Klarinet Archive - Posting 000091.txt from 1995/05

From: John Baetens <JSBtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: The Clarinet for a Late S...
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 02:55:46 -0400

Andrew Martin asks if the clarinet is a good instrument for a 38
year old person to start on who has never played an instrument
before.

Welcome, Martin, this mailing list is for EVERYONE who loves
the clarinet. You don't have to be a symphony musician to talk
here, though we luckily have many of those.

I think the clarinet is an excellent choice to start on. Most
clarinet players start on the Bb soprano clarinet and I see
no reason to tell you anything different.

I think that if you are considering clarinet or saxophone,
as one who plays both, I would recommend starting
on clarinet, for two reasons. One, you can get a decent
clarinet for about half the price of a decent saxophone. Secondly,
once you become familiar with playing clarinet, it is easy to
pick up the sax. It is much more difficult for sax players to pick
up clarinet. In fact, the best sax players I know are clarinet
players.