ok i am going to get a piccolo soon but idk what to get it will be used for marching band mainly but a few concert settings but thats very rare but anyway i borrow my schools armstrong 307 piccolo and jupiter 303s piccolo and they are great but now i need my own my band director recommended me an armstrong 210 piccolo for marching band and also a jupiter 301s piccolo are these good for marching? i do not like yamahas so please dont mention it the scale is on the yamaha piccolo are weird and makes it hard to stay in tune. im thinking of getting another piccolo though so i will have a back up just in case one breaks will a plastic body gemeinhardt with a silver head do well as a back up as well? thanks for ur time

Jupiter flutes have really stepped up their game in recent years. I haven't tried their piccs, but if they are anything like their flutes, you won't be disappointed. I can't imagine that an Armstrong would be better than a Yamaha, though. Is flute your band director's primary instrument?

PS- Punctuation is a beautiful thing and will make your posts much easier to understand.

I would go with an all-plastic Gemeinhardt piccolo, or perhaps a used Pearl or Sonare all-plastic model. These will sound most like a nice wood piccolo, and still be durable to play outside.

I've seen/heard/played the silverplated Jupiter piccolo and it was terribly shrill- ICK- even when played by a truly accomplished piccolo player who sounds sweet and lovely on her Burkart piccolo in the regional Symphony. I'm most definitely NOT a fan of Gemeinhardt flutes, but they do make a pretty good piccolo, especially for the price. Also, their metal piccolos have a conical, rather than cylindrical, bore.

I'd only do a metal-headjoint or all metal piccolo if it is important to be extraordinarily LOUD outdoors. The only silver/metal piccolos that I have heard whose sound (for concert band/orchestra/symphony work) compares to a wood piccolo are silver Haynes piccolos, and these might be out of your price range ($3,000 or so.)

thanks for the information i have heard about the hanyes silver piccolo but its was to expensive for me right now. so should i got for a jupiter? or the armstrong for some reason no one mentioned anything about the armstrong models...........

oh! by the way, im asking about the armstrong piccolos because i have been told they make good silver plated piccolos. and from most of the armstrong piccolo models i've seen from most of them are silver plated

I wouldn't go for a silverplated picc, it will corrode! Go for a plastic picc, or a Pearl PFP-105! Pearl piccs are brilliant! My friend has one and in pretty much every band session she's in tune! Plus, they are as durable as plastic and sound as good as a wooden one! Jupiter are great, and Gemeinhardt are very good at piccs. Don't know much about Armstrong.
Good Luck!!!

well that sounds great and since it has been snowing we wont march much im going to buy two piccolos anyway so should i buy the..... pearl all plastic grenadite and the all silver jupiter piccolo ?

If you're buying two, I would buy the Pearl Grenaditte or a Powell Sonare plastic piccolo. These are both suitable for even advanced symphony players, and should be in your price range if they're used and in good condition.

I would NOT buy a Jupiter all silver, or silverplated piccolo. These piccolos have a cylindrical bore, which makes them harder to play in tune and shrill. (All silver will sound pretty much like silverplated, it's the engineering/design that makes them shrill.)
Armstrong, as a maker, is OK for a marching instrument, but its metal piccolos are also cylindrical bore.

Once again, cylindrical bore piccolos like the Jupiter and Armstrong tend to be very loud and shrill up in the high range, though the cylindrical bore can make them easier to play the highest notes on. The conical bore piccs tend to sound much better.

You probably want a CONICAL bore piccolo, and the Geminhardt silver or silverplated piccolos are conical bore, so I would buy a Gemmie picc for marching. They come in all-silverplate (model 4SP), silver-head-plated body (4SH), or all-silver(4S). An all-plastic Gemeinhardt would be fine, too, but the Pearl or Sonare would probably be nicer.

In fact, if you are buying two piccolos, you could bypass the plastic piccolo altogether and get a gemeinhardt wood piccolo. Some of these are really nice instruments- in fact one of the players in the regional symphony has one- and if you find one used, it will probably be in the same price range as a Sonare or Pearl plastic picc. Then, if you had a Gemmie silver picc for playing outside, you wouldn't have to make big adjustments due to scale and embouchure hole differences between manufacturers.

oh really the silver gemeinhardts are conical bore? i thought all silver piccolos were cylindrical. so i guess ill take a look at the silver gemeinhardts and since im getting two piccolo ill get a wooden one just in case i have to play in concert band

I'm still not sure why you would need two piccolos. If you bought a very good plastic/composite piccolo such as the Pearl or the Sonare, you could march and play for concert band/orchestra as well. The plastic Gemeinhardt, while probably not quite as nice a piccolo as the Pearl or Sonare for orchestral/concert work, would also be appropriate for both, at a lower cost.

There was discussion a long time ago, though, of a director asking his musicians to actually toss their instruments to the sidelines in a show, and if your director asked you to abuse your instrument during marching band, I would indeed have a very inexpensive (but repairable!) instrument to use for marching.

Ok well I am going into Marching/Concert Band and I needed a piccolo. I did my research and I found that you should only get a plastic or composite piccolo. Metal piccolos sound very harsh and out of tune, while wooden piccolos will crack outside. Plastic ones are great because they survive humidity of the outdoors yet still sound beautiful indoors. My piccolo is a Gemeinhardt 4P. It is very responsive and sounds very good. Also it is easy to tune.