 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: it
Date: 2003-03-13 00:56
I have been playing clarinet for about 3 years, i am finally starting to actually be able to play it, but i am starting to get tired of it, and i am still having troble with stuff like covering the holes?
I am planning on switching instruments for next school year, taking lessons this summer, and starting it in concert band for next year... After playing clarinet, with the exception of other types of clarinet other than Bb what would be a semi-easy switch in instrument?
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Author: Kes
Date: 2003-03-13 01:00
Well, there's no real easy answer to your question. No instrument really has fingerings quite like the clarinet... A saxaphone is a good choice if you've played flute before. They have the same fingerings. I'm sure that whatever you play you'll do well on. It will just take a LOT of work!
____________________
"I speak reedish. Long live the language of the clarinetist!"
_________________
-kes
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Author: it
Date: 2003-03-13 01:02
Nope, I play Clarinet, and drums, and was sick of beaing considered a stupid percussionist, and switched to clarient...
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2003-03-13 01:36
I have a lot of respect for a good percussionist. Rhythm is a great weakness of mine. I tend to keep on playing instruments as I add them. Clarinet is my first and favorite. Flute is fun and fingerings are similar to the middle register on the clarinet. It has no register or octave key though. It's all done with your embouchure.
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Author: Jerry
Date: 2003-03-13 02:41
There is nothing "after" the clarinet. They all take a bunch of time, patience, endurance, practice, and especially, a love for the instrument and the music it plays. If you want to "escape" the clarinet because it is too much work, then you might find yourself escaping from other instruments once you realize they are just as much work.
If you are dead set on changing instruments, ask yourself which instrument plays the type of sound, style, music, etc. you most appreciate...which instrument produces a sound that "grabs" you enough to make you want to make it sing and make it part of you?
Or possibly you have reached one of those dreaded, dangerous plateaus in your playing abilities...where you are discouraged because of your perceived lack of progress...no obvious big breakthoughs in your skill level or complements from others or sense of achievement. We all go through this phase. Learning new stuff and sensing that we're making progress is a series of plateau's. But there is "life after plateau"...a renewed sense of progress, accomplishment and satisfaction. In fact, during the plateau you are still growing - getting better, but perhaps not sensing it.
You are at a crossroads: ...will you regret quitting...or will you flourish as a result of a change? Or will you go on flitting from one thing to another, and never getting really good at any of it? This is a question I've asked myself when I get discouraged with something, e.g. jobs, hobbies, etc. On occasion my answer was to challenge myself to stick with it...work through the problems or discouragement and become better. And later look back and know that it was all worthwhile.
Jerry
The Villages, FL
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Author: sömeone
Date: 2003-03-13 13:44
2 words of advice.........
CLARINET ROCKSSSSSSSSSSSS!
so don't quit........
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2003-03-13 14:08
After the clarinet? Gosh, the clarinet is sorta like being the Pope or head football coach at Notre Dame -- it's the pinnacle, everything else is beneath it, there's nowhere else to ascend to. Though I admit I'm biased (as a clarinet player, Catholic, and Notre Dame fan).
However, I've always wanted to play soprano sax, so that might be a good direction.
Or stick with percussion. There's not a thing wrong with that.
________________
Artistic talent is a gift from God and whoever discovers it in himself has a certain obligation: to know that he cannot waste this talent, but must develop it.
- Pope John Paul II
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Author: hans
Date: 2003-03-13 14:20
If covering tone holes is a problem, the sax will solve that one for you and it is a fairly easy switch, but I think the clarinet is a more satisfying instrument in the long run. Next to a piano (and a trumpet with Maynard Ferguson providing the input), there is nothing that exceeds the amazing range of a clarinet. Alto sax is a little easier than tenor (less wind required, lighter instrument). Buy one of those good sax neck straps that puts no strain on your neck; they are well worth the money.
Good luck,
Hans
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2003-03-13 14:32
Might I suggest you branch out a bit on the clarinet into the larger clarinet family and try the bass clarinet? You might be surprised how important your percussion background can be for bass clarinet. Also, you won't have as much trouble with covering holes since the bass has covered holes--much like a saxophone. The fingerings and key (Bb) are the same on the bass clarinet as the Bb soprano clarinet. Also, I think you would find it the easiest switch because you don't have to learn fingerings.
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Author: mikeW
Date: 2003-03-13 18:18
All the above advice is good, but what do you mean that you are tired of it? Are you tired in the sense that it's too much work to make any additional progress or have you discoverd that you just don't like playing it?
I think once you learn some of the technique of an instrument, you either fall in love with it, or more precisely some concept of it (sound, style, etc.), or not. And if you don't fall in love with it, everything becomes mechanical and nothing musical. All progress in incemental and each increment requires that much more work.
So what instruments do you like to listen to? Start from there.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-13 18:58
it,
What do you mean by, "...and drums, and was sick of being considered a stupid percussionist, and switched to clarinet...?"
That, alone, doesn't sound to me like a "reason" to take up the clarinet or any other instrument, and I know lots of percussionists, accomplished to different degrees of ability, who are very respected and appreciated.
Were you a "drummer," or were you a "percussionist?" The difference is vast. The drummer is a "percussionist" who really only knows how to beat on a "drum set," while a percussionist is a person accomplished in many different percussion instruments, often including the piano, which is a percussion instrument.
If you were considered a "stupid percussionist" and have had this kind of trouble with the clarinet after three years of trying, perhaps you should try something different altogether, like strings or voice. Or the stereo.
Although it seems to me like you might not be trying hard enough to succeed at this music thing. Did you start music because you wanted to, or because you were compelled to?
Most people I know who have taken up the clarinet, have been able to "play" it within a few weeks of having started to take lessons, so three years seems quite excessive to me. Especially if you are still having trouble "covering the holes." I could be wrong.
Have you tried a plateu clarinet? They have "covered" holes, like a saxophone.
That might be an answer for you if you really like the clarinet, but finger coordination fails you. There's no shame in it. Maybe you could very good at it with a little help from the finger plates. I know a couple of people who play plateu clarinets, for various reasons, and are quite happy in doing so.
Think about it.
Peter
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2003-03-13 20:51
it,
One more motherly (or grandmotherly) advice, if you'll allow:
Go with your heart. If you don't truly love the instrument (or instruments) you play, you will never enjoy the tedium of practice, practice, practice required with every instrument.
I have one son who is a wonderful guitarist, and one who is a wonderful percussionist. The second is by no means stupid. He is multi-talented and has learned to run sound boards and has a full time job in Dallas, TX doing what he enjoys.
A wind instrument doesn't suit everyone. I've been called a "clarinet nerd" more times than I can count. You have to learn to rise above it and focus on what you love. Critical people abound in every area of life.
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Author: Tim K
Date: 2003-03-13 22:10
Percussionists aren't stupid. But they are cymbal minded.
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