Andante cantabile
Well-Known Member
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A disclaimer: I know nothing about Crane saxophones, and they are not on my buying horizon. So are about 98 other brands. So, no reflection on Crane or anything else.
A good saxophone has to saisfy several criteria. Among these are: no leaks, in tune and reasonable ergonomics. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get something that satisfies the basic criteria.
It so happens that yesterday I read the entry on saxophones in the Grove dictionary of musical instruments. This seems to have been written some years ago when the American saxophone industry was thriving, but it is still worth reading. The author observes that although producers are in the habit of bringing out new models every year or so, the improvements generally are of marginal value. This suggest that if the basic model is sound in the first place, the average player should consider carefully how to spend the money.
As for the skills of Brazilian footballers, it has nothing to do with playing on sand, and it has everything to with the popularity in Brazil of football which induces lots of boys (and maybe some girls) to try to emulate the stars. It is quite similar to the argument in Michael Porter's Competitive Advantage of Nations where he makes a convincing argument that industries that concentrated in certain geographical locations (e.g. textile machinery in Milan, printing machinery near Frankfurt, etc.) are likely to more innovative and competitive. This is because the pool of skilled participants in the industry becomes much greater. An earlier example may well have been the saxophone industry in Elkhart until tastes in consumer changes wiped it out, and now of course the Taiwanese industry in Houli.
A good saxophone has to saisfy several criteria. Among these are: no leaks, in tune and reasonable ergonomics. You don't need to spend a lot of money to get something that satisfies the basic criteria.
It so happens that yesterday I read the entry on saxophones in the Grove dictionary of musical instruments. This seems to have been written some years ago when the American saxophone industry was thriving, but it is still worth reading. The author observes that although producers are in the habit of bringing out new models every year or so, the improvements generally are of marginal value. This suggest that if the basic model is sound in the first place, the average player should consider carefully how to spend the money.
As for the skills of Brazilian footballers, it has nothing to do with playing on sand, and it has everything to with the popularity in Brazil of football which induces lots of boys (and maybe some girls) to try to emulate the stars. It is quite similar to the argument in Michael Porter's Competitive Advantage of Nations where he makes a convincing argument that industries that concentrated in certain geographical locations (e.g. textile machinery in Milan, printing machinery near Frankfurt, etc.) are likely to more innovative and competitive. This is because the pool of skilled participants in the industry becomes much greater. An earlier example may well have been the saxophone industry in Elkhart until tastes in consumer changes wiped it out, and now of course the Taiwanese industry in Houli.
