 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: DuckyOne
Date: 2008-07-27 17:19
I purchased a clarinet yesterday at a flea market for $25, and so now I am learning to play it. I've never played a reed instrument before so this is all very new to me. I took it into a music shop and picked up some reeds, and had the guy behind the desk look it over, its in good shape, so I am lucky there. I am working on the chromatic scale, and was hoping someone could give me advice on getting a nice tone. Mine is very airy, I have linked to an mp3 of my chromatic scale {http://www.mediafire.com/?t7n4ctd41ek} so that you can get an idea of what I sound like. Also, if someone could point me in the direction of some simple pieces to learn within my range (low c to middle c) . Any and all assistance is appreciated!
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Author: LonDear
Date: 2008-07-27 19:04
Chelsey,
There is actually some nice tone in there; pretty impressive for one day. Your lips and jaw are not accustomed to keeping in a consistent position, which is certainly expected, causing the warbling sound. You seem to have a natural talent for picking up instruments, so give your lips, jaw and all that creates your embouchure some time to build strength, consistency and endurance. Once you can hold a long note and the warble goes away, then start to experiment with reed strength to see if the tone becomes more like you want to hear. Try the next strength up as well as down and see if one of them makes the tone better.
If the airy sound is coming from air escaping from around the mouthpiece (which I can't hear from the clip), then make your mouth more of an "O" shape to eliminate excess air. All of the air should go into the clarinet.
If you were a flute or brass player, your muscles will cooperate pretty quickly, but they need to be retrained. I played trumpet for years, but gave it up for the clarinet a few years ago. Now when I pick up a trumpet I know how to play it, but the tone is warbly like yours from the muscles being out of shape for that particular use.
I'll leave it up to the next 15 posters to say "get a teacher"!
I did notice that you popped up to the last two notes with more ease than most beginners. Did you play the upper B and C using all fingers down, or using side keys with your right forefinger?
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Author: DuckyOne
Date: 2008-07-27 19:49
Thank you for the advice and the complement. I played F Horn for many years, so its definitely an adjustment. I am on the waiting list for a lesson teacher at my local music store where I purchased the reeds yesterday. This time of year with kids going back to school soon, all of their clarinet teachers are working with a full schedule. So while I am waiting I am wanting to get some of the fundimentals down. If you have a recommendation for a good method book I would love to know. Oh and I did use the side keys, it seemed easier then pressing all of those keys down. Thanks again for the help!
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The Clarinet Pages
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