lower air requirements if it didn't take anything from the tone. The low end got stronger, which was a bonus.
Tony

Wow...what a polite guest!! I had no idea this happened. Well, maybe not the poison part but you know what I mean. So sorry!!!

Darwin · Post by **Darwin** » Thu May 06, 2004 1:00 pm

When I first got it, I was playing my Burke aluminum D in the bathroom, getting all those good overtones, and dropped it on the countertop.

Didn't even get a scratch.

Kar, you might be interested in the neckstrap that I made for my fiddle. I was having trouble holding it, and didn't yet know about shoulder rests, so I took a strip of soft split leather, about 1.5 inches wide, made a hole in the middle, and sewed Velcro to each end. Then I removed the tailpiece from the fiddle, slipped the tailpiece pin into the hole, and replaced the tailpiece.

The Velcro strips were about two inches long, so it was absolutely secure. I could stop playing and let the fidlle just hang there--they're pretty light, so weight was no problem. The only problem was that a few more-sophisticated musicians laughed when they saw it. I didn't care, though, because it took all the tension out of holding it, allowing me to concentrate on fingering and bowing.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Thu May 06, 2004 1:17 pm

I like that ideam, Mike.. Fiddles seem so fragile when they are laid down and if they have that chinrest on em, it seems that they don't sit right in their cases.