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Zane Jungman 22.AUG.08
As the new school year draws closer, music stores like
Westbank String Shop are beginning to feel the rush of students looking for
instruments for band and orchestra classes. It can often be a daunting
task, especially for children who are just beginning to have an interest in
music, to find the right equipment.
“Violin’s hard enough to play anyhow,” said Westbank’s owner David Sloan, a Legend Oaks
resident. “We’re able to offer them a quality instrument for their child
that’s set up for an ease of playing.”
Westbank String Shop specializes in selling, lending and repairing
entry-level string instruments for use in school orchestras. Sloan, an orchestra
teacher for Westlake High School who retired in
1997, first began the business by renting instruments out of his garage in
1995.
“We’ve just been growing ever since,” Sloan said.
In 1999 he moved into an old real estate sales office at 6301 Manchaca
Road, where the store is still located today.
For orchestra students, Westbank carries violas, violins, cellos and double
basses. Students from area schools are the most common customers according
to Sloan.
Sloan stresses the importance of getting
students proper instruments for the school year.
“Some of these big retail stores have begun to carry school instruments,”
he said. “There’s no telling what they are. They don’t have anyone in
quality control. I think you’re better off to go to a local guy who
specializes in it.”
Westbank also offers stringed mariachi instruments; guitarrons, bajo
sextos, and vihuelas; that are difficult to find in most musical instrument
stores.
Westbank receives their mariachi instruments from Guitarras La Española,
located in Paracho, Michoacan.
“We’ve had some mariachi teachers evaluate our instruments, and they feel
Guitarras La Española are of a better quality,” Sloan said.
To retrieve the shipments, Sloan personally drives
to a friend’s warehouse in Nuevo Laredo. Sloan orders a shipment
of the instruments approximately once every four months.
“I’m not real good in Spanish, but when we want a new order my friend will
come over here and we’ll call the factory and place one and drive over,” he
said. “I’ve tried to find a carrier like UPS who can pick ’em up; it’s
almost as expensive as the instruments.”
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David Sloan shows off with a new guitarron.
-photo by Zane Jungman
(continued)
Crossing the border repeatedly has been an exciting
experience, Sloan said.
“That part has been real interesting, dealing in international trade,” he
said with a laugh. “Thankfully border patrol don’t
care what we got.”
Travelling from Mexico into the hands of
Austin students, these
instruments may also benefit academic performance. Numerous studies,
including ones from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Northumbria University in England in 2004, have
found that children that learn to play an instrument often gain stronger
language, math, and social skills.
“If the kids have been exposed to good music when they were little, if the
parents are supportive of them by taking them to youth orchestra, youth
opera, then it can really help them,” Sloan said. “Kids have
a natural love for music. If they’re supported a bit they can be
successful.”
- Oak Hill Gazette
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