 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Dawn Colwell
Date: 2000-01-29 14:13
My son just started on Clarinet in september 99. My question is when I buy a clarinet, should I buy a beginner, or move on up to an intermediate. Or should I wait until High school until getting the intermediate. Or is the student good enough to go through high school?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-29 14:32
Dawn,
<br>A student instrument is good enough through high school - depending on the high school and the needs of the player. In any case - keep the student line instrument. It'll always be good for marching or outdoors (in bad weather) playing, and as an emergency backup. With a good mouthpiece these instruments sound OK.
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<br>Whether or not to buy an intermediate or professional level clarinet while a student is in high school is a different question. If you feel that your son may want to go into music as a profession, then I personally would not buy an intermediate. While many, many intermediate clarinets are fine instruments, the equal of professional instruments, his teacher at the college level most probably will be expecting her to have a professional instrument. It would be yet another expense when entering college.
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<br>Fine used professional equipment can be had for approximately the price of a new intermediate instrument.
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<br>However, that being said, if your son aspires to be a fine player but not a professional, then the intermediates make a fine choice, and will be significantly less expensive.
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<br>There are, of course, always exceptions to this, but in general they'll hold true. As I well know, though, family finances figure into this whole equation, and as parents we try & support our children as best we can :^)
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Author: andrea
Date: 2000-01-29 22:23
i agree with the above opinion, but i don't much care for intermediate instruments, i kind of feel they are a rip off. someone who started on a beggining instrument and then switches to an intermediate one becase they are not too serious won't be able to tell the diffrence between the two. if he starts to take off with the clarinet find a good mouthpiece, ligature and reeds. that will be better than a new instrument. then if he needs more go pro.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2000-01-29 23:02
I have mixed emotions about this issue. Some of the "beginner" instruments never should have been manufactured in the first place because they are so terrible. If your son is unfortunate enough to have one of these (they usually get sold to sincere but unsuspecting parents), looking for a used intermediate instrument in good shape makes sense. However, as others have stated, a good mouthpiece is the first thing to acquire as you need that for any horn to sound good.
My first clarinet was a real junker, and my parents were sold a bill of goods along with the clarinet. They thought they were getting something "better" than a Bundy. My Buffet R13 came later and made a tremendous difference in my progress. So I'd advise getting an instructor's opinion of your son's horn. A good beginner instrument is OK; a terrible one is not. One thing to remember . . . used intermediate instruments can be purchased quite inexpensively from individuals or on the internet. If you are now renting, you may be surprised how much money you can save by buying one.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-01-29 23:16
There's a section here on Sneezy under "Equipment" for beginner's clarinets. It's based upon the personal experiences of a number of people. Sticking with those (the "big 4") and adding a good mouthpiece will create a good, rugged combination to start with.
For younger children the "Lyon's C Clarinet" may be a very viable choice. I'm thinking of buying one for myself "for fun" - and since it's lighter I could practice longer before my wrist aches. Or so goes my theory.
Ob. disclosure: Lyons is a sponsor of Sneezy.Org
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-01-30 04:03
Be carefull when listening to a salesman. Cars, boats, real estate, musical instruments, doesn't matter. A sales man is a salesman. He is under pressure from the company to sell what they're pushin' at the moment. I work in sales and I know this pressure, but when the boss ain't breathing down my back, I can give an honest oppinion of the different products. Ask an instructor for his view and maybe talk to a woodwind repairman. They are usually more experienced in the tonality and structural goods and bads of different clarinets. There are some good "horns" out there in both wood and plastic. There are also some real clunkers.
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Author: Dawn
Date: 2000-01-31 13:07
Since posting this, I have had feedback from other people that a Selmer CL300 or a Buffet B-12 would be the way to go. They informed me they would never use a wood instrument marching. Any ideas on this?
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Author: paul
Date: 2000-01-31 16:44
The two good beginner horns you mentioned are light years ahead of 90% of the student grade clarinets out there. I could only dream of having a student grade horn as good as you mentioned when I was in high school. My horn was a real piece of junk. You really can't go wrong with either of the horns you mentioned. Yes, these are beginner horns. Don't expect to play Carnegie Hall with them. On the flip side, they are tough, rugged, and actually can hold a tune - literally they have a good chance of playing and staying in tune, even with a novice attempting to play it.
Add a Hite Premier mouthpiece and some Mitchell Lurie reeds to the horn (Buffet, LeBlanc, Selmer, or Yamaha brands only) and you will have a horn that's good enough for all of high school, perhaps even good enough for college auditions.
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Author: Merry
Date: 2000-01-31 21:51
I don't know anything about the selmer but the B12 is a good student model clarinet. Another one to consider, in my opinion, is the Yamaha C100. I helped with a primary school band which rented a range of clarinets including the B12, a selmer (I don't know which on it was though) and the Yamaha C100. The selmers were terrible, the keywork was abominable and they were prone to all sorts of break downs. The B12 was good, nice keywork etc but the Yamaha seemed the sturdiest and they were the ones all of the kids tried to get. They have decent keywork and hardly ever suffered any problems even in the hands of some very careless beginners. The mouthpiece on them was no good though, I could hardly make a noise on my clarinet when I tried one!
This is just my experience with recent student model clarinets but I would consider a primary school band to be a pretty good testing ground. My student model clarinet was a piece of junk, I sold it a year after starting a moved on to an intermediate model clarinet. I would have loved a pro-grade instrument then but my parents couldn't afford it. I bought a second hand pro-grade clarinet last year, it was only 7 years old, in beautiful condition and half the price of a new one. I think second hand is a good option if you can find a good instrument, let someone else pay for the devaluation on it. I could sell mine tomorrow and make money. Too bad I couldn't have found one when I purchased the intermediate model, then I only would have ended up buying 2 clarinets instead of 3. My intermediate one is being used by one of my students, she loves it.
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