You can't take it with you...

Wormdiet · Post by **Wormdiet** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:33 pm

dhamilingu wrote:Hi folks,

Just a few thoughts on this interesting topic. I like very much the idea of handing them on to young people who will use them. I played school instruments for a number of years when I was learning the trumpet before I could buy my own, and I wish they could have been of a higher quality. Perhaps you could consider giving them to your nearest Comhaltas branch or similar folk music organization and ask them to give them to enthusiastic young players - perhaps as prizes in some kind of competition.

Piggybacking on this suggestion, you could bequeath them to summer schools like Willie week, Boxwood, or Swannanoa to bestow on promising young students.

KateG · Post by **KateG** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 1:07 pm

I like all your suggestions -- they kind of follow our thinking: arrange for the instruments to be sold, giving the executor guidence as to reserve price and selling venue, and the funds to go to designated charities. I don't mind giving nieces and nephews or their as yet unborn children first dibs, if they are actually going to play. But I don't want the instruments sitting in some attic or basement unplayed and deteriorating because of misplaced sentiment or packrat-ism.

Some will definately go to students. In fact some already have. A few years ago I had a secretary whose young son was dying to learn the trombone. Since he was taking time off "real" work to get his degree, there was no way the family could afford a trombone for the boy. I talked to my husband and we ended up giving the boy my husband's old trombone, that he hadn't played in over 30 years. The only stipulation to the gift was that if the boy lost interest, the instrument was not to be sold, but to be given to the school system for placement with another child. I've been thinking I should do something similar with my old Gemeindthart student flute ASAP. It needs a good wash and brush and a new case, but it would do far better in the hands of a budding musician than in a drawer in our living room.

Are there reputable charities that funnel instruments to children that you know of? Our county arts and heritage council is clueless.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:17 pm

I'd try contacting the local school band director - they always need loaner instruments and probably know what you'd need to do.

Eric

glinjack · Post by **glinjack** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:23 pm

If nobody wants them, i could use a couple of martin guitars

Unseen122 · Post by **Unseen122** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:45 pm

I wouldn't mind getting that William's Flute. Maybe Jim Stone and I can share it.

Seriously, it looks like you have some good suggestions to work with. I do like the idea of auctioning for charity.

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:41 pm

Yes, give them to Avery and me.
If we get the Williams flute,
we promise to live forever.

treeshark · Post by **treeshark** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:26 am

Very odd this thread turning up, as I was in will writing mode last week, and pondered the same cheery question. I opted for a note to my executor that they should go to a flute player/teacher I know to give to talented but less well heeled students.
I'm not sure about auctioning on Chiff... how long would it be before somebody smeared curare in your whistle mouthpiece to get at yer flutes?

JS · Post by JS » Sat Apr 01, 2006 6:15 am

Lots of nice and thoughtful suggestions here. I was wondering, since some of these instruments are both unusual and specialized, if a school band sort of program would really put them to the best use? If your estate planning includes the possibility of starting a small family foundation for charitable purposes, perhaps it would be possible to include the instruments in the foundation's assets, but also to arrange for a knowledgeable trustee to approve their use as loaner instruments to musicians who might really need them for learning or for performance. (I'm not an attorney, so you'd need your estate planner to check on how well this would work.) But it might take some of the burden off your executor, who wouldn't have to make an immediate decision about what to do with the instruments as part of closing out the estate.

Never fun to deal with this stuff, but reassuring all the same.

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 7:26 am

jim stone wrote:Yes, give them to Avery and me.
If we get the Williams flute,
we promise to live forever.

That's rather bold.

KateG · Post by **KateG** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:37 am

Hmmm, interesting. Jim Stone and Avery seem to imply that a Williams flute might be the secret of immortality. I'm certainly willing to give it a try!

After all, there might be something to it, look at what music did for Pablo Casals and Andre Segovia. The trick is probably to stay away from amplified music since rock and other popular musicians don't seem to last as long as more traditional sorts.

djm, the clavichord is interesting, but probably has more sentimental than monitary value. My father-in-law built it for my husband back in the 1960's when my husband was in high school. It's one of Zuckerman's early kits. According to Zukerman, the early kits were just generic "clavichords" rather than reproductions of specific historic instruments and they are quite dismissive of them. However it has a sweet sound, very soft and subtle. In fact I might say magical, since I fell in love with my husband because he would play Bach's Well Tempered to me on it when we were courting.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:40 am

thanks for starting this thread. my wife and i are going to be in these same shoes one day. we keep trying to encourage family, friends, and neighbors, especially the children to learn musical instruments. we've made some progress. we also have a massive collection of church music. we moved around quite a bit in our younger days and at every place we joined the church and joined the folk choir and received the collection of books each church used at that time. at this point, we have a large collection of chuch music transposed for guitar, harmonica, and irish whistle and flute. i'm hoping we run across another chuch guitar/harmonica/whistle player in need before we pass over. if not, we may have to notify the disocese newspaper for our church. we also have another collection of all types of secular music transposed again. but that's another story.

Nelson · Post by **Nelson** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:22 am

When I die I will have all my instruments auctioned off at the Augusta Heritage Centre http://www.augustaheritage.com. the reasons are: (1) They have most all ganra, from folk to classic. 2)They have quality players as instructors and students. 3) They have had an on-going auction for years. I bought a whistle there in about 1980. I had a soccer camp at Davis & Elkins College and went to hang out at the Ice House (beer hall) evening. That was the first I saw the place. Even then, there was an instrument auction. Espacially local hammer dossimers. 4) The preceeds from the auction go to funding promising music, dance, and writing students. 5) My mother had 13 siblings and they all had a lot of kids and they mostly dance and play something. Mostly,also, they are rich and can pick and choose their own instruments so I do not want them to fight over mine. They are always wanting to know which one I like best (kids that is, not insturments).

Nelson

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 8:31 am

I've donated several "regular" instruments (i.e., flutes, a cornet, etc.) to local schools. However, if I was you, why not just have them roughly valued, and leave instructions to your executor/trix on not only where to sell or donate them (i.e., on this board, on ebay, to/through your local session pals or musicians' union, to Comhaltas, etc.), but roughly how much they're worth? Even if you donate them, it's VERY important to your estate to have an accurate value. (And you may WANT to donate them depending on the size of your estate and your local estate-tax situation

)

In my case I've simply printed out various comparable sales information from ebay, etc., how much I paid for each instrument, and any special instructions (I have one flute that's already spoken for), and put the info in with all my other stuff in my "If I get hit by a Guinness truck" folder.

You could also arrange to have them contact someone you trust from this board (with that person's permission, of course) to broker the sale and give them a small percentage of the sale price. It could be a friend, or it could be someone who's in the business, i.e., DocJones .... they could at least point your executor in the right direction.

Good luck! That's no fun, but you're taking care of stuff you care about, which is good.

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:11 am

Cathy Wilde wrote: In my case I've simply printed out various comparable sales information from ebay, etc., how much I paid for each instrument, and any special instructions (I have one flute that's already spoken for), and put the info in with all my other stuff in my "If I get hit by a Guinness truck" folder.

Umm, I forget, what time of day do you head out to the end of the drive to check your mail? I'm not yet certain where to find the Guiness truck but.....

Loren

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:30 am

!!!

I think your quote will serve you more reliably than the Guinness truck given that I only get my mail every few days or so. And, of course, being very very nice to me wouldn't hurt, either.

P.S. But if you do manage to mow me down, make sure you have a few open bottles to throw at me, wouldja? After 10 years of teetotaling, I can't imagine a more ironic (and perhaps happy!) end than drowning in the stout stuff!