Last month we posted a blog about how some vintage instruments have increased in value over the past decades. Now, we’d like to talk about the musical instruments that are currently considered to be the most expensive in the world and, who knows, maybe even in the entire universe!

Not surprisingly perhaps, in the first place is “The Hammer” violin by who else but Antonio Stradivari. It is so named because it was once owned by a 19th century Swedish collector named Christian Hammer. In 2006, this gem was sold at an auction to an anonymous bidder for over $3.5 million, the highest price ever paid for a Strad. Let’s look at some other highly-priced instruments, all of which just happen to be strings.

Rare and beautiful

It may not be quite as pricey as the Hammer Strad, but Eric Clapton’s Fender Stratocaster guitar is not exactly a bargain either. The instrument he named “Blackie,” which was built in the 1950s and was previously used by legendary musicians like Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jimi Hendrix, is valued at $959,500. “Blackie” is the most costly guitar but not the only expensive one. In 1930, the renowned guitar maker C.F. Martin and Company manufactured 15 pieces of the OM-45 Deluxe model. One of them was owned by the “singing cowboy” Roy Rogers, who eventually sold the instrument in 2009 for the price that exceeded all estimates – a whooping $554,500! Only slightly cheaper was the price of the rare viola manufactured by the renowned 16th century instrument maker Gasparo Bertolotti da Salo. One of his violas (he only made 60 during his lifetime) recently sold for $542,000. Let’s move on to the violoncello created by the 18th century Italian luthier Gennaro Gagliano: in 2009, this instrument was sold at an auction for $362,500. And then there is the violin made in 1701 by another well-known Italian instrument maker, Carlo Giuseppe Testore. It recently sold for $218,500. These are just some examples of very valuable and expensive musical instruments. There are several more.

We won’t string you along!

Needless to say, the vast majority of musicians and music students have probably never seen such rare and expensive instruments. But the good news is that you don’t have to own a Stradivari, Bertolotti, Gagliano, or Testore in order to appreciate your instrument and become proficient in music. Whether you play one of the above-mentioned strings, or any other instrument, one of our teachers will come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Riverdale home or office to give you lessons.

Photo by unknown, available under Creative Commons License.

The post With Manhattan Music Lessons, All Instruments are Valuable appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.

Though at NYC music lessons you can play “real” instruments, spare a thought for those who can’t. When you think about playing music, you probably imagine one of the string, woodwind, or percussion instruments, right?

But if you ask kids who live in Cateura, Paraguay what they play, they will tell you that oil cans, salad bowls, and bottle caps make perfectly good instruments. Not only that, but they will also show you that this motley crew of random household gadgets actually makes pretty good music. In fact, this chamber orchestra of 20 youngsters has been using discarded furniture and appliances to perform the music of Beethoven, Mozart, and the Beatles in South and Central America. All this proves that one person’s trash really is another person’s treasure!

Everything but the kitchen sink Cateura, where these children live, is a vast landfill outside Asuncion, Paraguay’s capital, where about 25,000 poor families – many of them trash pickers – live among reeking garbage. The instruments the chamber orchestra uses are made from recycled materials found in the landfill. Have you ever imagined that an aluminum bowl and strings tuned with forks could make a pretty good violin, and discarded X-rays can be used as the skins of a drum set? The kids from the aptly named “Orchestra of Instruments Recycled From Cateura” (also known as the Landfill Harmonic), are proving that with creativity, imagination, ingenuity, and out-of-the box thinking, we can overcome whatever obstacles and challenges life throws at us. In their case, it is poverty and lack of opportunities that would discourage so many of us from even trying. Way to go, kids!

The many lives of garbage Making music with improvised instruments is catching on in the United States as well. A group of high school kids from Sarasota, FL, who call themselves “The Garbage-Men,” are fashioning their instruments from trash and recycled materials. For example, an electric guitar is made from a cereal box body, yard stick neck, bottle cap pick-up, lipstick bottle bridge, tooth pick frets, and shoelace strap. For the alto saxophone, they used a corn popper toy for the body, a balloon for the reed, and a medicine bottle ligature. In all, these creative teenagers, built 15 instruments out of garbage, which they use when playing charity concerts at their local venues.

Don’t stop the music! What these two examples demonstrate is the importance of music to people everywhere. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to instruments and music education, and that is sometimes as true in our country and city as it is in the slums of Paraguay. In NYC, for example, there are many schoolchildren whose parents can’t pay for music lessons, which is why our non-profit CWB Foundation for Children & Music provides music programs to youngsters in this city’s economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. We at Hey Joe Guitar believe that everyone who wants to learn to play an instrument should be given opportunities to do so. And we are talking about “real” instruments here, not the makeshift ones – although we are full of admiration for these plucky youngsters who loved playing music enough to find ways to build their own instruments. It’s true: necessity really is “the mother of invention.” Or, as the Cateura kids teach us, hardships inspire ingenious solutions.

Just some “clean” fun Our NYC music lessons are really good, but in certain areas our learning curve is steep: for instance, we don’t know how to fashion a guitar, drum, flute, or any other instrument out of trash or recycled materials (though we do know how to bang pots and pans against each other, if you can call that “music.”) But if you want to learn to play a conventionally manufactured instrument, we’ll be happy to oblige. Just call us, and we’ll come to your Manhattan, Brooklyn, or Riverdale home or office and teach you – and we promise not to pick through your garbage while we are there!

Photo by Kevin Kern

The post “Trash Talk,” Brought to You by New York City Music Lessons appeared first on Hey Joe Guitar.