 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Pablo Molt
Date: 2000-06-17 13:39
Hi, My name is Pablo, I love the sound of the clarinet, and I would love to start playing it. Do you think is possible for me to play decently, I'm 35 yrs old and I've never played a wind instrument.
I play classical guitar and I can read musical notation,
What would you suggest? How do I go about buying a clarinet, just a begginers, not a very expensive one. Do you play classical music?
Tell me about yourself if you have time, it will really help me.
Thanks a lot.
my e-mail is laser@cyberhotline.com
Thanks again for your help
Pablo
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-06-17 20:43
Of course you can learn clarinet, thousands of us from grade school to advanced age have done so, and as an oldie, I'm still learning new tricks! We have discussed selection of horns many times, so "Search the Phorum", come to some conclusions, and ask specific questions which many of us will hasten to respond to. Welcome, Don
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-18 00:51
Since you've never played a clarinet before, I would first recommend a good student quality clarinet. Then spring for a good medium faced student mouth piece as this part is very important and no clarinet that I know of comes with a decent mouth piece. There are some sponcers of this site that make real fine mouth pieces and are reasonable on the price.
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Author: Rene
Date: 2000-06-19 11:28
You're one of those I wrote my pages for. My situation is/was quite similar. See at
mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/Klarinette
Rene
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Author: Ron
Date: 2000-06-19 20:55
Pablo,
I have a history of music appreciation because one of my closest friends, Craig, worked very closely with Leornard Berstein during the last years of the composer's life as musical assistant. My friend is a composer/pianist and has four CDs on the
market. I also have another friend, Roger, in Newport, RI who plays the piano. So for years I have been surrounded by beautiful music.
My journey of music making began when I was 33 and began about January 1999. When I would go to Newport, Roger would play the piano and I would just sit and listen. I felt that I wanted to participate but didn't know how. One day as he played Schubert's Winterreise, I joined in singing. I am a terrible singer and after a half hour of singing another friend, Kevin, showed up and said, "My God, that sounds like Klingon!" I quickly stopped singing.
A couple of minutes later Kevin returned blowing notes from an alto sax. I took the sax and for the next three days I blew and only got air. On the evening of the third day I finally got a note! The next day added more notes as I figured out the fingering from the beginner books that Kevin owned. You couldn't get me away from that sax!
I left Newport and returned to New York reflecting on my wonderful experience: while I loved the corporeal process of breathing to create notes, I really did not love the sound of the alto sax, it was just too piercing and brassy. So I thought about other wind instruments.
I read Walter Piston's book Orchestration and thought about the
different wind instruments of the classical music word and my personality. I thought about the Flute: it has a great range, magical sound but was just a little too bright for my taste. If wooden flutes were still used in the classical tradition then I might have played that. Then I thought about the Oboe and Bassoon I love the sound of both instruments however I know my personality and I am a fairly lazy person and I could never make my own reeds; that would be too much work for me. I seriously considered the French horn but thought that is too regal for me. Finally I came to the Clarinet. I love it's woody, passionate, sweet and flexible sound, it;s spectacular range and it's roots in Classical and Jazz. It is very portable (I would not want to be lugging around a Double Bass), and its woody sound fits very nicely with a piano. That was important because I would want to make music with my friends who play piano.
After listening to Stoltzman, Ma and Ax play Beethoven's trio for Paino, Clarinet and Cello I became really inspired and set out to get a teacher.
In May of 1999 I posted a note on the Julliard bulletin board:
"Adult beginner looking for a tutor of Clarinet." Two days later I received a call from Alex Fiterstein, a Junior a Julliard studying Clarinet. We set up a time to meet a Sam Flax. On May 4, 1999 I held and blew my first note from a Clarinet, a Leblanc Normandy 4.
I set up my music stand started my daily practice routine every
weekday morning between 7 and 8:30 am and on the weekends between 9 and 11. I have been practicing ever since.
People have asked how can I get up so early and play the Clarinet. I am very energetic in the morning and I often think to myself: "there are people who wake up at 5:30am and sit in traffic for two hours trying to get to jobs that they really hate. I would rather learn to play a musical instrument."
It was very frustrating at first because as a graphic artist I had
never learned how to read music at all. So I had to learn what the notes on the staff were, what the fingering of the note was and what the correct embouchure was. Creating every note involved this three step process.
One of my biggest challenges learning the clarinet is how to
maintain that tight embouchure. My face would get so sore that I would lightly slap my face after playing for only five minutes. Also the fingering system is not logical because the register key jumps a 12th and not an octave (but it is precisly this feature that gives the clarinet it's awesome range). The painfully slow acquisition of the upper notes is another challenge of the clarinet in particular.
During my first months I drove my downstairs apartment neighbor,
Claire, crazy. During drinks when she found out that I had been the one learning to play the Clarinet she said: "You mean that was you playing?!! Really early in the morning! I thought it was a little kid. And I thought 'well he's just learning.' I never thought it was you." I have since moved my morning practices to the kitchen with the door closed.
With time I have added the entire chromatic scale up to E#
(3rd ledger line) have played simple duets with Piano and memorized several scales.
My teacher is very patient and he truly loves the instrument. He is
also an inspiration because he is a truly gifted musician, he works very hard and he loves the Clarinet in particular. As I watch his efforts in learning a new piece I become very inspired. For a student it is very, very important that the teacher loves the instrument.
Going back to early May 1999, I got together with my friend Elizabeth who was spending her last day in New York before moving to Californina to get married. We were on top of the Empire State Building about 5:30 pm and I said to her: "Elizabeth guess what I just did, I put up a flyer on the Julliard bulletin board looking for a teacher of the Clarinet!" She looked at me with astonishment and said: "You're kidding! Before I came to meet you, I went out to check out Clarinet prices at Sam Flax." She pulled out the business card with names of different Clarinet models on the back of it.
She told me she had played Clarinet for eight years as a child and had been wanting to start again.
She found and instructor in California who played alto sax and
doubled on Clarinet. She sensed his lack of genuine passion for the
instrument and after five months stopped taking lessons.
My goal is to get a little better every day, to share music with
others and to play duets with my friends and have them genuinely enjoy the experience. Eventually, I would love to play chamber music with a group of amatuer musicians.
Here are some questions people have asked me regarding my newfound hobby:
How has music making changed my life?
First of all I have added yet another hobby that I enjoy to my life
and that leaves less time for things that I dislike. I can share it with
other people and that is extremly satisfying.
Is there a special piece that you would like to learn to play in the future?
I would love to play the Brahms Clarinet sonata Op.120 No 2, I think that it is a masterpiece.
Are there any thoughts or insights you have gained since you started playing the clarinet?
Adults do not like to be beginners. We have carefully constructed our lives and are the masters of our universes: at work we are the capable employee, at home have our routines and we have our interests and hobbies and we're good at them because we've had them for years. As adults we can't accept that we can't do something because for years we have been operating in this smoothly oiled machine called our lives and we function efficiently. Sometimes I become so frustrated playing a measure over and over again only to keep making the same mistakes. Then, once I've got it, going on until a couple of measures later, having to repeat that measure over and over.
In addition, I am now able to differentiate between the different
instruments in the orchestra. Prior to my learning the clarinet, I could only identify a piano or flute in the orchestra. The active study of the clarinet has vastly increased my interest in music in general and how I listen to music.
Your biggest question: Do you think it is possible for me to play decently? I can say that after a year I can play pieces for non-musicians and they say I sound fine. However, my goals are far more ambitious and I hope to play at a very advanced amateur level. I can say for sure that as your procficiency increases your expections also increase. I'm sure that with practice you'll be able to reach a level of proficiency that you are both satisfied with and willing to share with others
Good Luck
Ron
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