 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Sue G
Date: 2003-03-11 19:25
Hi there,
Just scrolling thru all the messages and I am wondering ........is there anyone else out there who is a new player and over 40yrs ????
I'd love to hear from you if you are.
Sue G
:)
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-11 20:58
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the inmates here are over 40 and their majority either new or returning players after many years of laying off of the clarinet! If not quite entirely so, at least very close.
Welcome to the site, and I wish you a good, productive time here.
Peter
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2003-03-11 21:57
Hi Sue,
If you are like me, each time you log on to this site, there is something new to learn and someone interesting to meet. There are young and old, beginners and pros, and probably fair to gifted players contributing to the site. This is THE place for clarinet-speak!
Welcome.
HRL
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Author: johnh
Date: 2003-03-11 22:06
Sue,
Welcome to the group. I started this little journey almost to the day that I turned 40. I wish I was still a child with all the time ahead to learn, explore and practice. This BB has been very helpful.
John
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-03-11 22:09
I was significantly over 40 when I started and I'm still under 50. Does that count?
Post Edited (2003-03-11 23:09)
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Author: Moex
Date: 2003-03-12 00:16
Sue G. I am 54 years old physiologically, and somewhere between 11 or 12 emotionally. When my step-son in sixth grade started taking clarinet lessons, I grew extremely jealous of him as my dream has always been to be able to make music of some kind. In short order I had bought a crumby clarinet on ebay for 32 dollars which then cost $182 to rebuild. Last Saturday I had my first lesson. I was extremely self conscious of the customers in the store who could see and hear me make my first poor efforts at playing a few notes. Now I am feeling obnoxiously self-satisfied with my decision to pursue this.
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Author: Jim
Date: 2003-03-12 00:19
I am a new player over 40. I started in July when I was 55. Am now 56.
Do I qualify? <g>
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Author: Pam H.
Date: 2003-03-12 00:50
Welcome!
I came back to the clarinet at 39 after about a 20 year break. Plus, this music thing is addicting. In the last few years I've added piano, flute and very soon sax. So you don't have to be a kid to learn new things.
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2003-03-12 01:09
I picked up the sax again after 40 years last June. Then in November 02 I decided to try clarinet, which I had never played before, so that I could eventually double. I'm making steady progress on both and in fact now play in a community band (tenor sax) that I am helping to start. This site has been a wonderful education. It covers such a wide area of musical knowledge, especially for the clarinet. I thoroughly enjoy both instruments, and I know that you will enjoy yourself. Just practice, practice, practice, read this site often and get a teacher if you have not already done so. Good luck.
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Author: clarinetmama
Date: 2003-03-12 02:34
I had a goal many years ago to do the following before I turned thirty.
1) go to law school
2) have a child
3) learn the cello
Here's what happened instead.
1) I will finish my Music History Master's degree in two months
2) had a child (at age 39!!!)
3) took up the bassoon at age 42 and discovered I liked it as much as I did the clarinet
I am now 43. So, while I didn't accomplish the original goals in the time frame I set for myself I feel I have done all right for myself. I am proof you are never too old to learn a new instrument.
You go girl!!!
Jean
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2003-03-12 03:08
the question could be "are there many new player over 60" of course we are all young at heart. maybe that could be a song --clarinet playing can come true when you'r young at heart. etc. etc. etc.
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: Bob A
Date: 2003-03-12 04:20
Hi Sue G, you can even find "restarts" over 70 lurking around and spouting off the "I remember when's". Most, other than me, are well worth paying attention to. Me? I'm a "wannabe."
Bob A
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Author: RonD
Date: 2003-03-12 04:22
I started again after more that 40 years of not playing clarinet , I am now 64 and have been playing for about 3 years. Just wish I had never quit, and I am now takeing piano lessons and makeing some progress. I was very good back then and I would be satsified to play half as well as I did when I was twenty.
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Author: ron b
Date: 2003-03-12 04:38
I more than qualify to reply to your query, Sue. I started as a youngster, stopped as an adult and restarted waaay past the finish line and I'm enjoying every moment of it.
Happy Tootin' to you too Sue 
ron b
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Author: Sue G
Date: 2003-03-12 08:23
Gee I'd no idea that there were so many of us !!!
Thanks for all your replies !
Interestingly enough or maybe not ... I've noticed that most of the replies are from men - not all I know - (hi Jean !!!) ..... is this significant I wonder ?????
Sue
:)
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Author: deblcooper
Date: 2003-03-12 09:17
Hello Sue!
Well, here is a sister that plays!
I bought my first clarinet (Buffet) last year.... before I turned 42! I used my step-mother's clarinet when I was in school and remember loving it but they didn't like me staying out so late with the band trips!
Now, I play....way past midnight! I just got an old Conn and a Bundy last week. I have started teaching my husband's daughter to play.
Oh, and then I had a neighbor moving to England who didn't want to tote his Selmer sax with him. I got a good deal plus received a soprano for my 42 birthday! I have another soprano on the way and just received a Buffet alto in the mail yesterday!
So little time.... so much music inside!
deb
www.godlyd.com
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Author: Sue
Date: 2003-03-12 15:39
Hi Sue,
From one Sue to another, I am 44, a mother and housewife and have started playing again after 26 years, having learned in elementary and played all the way through high school!.
Last year I bought my first clarient and have joined my local community band. I can not stress enough the fun of being able to play with other musicians again!.
You are never to old to enjoy life!,
Sue
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Author: Wes
Date: 2003-03-12 16:14
A beginning student I have is at least 65, a retired professor of ancient literature. He is making big time progress and can get a great sound on his ancient Leblanc Symphonie clarinet(for $400). He is extremely enthusiastic and works effectively on the clarinet. His wife is an invalid so I go to his house.
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Author: tetiana
Date: 2003-03-12 16:43
Hi Sue
A few years ago (40 plus, that's me) on a bit of a whim, I took a group lesson at a summer camp on the recorder. I got real hooked and continued until a year later I was enormously pleased with myself. My kids scoffed that the recorder, after all, was not a "real" instrument, no place in the symphony. So I said, you just wait and see, one day I'll be playing, ah, um ..... yes! the clarinet (having always loved the sound)! My daughter smirked and responded, lots of attitude in her voice, that her saxophone teacher also taught clarinet. The gauntlet was thrown.
I scheduled a lesson. It took me several weeks, literally, before I was able to make any sound! I was definitely NOT a natural. That was three plus years ago, close to four. The greatest thrill, for me, is playing chamber music. I become transported. And my dog doesn't hide under the couch any more and my kids have stopped smirking.
As you can see from the people posting here, you are in tremendous company.
Tetiana
P.S. I have kept up the recorder, no matter what my kids say. The joy of the triosonata!
tetiana
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Author: Tim F
Date: 2003-03-12 17:00
Okay, I suppose this is a good thread to go public and introduce myself. I fit the title - new players over 40 - I'm 43, but calling me a "player" may be a bit charitable at this time.
I picked up my first clarinet last summer at a garage sale (it's just a new twist on a long running bad habit :-). I have a general interest in music and instruments and am fascinated with the construction and workmanship of instruments (guitar, bass, upright bass, sax, violin...). Combine that fascination with a background in engineering and a hobby of woodworking and I just can't resist working on my own gear. Fear not, I always try to start on stuff that nobody will miss and go up from there.
That first clarinet is a Yamaha 34 and it needed some cork, a few pads and a good cleaning. It came with a Vandoren B45 and an old selmer Clarion crystal MP, so I figured $35 was a low risk, even if it had a pinned crack! It plays pretty well now and I've been able to do some (simple) parts for our Sunday worship services. We have a wonderfully supportive music director. Playing woodwind is especially cool because it gives our new bass player a chance to join in when I move over to the clarinet.
After a couple more GAS attacks, I also have a very old GM Bundy (Paris) from about 1930 and a B&H Edgware from 1954. Those needed much more work, but are coming around nicely.
I'm just getting to the point where I can cover the first register and most of the second register, but I haven't worked out this "across the break" thing. That's going to take a lot more work.
Thanks to all of you, I've learned a lot in a short time and look forward to more.
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Author: williamainsworth
Date: 2003-03-12 18:54
I took up clarinet at about age 60 and have been playing it, on and off, since then. I am now seventy. I find the problem is finding a community band that is not too musically ambitious. The ideal would be a band that consist of players much like myself, who took an instrument up late in life. Another pet peeve of mine [that I have expressed here before] is the lack of clarinet players in my area. It is one of the cheapest instruments to buy and you would think that it was easy to fill 9-12 seats. At the moment one band that I have just quit is lucky to have six clarinets and the other small band that I play in has, at this moment, only two.
Don't get me wrong. I love playing and I am sure that I am improving. One pleasant side effect of my late love affair with the clarinet is a greater love for all music. I hope to have many years of playing and I hope you do too.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2003-03-12 19:39
I played for 8 years from age 9 to 17 and then didn't pick up a horn until 3 years ago at age 70. It was just like riding a bike except for the chops which finally came around. I now play in 3 different groups and thoroughly enjoy them all......and still procrastinate about practicing. I remember when...............the only inverted ligatures were the ones the beginners put on wrong.
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Author: Sue G
Date: 2003-03-13 07:09
Great to hear from you all and to know that I'm not a lone ageing teenager new to the clarinet !!!
Many of you have played other instruments before- I too started on the recorder Tetiana at the age of 7 or so, progressed to a Melodica - haven't seen one for years - do they still exist I wonder ???
I really enjoyed playing a wind instrument and dearly wanted to play the flute when I went to secondary school at 11 (I live in the UK by the way) but my family couldn't afford one and the only instrument available to me was the violin ..................
Well I stuck at it for 4 years and the least said about my ability on the violin the better !!! I never really liked it I have to say and I suspect it showed !!!
Then last year I was looking in a music shop for keyboard stuff for my son and I just drifted across to the flute music somehow - bought some flute music and a brand new flute to go with it much to my husbands surprise ! I did just remember to buy the music my son wanted too !!
I was really chuffed - finally I'd got the instrument I'd always wanted but ............ there was a problem.
Due to a medical accident a few years ago I have some nerve damage to my left thumb and index finger - that put playing the flute out of the question sadly - at least as I thought it was sad then.
Undaunted by my new desire to learn an instrument again I returned to the shop two weeks later and traded in my flute for a clarinet - and I'm really pleased that I did !!
Once I'd got my left thumb accustomed to where it's keys are ( I can't feel them !!) there's been no stopping me !!
Sue
:)
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Author: PatB
Date: 2003-03-13 12:59
Hi,
I played clarinet in high school, but was never enthusiastic. My kids play flute, and I am an avid band mom. Finally, I couldn't stand just watching any more. I had to play something. Now, at age 48 I am taking the clarinet up again with much more interest. I have been playing for 2 months on a plastic rental, practicing when ever I get the chance. My very own Leblanc Sonata should arrive any day now! I am very lucky to be getting lessons from the principal clarinetist in a symphonic band. I haven't dared ask, but I am quite sure I am her most "mature" student. There are a couple of local community bands in my area that I hope to join after I improve a good deal. However, my dog still hides. My goal is to become good enough so that I can audition and earn a position in the same band my teacher plays in. Although we may never meet, I support all of you other "grown-ups" who have undertaken this challenge to learn the clarinet. -Pat
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Author: SusanB
Date: 2003-03-16 01:52
PatB, I would like to know how you like your LeBlanc Sonata!
SusanB
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Author: Sue G
Date: 2003-03-16 09:09
Hi again,
Just wondering if any of you can help me with this ...............
When I first got my flute I got a couple of flute music books ( you know the ones with the cd's in !!!) which I kept when I exchanged the flute for my lovely clarinet.
What I didn't realise then was that the clarinet is a "transposing instrument" (so my book tells me!!) and so I can't just use the flute music books and accompaning cd's as I had hoped to.
I've been trying to read up about transposing but find it a little confusing ... I'm not very musical you see. From what I've read it would appear that I can use the flute stuff as long as I transpose the notes for the clarinet.
Hmmm sounds easy ............but ..............
Can any of you tell me - am I right in thinking that I will be able to use these books and cd's and if so is there an easy way of doing it ??? !!!!
Thanks
Sue
:)
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Author: wyatt
Date: 2003-03-16 13:25
buy the matching Bb book and save time and effort.
bob gardner}ÜJ
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-03-16 14:22
As I [vaguely] recall my previous comments on this question, continuing playing and verbosity re: old age seems to give rise to the Duck Syndrome, its getting more and more like "its a new world every morning". Hang in there, you kids!! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Jerry
Date: 2003-03-16 18:36
I'll throw my hat in as "new".
Started 6 months ago at age 56. Hadn't played since High School. I was first chair back then, but felt I had to work at it too much to continue in college - wanted to focus on the studies that would provide a career I could compete better in. My recently renewed interest is with much greater enthusiasm than back then. There's little pressure now (except my lessons), and I love the instrument now more than ever. Can't find enough time to play as much as I would like to.
I also have better access to skill- and enjoyment-enhancing clarinet-related stuff (music, software, MMO, CDs of great clarinet performances, private teacher), unlike the limitations of most high school and college folk. And as my teacher explained, being a music major creates pressures that take the joy out of playing. We older folks can keep the joys without the pressure, unless the pressure is totally self-inflicted at our own pace.
Jerry
The Villages, FL
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Author: R13A
Date: 2003-03-16 20:04
Hi Sue
A warm welcome to the over 40 club !!
hmmm...after a 25 yr hiatus, I returned to playing as of 1 1/2 yrs ago. ....but with a different approach and mindset. After music school and playing awhile, disillusionment set in. So, it was back for another degree and then law sch and a business career. It's fun and almost eerie taking out the old lesson books with notations from my past teachers. (at times, I can almost hear their frustrations with me LOL) Being a recent senior citizen at the spry age of 55 and although disabled, I thoroughly enjoy practicing. I've no regrets for having changed careers eons ago but I have the GREATEST regret for having stopped playing all those years !!!! I play a different R13 each day of the week and a few eefers too, and enjoy every moment of practice !!!! I joined a Wind Ensemble and attend the majority of the Tucson SO concerts (atonal music still dosen't turn me on).
I'm active in numerous facets of music, from participating in the WOODWIND.org site, to attending recitals of local HS talent and Univ students alike on thru contact with many of this Site's sponsors.
regards,
dennis
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Author: avumback
Date: 2003-03-16 22:39
Hi Sue,
My Dad started teaching me the clarinet when I was 8 years old. I regret that I quit when I was 14 but picked it up again in my 30,s when I bought a piano for my daughters. I didnt play very long because I was too busy but I started playing again at 60 and now 5 years later I am retired and it is saving me from bordem. I am slowing getting better in spurts but never satified. Its also a great work out for the lungs the old fingers and also a mental challenge. Thanks to you and all the other seniors on the BB I am now newly inspired. Thanks. Art
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