One of the attendees of the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Tobias Haecker, wrote an interesting article reviewing the exhibitors he found most interesting. MusicMedic.com was naturally one of the vendors he mentioned:

“MusicMedic.com is a major American online store that principally offers a large selection of repair and construction tools/materials for wind instruments. In the past I have purchased their saxophone repair kit, for example, which has helped me out on quite a few occasions. I took the opportunity this year to acquire another spring hook, since one cannot simply buy one at the home improvement store around the corner, after all. On Friday they even turned out to be my life-savers, when shortly before a performance I suddenly discovered that the neck octave pad was missing. Frantically, I ran to their booth and they actually managed to fix it right there! For that, I would like to thank the awesome and friendly people from MusicMedic.com once more!”

You can find the whole article on Haecker's blog at http://saxophonistisches.de/neues-von-d ... esse-2012/

Wow, so much has happened since my last blog post! The good people of MusicMedic.com have literally been running around non-stop, keeping up with orders, helping customers, fixing horns... It's been wonderfully busy here at MusicMedic.com and I've just been too busy to post. Thanks everyone for all your great work!

So what's new? Rich and I went to Frankfurt in March for the annual Musikmesse. It was Rich's first trip to Germany and we had a great time. Thanks so much to Ken Coon for bridging the language gap by helping us translate at the booth.

The Messe in Frankfurt is always a joy. So many technicians from all over Europe that we don't usually see at Napbirt in the US. In fact, after all these years of going to the Messe in Frankfurt, I truly look forward to to the meetings with various technicians and notice when they don't show up! All of us love our extended European family!

The only problem is that there were so many of them at the show that we simply couldn't stop to take pictures of all of them. So instead you get a small selection below. Most of these were taken on the first day.

Right after we got home from Frankfurt Rich and I went to NAPBIRT. I recently gave a full day clinic on Tuning and Toning at the NAPBIRT training center but this was Riches first time there. What an amazing place, what an amazing facility, what an amazing group of people there, both in the organization and running the organization! BRAVO to everyone. Long live NAPBIRT.

If you attended my left hand clinic, which I performed very much under the weather, I apologize for being so sick. And to the person who threw the tomato from the back of the room: I know who you are!!

Since my last blog post we also have some new additions to the MusicMedic.com team. Christina is our talented multilingual graphics wizard. She is from Germany and has a degree in English and Film from UNC Wilmington. In the ProShop we now have Ryan, an exceptional all-around technician, who collects saxophones in his free time. Ryan has a degree in Music Education and Music
Performance from Virginia Tech. Ryan worked as a private music instructor and repair technician for years. I'm glad that Ryan made the plunge and moved with his family from Virginia. In the ProShop, Ryan quickly made his mark as a padder/finisher. With a ton of knowledge, enthusiasm and skill, Ryan's work is a welcome addition to the ProShop!

Right now I am getting ready to head to Australia and Vietnam. Australia for the regional NAPBIRT conference followed by a trip to visit the Tenon factory in Vietnam. For your information, in Australia "Flip Flops" are called "Thongs" -I learned that one the hard way...

Tomorrow I get all my vaccines up to date and I'm off!


Der Honig en Deutchland es Super!




The German Rathaus. Which is, in fact, not a house full of rodents, but the local town hall.




While walking around the Rathaus I peered through a window and saw this flier. Pretty great to see my good friends in the RSQ so prominently displayed in such an amazing place! In the ProShop, we've had the pleasure of overhauling 2 of those horns!

The Indiana University Southeast is offering a Summer Saxophone Workshop from June 17-24, 2012 in New Albany, IN! If you are 15+ and either live nearby or are willing to travel, this is a great learning opportunity for you! Check out their flier below:



Don't miss this awesome week full of coaching, discussions, performances, and fun with fellow saxophonists!

For more information, click here to visit their website.

The Mana Quartet (RooPad endorsers!) are giving another summer workshop! Past workshops have been very well received and past attendees we've talked to have been thrilled with the two weeks of music and merriment! Don't miss your chance to spend time with the Mana Quartet from June 2-16 in Chestertown, MD!



The participants in the program will get the chance to perform in saxophone orchestras, small ensembles & master classes, and will receive private instruction and attend seminars and concerts.

Don't miss a great workshop by this fabulous saxophone quartet!


http://manaquartet.com/national.html

Check out the above link for more information and how to apply.

Day two of the Messe was somehow even busier than day one! For those of you that go to trade shows, you can appreciate the fun and excitement of a busy day on the trade show floor. In Frankfurt at the Messe, the excitement can be even more for us. One never knows what will happen. For instance, as I'm writing this blog, I'm sitting in a station wagon on the Autobahn traveling at about 180kph, headed to a Rascher Saxophone Quartet concert with an advisor to a musical instrument maker and the tuba player with the Beijing Phil.

I'm sure Rich had no idea coming to the show that he would be giving demonstrations in the morning to 10 Japanese repair students, none of which spoke English! What a day!



I said goodbye today to my good friends from Holland and talked repair to so many technicians I can't count. Getting ideas from other repairers is total geek joy for me, and even more so, talking with repairers from other countries who have dealt with odd problems and found completely unique solutions. It was really something. I was approached by a couple manufacturers to help improve their instruments and I believe I might get on board.

Speaking of great improvements, I was really happy to see that many of the ideas that Theo and I talked about had been implemented on his saxophone, the Mantra. Gone are the days when only a large volume manufacturer can make a difference. Theo is really trying to do something great with these horns and I'm really anxious to help him do it. It's great when things fall in place: the assembly line style Sax ProShop is a perfect place to set up and perfect a horn from a factory. Better, in fact, than the factory.

So I'm really looking forward to this concert! We're running late and the speeds are getting high. Luckily I'm not the one driving! I didn't take too many pictures today, it was just too busy at the booth. Ok, we're here. I will try and check out some new products tomorrow and let you guys know who's making the finest widgets.

-Curt