I spent quite a while looking for just the right backpack to carry my flute and other goodies in. I checked everywhere and the absolute best backpack to get is one made for a laptop computer. The little pocket inside fits a flute’s wooden case perfectly and with heaps of room to spare for whistles and other things like that.
It’s easy to keep between my feet when playing and just as easy to pull the flute apart and put in when “mother nature” calls. I don’t know about you but it’s almost as easy to go pottie with a daypack on as it is when it’s left back at the table. And a heck of a lot more safe.
Like I said…where I go my flute goes too. Great for peace of mind. Just leave something unimportant (like your jacket) on the seat so you save your seat while you’re gone.
Doooode, you all are letting your possessions own you.
It’s like, you would not want to leave your house because someone might hold you up at knife point to steal your flute. Do you own a pistol to protect your stuff? Would you kill some one to protect a flute?
Seems like bad Karma. Way.
Maybe leaving the house is just a bad Idea. Have you thought about moving to a safer location?
I remember hearing this anecdote about a session with several flute players. One by one they came to the bar for a drink. Once they were all there they just looked around and grinned: Each was holding his/her flute.
Happiness is knowing where your flute is!
But, best is knowing so that you don’t have to worry … or regret.
One more story. My teacher told me how after a performance the group put their instruments in their cases and left them in pile. He just left his case in the pile but disassembled his flute and put it in his jacket pockets. After the break, the instruments and cases in the pile were gone. Except for his.
This is a true story.
New England’s greatest flute player is a great player and a great guy. He also likes to drink. A couple of years ago we were all in East Durham, NY, for Irish week. Our man was drinking prodigiously and enjoying himself enormously. We all left the pub at about 5 AM.
Early the next afternoon he staggered back into the pub. He went over to the banquette for his antique flute, still leaning against the wall from the night before, and said “There it is. Right where I left it.”
I guess I don’t like that kind of thinking. When is safe, safe enough? I am all for preventative measures and not being stupid, but if you are ruled by anxiety to protect your stuff is it really worth having? I bike, and over the years bike chains have gotten bigger and bigger. As frames get lighter, the chains get heaver. Transportation services even advertises bike lockers to profit off this fear. When I was a child I didn’t even have a lock for my bike! Has bike theft changed that much?
Preventing theft is a good thing, I just felt that the tone of this thread was invoking more anxiety that was non-productive. I liked David Levine story but it seems that it too was saying “What a surprise! It wasn’t stolen.”
And please don’t say “welcome to the real world”
PS. No, offense meant to Brazenkaine, I realize that the instrument is part of a player’s livelihood and that Brazenkaine is just trying to cover the worse case senerio.
Well, you do take a risk whenever you go out your door----although there are many dangers lurking inside too I suppose.
I guess I do think that there aren’t any safe places to leave valuables unattended and so I would just find a way not to do that and then I wouldn’t have to worry. I don’t have an instrument but I do stick my foot through the strap of my rucksack when I’m traveling (not while it’s on my back). It’s not uncomfortable and it just seems like a reasonable habit. I mean I don’t guard it with a machine gun or anything!
I think people were just getting into the stories. And a $10,000 instrument would merit some pretty serious care it seems like. Especially if you were earning your living from it.
I was darned surprised that the poor man’s flute was still there. He was really lucky. Maybe they closed down the bar and then got there right when it opened up again.
I’ve had people laugh at me because I won’t leave instruments in other people’s houses, locked cars, etc. My instruments are all insured, but it’s not the cost as much as the horror of losing a one-off instrument that makes me keep them with me at all times. If I’m at a session, if I leave my seat, my flute comes too, except when I’m playing with the people I play with every week, who would never in a million years let anything happen to it. Anywhere else, I ALWAYS put it away if I’m leaving my seat for any reason, regardless of how well I know the people there, and I usually bring it with me (if I’m playing with good friends, I’ll ask them to hold on to the bag that it’s in).
The bottom line is that I’d rather be laughed at for being paranoid than have to deal with replacing an instrument. Realistically, most instruments are stolen at sessions, and many are stolen by acquaintances or other musicians.
ps . well this did turn into something a bit more paranoid sounding than I anticipated, but an awareness in a chill sorta fashion is what I getting at.
It’s not paranoia. It’s just reality. You have a nice instrument and you don’t want other people–the kind of people who didn’t work to pay for it and didn’t wait an interminable length of time to get it and who haven’t cared for it and probably won’t care for it–to get their sticky little mitts on it.
Plus, there is a healthy component of just not wanting to be a source of temptation for people who have no self-control and even less morals. Personally, I’m tired of being the Supply Closet to the World. I don’t think I should have to fill that role. It’s inconvenient and annoying.
When I keep a grip on my stuff, it aggravates those who want to take it away from me. That alone makes it worthwhile.
I have very little by the way. If you broke in here today, you’d find an 18-inch color TV, an old VCR, and a 2-1/2-year-old computer. There is no money, no stereo, no camera, no electronics, and nothing else of value. There isn’t even a food processor. I have no good jewelry, and my one pair of gold earrings and ancient Citizen watch look like they were chewed by birds, because they were. I don’t care about the TV or VCR, because I rarely use them, but I need the computer for work. Even at that, it’s backed up and replaceable.
My flutes bring me joy. They are not easily replaced and I’d have nothing to play while waiting for replacements. I see no point in causing myself unhappiness and aggravation by handing them over to criminals.
“I have very little by the way. If you broke in here today, you’d find an 18-inch color TV, an old VCR, and a 2-1/2-year-old computer. There is no money, no stereo, no camera, no electronics, and nothing else of value. There isn’t even a food processor. I have no good jewelry, and my one pair of gold earrings and ancient Citizen watch look like they were chewed by birds, because they were. I don’t care about the TV or VCR, because I rarely use them, …”
edited to replace stupid picture that stopped working
