Okay, so I've been playing the flute for about four years now. I absolutely love it, but the reason I play the flute it because I've always wanted to play the piccolo (I'm really little for my age, and so I've always thought the piccolo just describes me really well). Anyway, I'm finally at the point to where my band director and parents are willing to let me get one and play it. But my dad has been online for the past few days, and wants me to get a sterling silver one. However, the first chair flute at my high school (last year) played a piccolo with the fake wood body (I haven't looked into the types enough to know the correct term) and the sterling silver head.

Personally, I think the latter one would be better, because I am a begginer on the piccolo. I know I'll stick with it, because I've wanted to play the instrument since I knew what it was. However, I would like your opinions before I go tell my dad exactly what I want, since I've been browsing this forum for about a month now (I just now decided to create an account, though), and fully trust all of your opinions. He's given me two choices: 1) Get the piccolo he wants me to get and he'll have it shipped here tomorrow or 2) Get the piccolo I want, and we'll wait three weeks for it to be shipped, since he doesn't want to spend anything extra on a piccolo he doesn't even want me to get.

Any opinions on this situation?

Oh, and I'm looking at Yamaha, Gemeinhardt, or Armstrong. Since my current flute is an open-holed Armstrong (and I just love it), I'm leaning towards that brand.

The resin (fake wood)/metal head combos work just as well as a sterling picc would for a beginner. Unless you're spending a couple thousand dollars, most namebrand piccolos are at approximately the same level, and will work fine. Personally, I think you should get whatever is going to suit you best. Optimally that would mean playing as many as possible and seeing which you liked best (just because someone else played a resin/metal picc doesn't mean it'll work out for you), but if that's not an option, you are the one who will have to play the piccolo, not your dad, so YOU need to be happy with it. He's probably trying to get you to buy the metal one because in his mind it's higher quality of than a plastic picc (metal wand wood were pretty much the only choices until relatively recently, so he may not be familiar with resin, and thus be wary of it), but that's really not true. There are some great plastic piccs, and terrible metal ones. You should talk to your dad about why he's so insistent on a silver picc (maybe he has a good reason), and why you want a resin one (maybe you can convince him otherwise), and come to an agreement on the subject. If you go for resin, three weeks isn't that long, so don't let that hold you back if it's what you really want.

Don't go with Armstrong simply because you like their flutes without playing them. Piccolos are a completely different beast from flutes, so you might end up despising the piccs. You really should play (and listen to someone else play) all the possibilities, and choose the one that you like best. Buying without a play test is taking an unnecessary risk.

Thanks

My dad thinks it's the higher quality. But I'd really prefer a plastic one, as it would really be better for marching. My flute has gotten extremely beat up from these past few weeks of marching. And since a piccolo is more sensative to damage because it is smaller, I think the plastic would be less likely to get messed up around that area of the instrument.

Plus, I just think they look a lot nicer Very few people not educated in piccolos couldn't tell the difference between a silver plated and a full silver one, anyway.

Oh, and I've played around on the piccolo before. My band director let me experiment around on one last year. I LOVE it =P

The music store here in town is closing, and hasn't had a piccolo in stock for over a year. I've searched high and low for one that I'll be able to hold before we buy, but it's just not seeming possible anymore.

The plastic will not necessarily hold up better. Given proper care, either will last a long, long time, but the plastic scratches, gets dings, etc. in situations where the metals would have been fine. The only thing that could make a plastic picc better than a metal one for marching is that the body holds it's temperature better (but also takes longer to warm up. That's great, but with a metal head, the head and the body are not going to hold heat the same way, so it doesn't really matter that much. A piccolo is really no more sensitive to damage because of it's smaller size (in fact, the smaller size may very well help protect it), so that's not much of a concern. It really is a preference thing.

Surely there is a another music store in some town nearby? If not, places like fluteworld will ship you instruments to test.

I live in Texas, about four hours away from any major city. There was one piccolo that was supposed to be shipped from a town about an hour away from here to here, but the piccolo just never came in to the store here in town. That or they just decided to not call us back.

I'm trying to talk to my dad about it, but he's not budging. I've talked to him and told him I would really prefer the fake wood one. It just looks nicer, in my opinion.

Again, thanks for all your help!

No problem...Good luck.

My favorite piccolo that holds up very nicely is the Armstrong 308 model. If you are going to be in a concert band then I would recommend you do go with a plastic one as they blend much better than a silver piccolo will. Emerson and Gemeinhardt also make good plastic piccolos. I tend to avoid Yamaha as they are rather pricey then the competition and it is no suprise to anyone that knows me on this board that I don't like the scale they use.

I am glad you were able to find help on the Chris forum... oops... I mean 8notes. lol!

one of my students just got an armstrong like that for a low price and it's OK, and it works