Ted Brown Music Rental Instrument Services

So you’ve rented a band or orchestra instrument, now what? At Ted Brown Music, we strive to make sure your student has the best possible experience playing their instrument of choice. Our rental program is set up to make repairs, exchanges, and even returns as easy as possible. Select a headline below to learn more.

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Before being rented, each instrument is inspected and adjusted by our in-house repair technicians to ensure they all play their best. Of course, instruments are mechanical objects and do go out of adjustment from time to time. A brand new car needs a tune-up every once in a while, and a musical instrument is no different. We also know students can sometimes be less than careful with their belongings.

That’s why all of our student-model rental instruments include our maintenance and replacement guarantee at no extra cost. This guarantee covers all normal wear and tear as well as any accidental damage that may occur along your student's musical journey.

Taking advantage of these maintenance services is easy. All you need to do is fill out this contact form, give us a call at (800) 562-8938, or bring your instrument to any one of our stores. We will either exchange your current instrument for one like it, or provide a loaner while we work on yours. Either way, your student is never without a working instrument.

Once you've reached out to us, one of our Educational Service Representatives will bring the exchange or loaner instrument to your student's school. Even if there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong, getting a tune-up at the end of each school year is a good idea.

Sometimes a student's first choice instrument isn’t quite the right fit. That’s okay, our rental program makes exchanging instruments very easy. As long as the exchange has been cleared with the music teacher and the instrument they are switching to rents for the same monthly price, we will just exchange them. If the rental price is different (e.g. switching from clarinet to alto saxophone), a new rental contract is required, but none of your rental time is lost. The amount of time you had the first instrument will carry over to the new instrument and you will continue to build up your discount toward the purchase of a step-up instrument.

Please make sure the decision to switch instruments has been discussed with the music teacher. Just like on a sports team, if everyone decided to switch positions mid-season without the proper instruction and practice, the team would not perform very well. If students switch instruments without the director's consent, the entire ensemble can suffer.

Ted Brown Music only rents name-brand instruments trusted and approved by music teachers.These instruments are specifically designed and engineered to help beginning players be successful as soon as possible. They are also built more durably to withstand young student life.

Just like a good student model instrument makes it easy for a beginner to get started, a step-up instrument makes it easy to get to the next level of playing. The construction of these instruments is much more focused on producing the best possible sound rather than surviving accidentally being sat on. Intermediate and professional-level instruments allow players to play both higher and lower notes with more control and better overall sound.

Most people that have been playing for three or four years will start to feel their student model instrument begin to hold them back. Once they switch to a step-up instrument and get used to the new feel, an entirely new world of playing possibilities will be open to them.

At Ted Brown Music, our primary mission is to create more musicians. There are far more people in the world that play music to relax or simply because it's fun than there are people who have made a career from it. Before returning a rental instrument, find out why your student doesn’t want to play any more.

If it's a conflict with their current teacher, there will be other teachers in the future. Maybe consider private lessons in the meantime to get a new perspective on playing.

If they don’t like the instrument they are playing, talk with the music teacher about switching instruments. Losing a clarinet or cello player to the trumpet or violin section is always more preferable than losing the student completely. If they just aren’t into the school music thing, talk to them about playing something else. School music isn’t for everyone, but playing music certainly can be.

Also, keep in mind that, while renting, you are accruing discounts toward purchasing a new band or orchestra instrument, so make sure to hold onto your rental over the summer if your student is planning to continue playing. Once you return the rental, any discount you’ve accumulated will be lost.

If you decide to return the instrument, please either:

  1. Fill out the contact form on this page, selecting “Instrument Return” under the "How Can We Help?" drop-down.
  2. Call us at (800) 562-8938 to schedule a pickup from one of our Educational Service Representatives.

Once you have notified us of your intent to end your rental contract, simply leave the instrument with your student's music teacher for pickup by one of our Educational Service Reps. Your contract will be cancelled once the instrument is back in one of our stores.

If you are returning your instrument at the end of the school year, you must let us know before the last day of school. After the last day of school we are unable to get into the building to retrieve the instrument.

Please note: Any instrument we are either unable to collect, or are left at school without contact Ted Brown Music will still be considered "under contract", and billing will be applied accordingly.

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