Saunders Recorders
News Letterjohn@saundrecs.co.uk
From time to time I get puzzled comments over the phone from people who have had their email bounce back. They arise because the url that shows in your address bar is a shortened form that seemed a good idea many years ago. More recently I was able to purchase a domain with the long, user friendly, url that I advertise. Either will work. But not a corrupted version combining elements of each. Clicking a link or copying and pasting a url is always the most reliable appproach. If you type a url you must get the spelling right. With apologies to the meerkat...
'My domain is saundersrecorders.com. Not SaundAnyThingElse.com. Eeeek. The answer is simples.'
Those of you who actually met Stanley will be especially saddened to learn that he died on 19th. February. He was nearly 16 years old, as far as we could tell, and we were hopeful that some dental treatment would improve the quality of his remaining life, but he died under the pre-med anaesthetic.
Now that even low end of the market computers are so fast and competant I have made my pdf listing more accessible, and, at the suggestion of a client, it now always opens full screen, or in a new tab, instead of within one of my 'frames'. (You may need to adjust your browser options to take full advantage of tabs.) You can search this list by title or any fragment of the detail of what you are looking for. Everything I stock is listed there. There is even a section devoted to items no longer available.
UK VAT has increased to 17.5%. For the time being I will absorb this, but I will be reviewing my prices and many will have to go up. Inevitably, when one looks hard at everything, anomalies are found and corrected so there may be some surprises.
Having had a 'bright idea' I have altered the coding for my pages of music. Unless you are using a text only browser you are unlikely to notice any change. If you are curious you will find that the blank space at the start of every line listing the composition is now occupied by an invisible image. The image is named as the composer. The point of this is that search engines will find the work more easily, and text only browsers, as used by surfers with sight difficulties, will have the composer listed alongside every composition. If I had done this with normal text the page would be very cluttered. Internet Explorer users can see the new text by hovering over the space. Mozilla users have to right click the space and select 'Properties'. I do not think Mac users with Safari will be able to access the new text, I can't with Safari working in Windows. Do let me know you have any thoughts on the new coding. Especially if it causes any difficulties.
Please delete all references to my old 'Freeserve' web identity, both the pages and email address, from your records. Orange are switching it off. I am particularly annoyed at the amount of time (and doubtless, money) I spent talking to a 'help' line trying to find out how to keep it 'activated' when I was locked out of their network.
Many of you will have received a free descant recorder and publicity material through the post recently. I have had recorders from the same factory in my lists for a long time, under different brand names. One has to be careful to avoid some of their production as it is very unsatisfactory. The leaflets that came with your free recorder have significant inconsistances between the product described and the one illustrated. In general, I would advise you to avoid buying a brand that the supplier does not understand sufficiently well to describe properly. You should certainly not believe everything you read in publicity leaflets. The actual recorder is reasonable value and significantly cheaper than the models I prefer and recommend. If price is a serious issue it is better than many cheap recorders. However, whether it is a 'good buy' or not depends on how you value your time and in particular the time you (or your child, or your pupil) spends playing the recorder. The price of a thoroughly satisfactory plastic descant recorder is insignificant when compared to the cost of tuition.
I've had trouble with my main computer locking up and demanding disc scans at boot up. After wasting quite a lot of time investigating complicated issues I realised that it was all down to my PS/2 optical mouse. Not dead but intermittent. (I offered it to Stanley, but he was not the least bit interested.) In the end I cut off its tail and re-attached it. (A fiddly job, but by no means on a par with brain surgery.) Its two inches shorter now and works perfectly. All sorts of minor niggles have gone away. Mice are so cheap that if you have any suspicions I suggest that you treat yourself to a new one. I'm not sure if this applies to the Manx variety, but you never know! It never does any harm to treat one to a tasty new pair of batteries.
My information page is getting longer. As a result of recent emailed queries I have added notes on 'Clogging' and 'Thumb Hole Bushing'. I've been asked if I've written a book on recorders, with the suggestion that perhaps I should. If I do, the basis of it will be my information web page, tidied up and properly organised for hard copy. I see that Tim has expanded his web page, with pictures, to produce the little book mentioned below.
I now have some copies of Tim Cranmore's book 'Obedience Training for Recorders'. Its a good entertaining read. A copy will live on my bookshelf near to 'Windows XP for Dummies' and the Haynes 'Apollo 11 Workshop Manual' that I'm putting on my Xmas wish list.
I'm sorry the next bit is rather technical. If you've had trouble yourself it may provide answers. Otherwise, just skip a couple of paragraphs!
The issue described in the next paragraph won't lie down! I let my lap-top update itself to IE8 and the site looked terrible... huge open spaces and text too small to read. It took me a long time to realise what was going on. Do not overlook the zoom function lurking in the bottom right corner of the window. It is best to have it set at 100% or bigger. Smaller is like looking down the wrong end of a telescope. OE6 messages had gone the same way and you can now find a zoom level control in the message window tool bar if you look hard enough. (I did try to go back to a restore point but everything was screwed up... no tools bars in IE7 and non working keys in OE6. I think the lesson must be. 'Microsoft is perfect, you can back out of other software but we won't allow you to back out of ours.') My shop software depends on DOS and Windows, unfortunately. However, I have found a way of integrating it within a 'virtual machine' in Linux (Ubuntu 8.4). I may start using Linux at my main workstation.
Following the last work on the site, which I first wrote for display on SVGA screens, (600 x 800) seven or eight years ago, the tables no longer spread across the whole width of modern, wide, screens. I hope you find this an improvement. Do let me know if any aspect of my pages gives you problems. I was finding the width issue an annoyance when I bought a new laptop and resolved it by re-sizing my browser's window. Then, a client mentioned it to me and after a little thought I found a solution that does not spoil the presentation for 'legacy' machines. Indeed, I brought one such out of retirement to check the situation. If you are a regular viewer and wondered where the wide open spaces either side of the lists came from you now know. If you look again you will find that they have been replaced by my textured greenish background. I've used it to spice up my home page as well.
While I was 'at it', I have done some spring cleaning. Many discontinued items have been removed.
My page of music for solo recorder has suddenly got a lot longer! There are very few new works but I have added all the pieces in the four Forsyth 'Pieces for Solo Recorder' volumes individually. It will make it easier for us all to find them, and hopefully, whet your appetite.
There is a new picture and a few more notes on my page about the production of top notes. You may find it interesting and, perhaps, reassuring.
I regret that the present unfavourable sterling exchange rate is now working through to my stock. I have had to make some significant price increases and more will inevitably follow as I restock.
On 29th. Dec. 2008 I had one of my periodic mad updating sessions and altered most of my site pages in ways that are not visible. As a result of this that date has become a new datum mark. It will gradually fade into the past! As part of a 'Spring cleaning' exercise some old comments on this page have been deleted. I have found that my lists can be a little difficult to follow, if maximised in wide screen mode. (I have bought a new lap-top.) The answer is to re-size your browser window a little wider than the line of navigation buttons across the top of the page. (Click here if you can't see them.
In a change to my previous practice I have added details of privately owned instruments to my used instrument listing. There is a separate page. I look upon it as a 'small ads' page and will be happy to expand it (for a negotiable fee, depending on the amount of work involved, about £5.00 each item). It is linked from my used recorder list but you can go to it directly by clicking here. My first client has already sold both of his instruments.
I have added a pdf version of the latest Trinity Guildhall diploma lists to the folder of Trinity Guildhall information. My version includes edition numbers. It has taken hours to produce, I hope you find the information useful.
Some of you may have noticed a general tidying up of my linked pages, its taken me a long time, but I think it has been worth doing. It makes navigation easier. While I've been at it I've expanded a few pages. There is now more information on my recorder qualities page, the valuation page and on my flute page.
As a result of an awkward encounter on the phone regarding the playing of high quality trebles I have added to my comments on top notes, top F# in particular. Perhaps I should have taken this bug bear more seriously. It has previously been 'off my radar'. If the recorder is not your 'first instrument' it is hard to appreciate that even a high quality treble is not guaranteed to produce this note. This situation is not unique. An experienced flute player shopping for a piccolo will always ask 'Will it play top B?'. Most of them don't! I have four piccolos and only one will produce top B. Its not my first choice instrument, but if I ever have to play for the Shostakovitch piano concerto again it will be the one that I use.
The business phone now rings at my home. I am still in a state of partially organised chaos (I think I always will be!) but I am now back up to my former standard of delivery (usually the next day). There is an answer-phone/fax connected as before. Be prepared to be greeted by it. I cannot delay its pickup by more than four rings. Please listen to the message, it gives me an extra 16 seconds to get to the phone, or find the cordless extension. (Like the TV 'remote', so aptly named, it is often out of reach.) I work at the top of a very tall Victorian house and running up and down three flights of stairs is doing wonders for my figure. Please do not use my private line for business purposes. If at all possible, place orders and make enquiries by email, fax, or ordinary mail.
I am visitable (by appointment, Mondays and Tuesdays are preferred) and live not far from the location of the old shop (now a barber's shop). The rail service to the nearby Clifton Down station seems good and several visitors have used it. I will happily let you know my address, but I do not want to publish it on the web. If you need something urgently please telephone me. I am prepared to deliver goods myself, without charge, within the Bristol area and perhaps further afield, depending on where you are.
I now have a new postal address. You can find it on the overview page. Do not try to visit me there. The 'Unit' in question is (literally) about the size of a shoe box!
If you fancy combining recorder playing with a holiday in France you may be interested in the courses run by one of my clients. Click here for details.
I have found that my stock list in pdf format works very well indeed with Acrobat 6 and presumably later versions. Do try it, if you are looking for something but don't know much about it. (Click here.)
I am receiving music orders for holiday courses and summer schools. Please bear in mind that this is an unusual and fairly unpredictable demand. I may not have sufficient copies in stock to provide my usual almost instant service. Indeed, at times, not even the publisher's main UK agent has sufficient stock. When the date of the course gets close do not rely on me, or any other dealer, to be able to supply you without delay. Sometimes the music is not actually printed when the set works list is published. Be prepared, order early, and do some practice! If you are a course organiser, for goodness sake, find out what the supply position is before setting the course music. You can run the list past me first, for me to check out if you like. It will save a lot of agony in the long term.
I've been able to get some more A=415 tuning forks (at £14.95). More expensive than my last stock, but if you want one, nothing else will do.
Please let me know if you find misprints in any of my listed music. I have learned a little more coding and can add correction notes to the listings. The first of these at the end of the study section. The popular 11 Studies by Ton v.d. Valk, HU 3237 has several. You may like to check your opinion against those of other musicians.
Several times I have been asked for advertising
copy to go in programmes and such like. To make everyone's life easier I have
produced some standard advertisements, in pdf and Word format, and uploaded
them to my web site. The link is on the overview page, or HERE. Select the
format best suited to your needs. V is portrait and H is landscape format.
Please do not be afraid to approach me for payment in respect of advertising.
I have a small pile of the current ABRSM syllabus and also the new Trinity Guildhall syllabus. You may request a (free) copy
with music orders. The recorder pages of the Trinity Guildhall diploma syllabus are available from a link in my Examination Publications page.
Do please explore the site by checking "Other Topics" or other pages on the
menu provided. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time answering queries
for which links to complete answers are already in place. All my pages link
back to a central selection menu.
I would like to state my support for the AB's on-going campaign reduce the
illegal reproduction of copyright music. Their attack is a bit too strong for
permanent inclusion on this page, click here to find out why!
Best Wishes
John Everingham FTCL
john@saundrecs.co.uk
| 