Musicians?

[nyc_to_japan]

Hey guys! Are any of you musicians? I am a flute player. I'm wondering what other musicians are doing with their instruments/sheet music. I'm making my flute a carry on-usually instruments can be an additional carry on as long as they're not too big. But I don't know what to do about my sheet music! I have SO MUCH of it. I guess I'll have to pare it down to the essentials, but that's like telling someone with five kids to trim it down to the most important two...they all have their special place in your heart, you know? Lots of people suggested scanning it into the computer, but not only do I not have the time, but that's pretty much committing a crime. I don't mean a legal crime - I mean a musical crime. The thought of playing off computer printouts for an entire year is horrifying.

So, should I ship it over at book rate? Is that gonna cost me a million dollars? What are you all doing/have you all done? I could put a couple essentials in my suitcase and ship the rest, but what if Mozart feels essential while I'm packing but Jolivet feels essential when I arrive?!

Any and all advice is welcome!! Thank you in advance!

Also, anyone want to start a gaijin chamber group? LOL (this is jumping the gun since we have no idea where we will be, but I can't help but ask anyway!)

[Kirari]

Ah, a hardcore flautist! I have known one of two in my lifetime.

I used to play alto sax back in high school (marching/concert/jazz band, as well as with my county concert band). But since that was millenia ago, I think I've probably forgotten how. I'd love to wallow in memories while you all do a jam session at the hotel, though~

[merkypie]

I play the tenor sax and I plan on bringing it with me to Japan. I play primarily jazz cause I love the jazz but luckily I don't have a ton of sheet music, just a fake book and four jazz bandscores. Have you ever thought of just scanning it and converting it all to PDF?

[bananathursdays]

I love music and have a minor in it from college, but I'm mainly into choir. I also play a little clarinet, though, and I'm thinking about trying to learn trumpet. I had to learn the basics of most instruments in my classes, and trumpet interested me the most.
I tried learning flute, but was told I'm one of those people that don't have the proper mouth shape for it? haha oh well.

[lostandranting]

I play a few instruments, primarily guitar. None of my instruments are super fancy, though, so I plan on just leaving them behind and using the money I would have spent on shipping them over in order to buy a new guitar / violin / something when I get over there. I might also bring a harmonica just to have something until I get settled in.

As for what to do with sheet music, it depends just how dear it is to you. If it isn't worth the price of shipping it over (which it wouldn't be for me), you might have to suck it up and do high quality scans of your favorite music. You could then get some specialty paper to print it off on. It beats printer paper, even if it's not perfect.

[eFred]

When I saw this thread I assumed there was a band being formed. I even thought of a name... The JETsters. I thought it was particularly fetching. I would buy a CD by a band called The JETsters! [Or download their debut album off mp3boo at least...]

Nevertheless...

I have never owned a bought guitar before and I'd be too worried sick if I brought my own so I'll be looking forward to picking up a cheap guitar to play with while I'm there. But most importantly, I'd like to play a Japanese instrument. Preferably a string instrument. That I will master and sky rocket into fame.

So while I wait for them to upgrade me, I'm working on my award winning speech.

ありがとうございます-ter. *wink*

Ps. This is all hypothetical. After all, I'm on the alternate list for now.

[ljoekelsoey4]

YESSS!!!! avid pianist and mecurial guitarist - im going to really struggle if i dont have access to a piano somewhere in japan tbh. might have to buy a digital one...

[lostandranting]

But most importantly, I'd like to play a Japanese instrument. Preferably a string instrument.

I was thinking about that too. I need to research and see what instruments I would be interested in playing (and wouldn't upset the neighbors).

When I saw this thread I assumed there was a band being formed. I even thought of a name... The JETsters.

Genius. Good luck getting placed, and if you end up near me count me in!

[nyc_to_japan]

Hey guys, thanks for the info!

I've thought of scanning in all of my music, but I have SO MUCH of it that it'd be like scanning in all 7 Harry Potter books because you don't want to bring them in your luggage - tons of effort. Plus, lots of music is oversized, which will make for annoying scanning as well as printing because it'll be hard to read. Also, I could scan all of my flute parts, but then most pieces also have piano parts, and I can't give a photocopy to a pianist or they'll give me death glares for the inconvenient page turning.

I have a flute teacher in Japan who I've only studied with in the U.S., but he's one of my favorite flutists and is very successful and amazing, and so I want to take lessons with him while I'm there, and also take some masterclasses, but if you show up at a masterclass or lesson with a photocopy, they'd probably spend your entire time slot lecturing you on why photocopying is the most terrible thing in the world, and/or kick you off the stage, haha. I've seen this happen before. Also, many of my pieces of music I have had for years, and so it would be heartbreaking and weird to play off some weird photocopy or something that doesn't have all my markings and everything on it in original pencil.

Do you guys think shipping it over is the best option? I mean, when I've moved in the past, I just put it in sturdy boxes and put it in the car/van/whatever, but obviously I can't do that this time! My sheet music is very important to me - my major in undergrad and grad school was flute, and I'm definitely going to keep it going while I'm in Japan, and try to perform as much as I can, so I'll definitely need my original copies.

And that's awesome about the traditional instruments - have you all considered the shamisen? It's a great string instrument. I'm really interested in learning the shakuhachi flute and plan on doing so when I get to Japan.

And I'm totally down for starting a JET band, if you'll let a flute player in, LOL.

and ljoekelsoey4 - maybe your school will have a piano you can use sometimes! A digital piano might be the way to go, though. Maybe you can find a used one for fairly cheap. Are you a classical pianist? Flute/piano duo?! LOL

[eFred]

Can we be like Rin'? I want to be like Rin'. That totally justifies a flute. This is so exciting. Who plays violin? Who can have lots of violinists! All dramatic like. *claps hands* so much fun!

We'll be really different. And cool. Always cool.

Edit. Oh! We can all divide into countries and have a battle of the countries! With a film crew! And a tv show! But in real life.

[Sairus]

I'm awful at music, but I'm trying to learn the Tin Whistle at the moment. Every Irish school goer is made learn the tin whistle growing up, so I figured it'd be a fun thing to show to my future students

[nyc_to_japan]

Can we be like Rin'? I want to be like Rin'. That totally justifies a flute. This is so exciting. Who plays violin? Who can have lots of violinists! All dramatic like. *claps hands* so much fun!

We'll be really different. And cool. Always cool.

Edit. Oh! We can all divide into countries and have a battle of the countries! With a film crew! And a tv show! But in real life.

OMG, I had never heard of Rin and I just looked them up and found a youtube video of one of their songs and I was like, "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD" because it's AMAZING!

Yes, let's be like Rin!! With a music battle reality show, hahaha!! YESS

[ljoekelsoey4]

and ljoekelsoey4 - maybe your school will have a piano you can use sometimes! A digital piano might be the way to go, though. Maybe you can find a used one for fairly cheap. Are you a classical pianist? Flute/piano duo?! LOL

yes! chopin mainly, but i like rachmaninov, scriabin, anything thats dark and brooding basically :L do you play jazz flute? id be willing to learn jazz just to play duet with jazz flute

[nyc_to_japan]

I'v

yes! chopin mainly, but i like rachmaninov, scriabin, anything thats dark and brooding basically :L do you play jazz flute? id be willing to learn jazz just to play duet with jazz flute

I've done a few jazz gigs, but I've never soloed before - but I could probably figure a few things out. There's a lot of fun pieces for flute and piano, like the Bolling suites, that are written out jazz - kinda corny, but fun. Or a piece called "Sonata Latino" by Mike Mower that's really awesome because it's latin-jazz sounding and really fun! I always want to play those pieces, but they are not considered "serious" enough to play in masterclasses and whatnot because they're so niche-y. I would imagine they'd be fairly popular in Japan, though, because jazz is so popular. Unless the popularity of "real" jazz makes these pieces less popular? LOL. But these are "real" - it's just that often when classical players play them, they're a bit stiff and classical sounding. In the right hands, though, they're awesome!

[lostandranting]

nyc_to_japan,

If you need the originals then yes, it seems like shipping is your only option. If you figure out what the pricing is like I'm sure several of us would be interested to know.