Happy new year
We wish all our customers and business partners a happy and successful new year full of health and music!
As of today, we are back for you and your instrument.
Best wishes
Team Kroning
Instruments have arrived in Uganda
Those were exciting Easter days for our friends in Mbale, Uganda!
Finally they were able to pick up the around 100 donated musical instruments at the airport in Entebbe. They were received very gratefully and joyfully. It’s great what we have achieved together!
Thanks again to our partner, the fire brigade band Neukirchen-Adorf, for the good cooperation. Thanks to all donors and supporters. Thanks to Joseph Muwanguzi, the founder and director of Delight Foundation Africa and Delight Youth Brass Band with his whole team for the good communication and cooperation and of course also this touching video, which they put together for us in a very short time.
This project was supported by Engagement Global.
Visit of a Ugandan delegation
On Friday 23 September, the mayors of Mbale and Masaka visited us in our offices, which are also the headquarters of OMWANA – Kinder- und Jugendhilfe Uganda e.V.. We told them about our work and also showed them the 100 donated musical instruments that are still waiting for the last donations to be transported to Mbale. It was a very nice and interesting meeting. Many thanks to the Saxon State Chancellery for making this happen.
Here again is the link to the fundraising campaign where donations can be made for the transport to Uganda.
https://www.betterplace.me/musikinstrumente-fuer-kinder-in-uganda
We’re welcoming our new apprentice
On 1/9/2021, an apprentice joined our team. We’re welcoming Jeremia in our midst and hope he’ll have an exciting and pleasant apprenticeship with us.
Product of the month in April: Kroning tenor tuba, large bore
Dear Customers,
This month, we’d like to give you a closer look at our tenor tuba, which has been developed primarily for use in philharmonic orchestras and brass ensembles. If you use a euphonium or baritone horn for Bydlo, Don Quixote or Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, you might find switching to our tenor tuba will make the parts quite a bit easier for you and may even delight your conductor thanks to the instrument’s particularly dark tone! But this isn’t the only application where our tenor tuba shines. It has the potential to carve out a place of distinction as a first and/or second tuba in a tuba quartet, as an alternative to the euphonium in larger ensembles or as a participant in a trombone choir. Its warmer quality compared to a euphonium helps it mix in with other traditional brass instruments, but, at the same time, its sustainable and rich sound makes it a competent soloist as well. Particularly if equipped with five valves and one or more triggers, our tenor tuba boasts a lot of versatility in terms of pitch and can play a variety of roles from contrabass to tenor and alto. Handcrafted and equipped with an incomparably precise Meinlschmidt valve assembly, our tenor tuba meets the highest quality standards and, if cared for properly, is durable enough for you to pass it on to future generations!
Your
Kroning family
Donating instruments to Uganda
In our previous newsletter, we told you about our donation drive, and we’ll continue updating you about its progress going forward.
The initiative is in support of an organisation in Mbale, Uganda, that helps children living in the streets as well as poor families. The Delight Foundation Africa runs a brass band to provide opportunities to disadvantaged children to learn to play an instrument, discover their talents, find friends and have fun. Also, the brass band generates some income, making the organisation less dependent on cash donations. However, the Delight Youth Brass Band is short on instruments, and the ones they have are not in great condition. This is where you come in: maybe there’s an unused instrument sitting in your attic that’s just waiting to make a child very happy.
Cash donations for shipping costs and necessary repairs are very welcome as well, because, as you can imagine, we’d like the instruments to arrive in good playing order.
We have found a partner who will accept your donations towards shipping costs and provide you with a receipt of donation. The Feuerwehrmusikzug Neukirchen-Adorf (Fire Brigade Band Neukirchen-Adorf, https://de-de.facebook.com/fmz.neukirchen.adorf/) has agreed to work with us in this regard, and we’re really looking forward to it! It’s too early to estimate the final shipping costs, because they depend on how many and what kinds of instruments will be donated, among other things. Also, we’re still looking for the best shipping options. The donation drive is set to run for half a year. We’ll let you know about the deadline for donations at a later date.
Current inventory of donated items:
5 trumpets
2 flugelhorns
2 baritone horns
1 music stand
4 trumpet mutes
Donations account for shipping costs:
Recipient: FMZ Neukirchen-Adorf
IBAN: DE03870540003588000819
BIC: WELADED1STB Bank: Sparkasse Erzgebirge
Product of the month in April: multiple-instrument cases and bags
It’s a problem particularly trumpeters are familiar with: transporting several instruments to rehearsals and performances without loading yourself down with multiple cases and bags. We have the solution! Waiting for you in our showroom are various cases and bags that will fit up to three instruments from piccolo trumpets to flugelhorns. We stock a selection of sizes as well as weight and price categories at all times and will happily order one of many more for you. From a Gewa bag fitting up to three instruments to an Ipac system Protec case that adjusts to your instruments or a light Bags case for one concert flugelhorn plus one concert trumpet or even a Protec trolley for up to four instruments (must be ordered), you will definitely find the right solution to your transport needs. Also, if you often travel with both an alto and tenor trombone, for example, there are cases and bags available for just that purpose. Pack up your instruments today and stop by to try some cases and bags at our workshop! Best regards, The Kroning family
A brace for Falko Munkwitz’s sackbut
Last December, we received a very special job. Falko Munkwitz, Echo Klassik award winner and solo trombonist with our own Robert-Schumann-Philharmonie, commissioned us to manufacture a removable brace in the style of Renaissance instrument-making to fit his beautiful sackbut. The part is a flat brace equipped with two hinges that allow the bent ends to be closed around the outer slides and with two clasps to latch the brace in place. The entire surface of the brace is engraved. Many hours of meticulous craftsmanship and concentration went into the brace, and Mr Munkwitz was able to pick up the finished product before Christmas Eve, as an early Christmas gift, so to speak. As you can see, he seems quite satisfied with the precision of the work, the craftsmanship of the engraving and the new flexibility of his instrument.
Product of the month in December: Christmas presents
With Christmas just around the corner, are you looking for a gift? Are there brass players among your loved ones? Or maybe you’d like to treat yourself to something nice?
Gold-plated instrument-shaped pins, bottle openers with engraved instruments, pencils with magnets, CDs, Christmas sheet music and lip care products for brass players are currently very popular with our customers.
For your brass instrument’s protection and comfortable transportation, we offer a large selection of cases and gig bags for trumpets, flugelhorns, French horns, trombones, euphoniums, baritone horns and tubas. Our range also includes cases and gig bags for multiple instruments.
Besides instrument stands for all types of brass instruments, you’ll find various music stands as well as accessories in our shop, including magnets, clips, lamps, sheet music racks, cupholders, music stand bags and mute holders.
In addition to our Christmas sheet music, a range of methods, études and recital pieces are available in our showroom.
If you have something bigger in mind in terms of a Christmas present, we also have new instruments on offer or can order instruments from the following manufacturers, usually at short notice: Antoine Courtois, B&S, Besson C.G. Conn, Cerveny, Getzen, Hans Hoyer, J. Scherzer, Josef Gopp, Jupiter, Jürgen Voigt, King, Kühnl & Hoyer, Lidl Brno, Melton, Miraphone, Vincent Bach, XO.
Yours,
The Kroning family
Prototypes of Bb and C trumpets
hey’re finished – the first handmade instruments from our Chemnitz workshop!
In recent months, we developed, bent, soldered, turned, tested, rejected and optimised, and now the prototypes of our C and B♭ trumpets are ready to be blown for the first time. We decided to create a modular system where practically any part can be exchanged in order to make it easy to tailor trumpets to any desired specification.
Why don’t you stop by and try our master instruments?