 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ROBERT P.
Date: 2000-06-18 10:12
I would like to hear your opinion about starting to play clarinet with an Eflat. One of my pupils is very young and small but very gifted. Her fingers are very small. Should I wait till she grow up a little or should I try the Eflat clarinet?
Robert
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Author: Lynne
Date: 2000-06-18 11:02
My advice would be to wait until she is older. I don't like starting my pupils 'til they're about 9/10 yrs old, and only then if they can reach all the keys. I also take into consideration the shape of their mouths/teeth etc. But see what other people say. We all have different opinions about this. How old is your pupil?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-18 14:25
Eb is a difficult beast to tame; it may be more trouble than it's worth.
You might want to look into the Lyons C clarinet listed under the Sponsor's section. Graham Lyons developed a clarinet for young children that can also serve later as an accompanying instrument without transposing. The keywork is simplified Boehm and the entire thing is well-nigh indestructible. People who have tried it have marvelled at the tone quality from such a low-priced instrument.
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Author: Bob Gardner
Date: 2000-06-18 17:25
read somewhere that it may be better to start the wee ones out on the recorder and then move into the clarinet after they have all of thier teeth.
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-06-18 17:31
I agree with Mark. The Lyons clarinet is very popular in England for starting young students, but it is quite sophisticated for the price. In fact, I wouldn't mind trying one as a jazz instrument.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-18 18:06
Bob Gardner wrote:
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read somewhere that it may be better to start the wee ones out on the recorder and then move into the clarinet after they have all of thier teeth.
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Bob, that was the popular opinion for a very long time (playing the clarinet will cause the baby teeth to move outward, and the permanent teeth will follow them). There was an article recently that I read (in The Clarinet ???) which refutes that notion. The idea of starting later in life was a notion in a book written in the early 1900s which stated even then that there <i>might</i> be a problem, not that there was a problem.
Hopefully someone else can remember where that article came from; I'm doing this from memory - so take it with a grain of salt.
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Author: Willie
Date: 2000-06-19 04:39
A classmate of mine in middle school was an exchange student from Germany. She was started on a French system, German made, C clarinet at age six and could play circles around all of us. Rather than switch her over to Bb like the rest of the band, the director rewrote all her music in C and she "owned" first chair. She deserved it.
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Author: Amber
Date: 2000-06-19 17:55
That is a very good idea Mark had. My friends little sister learned on it when she was 7 ( no joke). Now she is about to go into Jr. High and is by far one of the best musicans, let alone clarinetist. Of course some of that is do to talent and practice, but the Lyons C clarinet was a major asset...the little brother is now learning on it, though he wants to play tenor. But for now it is just too big so he is starting on The C.
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Author: Lyn
Date: 2000-06-25 18:39
My daughter is in middle school but is very small for her age. She'll be twelve next month but looks like she's about eight years old. She started playing the Bb clarinet last year but has been struggling to learn and play it. Her fingers don't quite cover the holes and she has to twist her hands in order to cover some, which I've been told is bad posture and positioning. She fell in love with the Eb clarinet that she tried at a teacher's home, but there's not a lot of music, especially band music written for the Eb. The C would be much more practical I believe. But what are the differences in fingering and or keys. Would she have a hard time going back and forth between the two. I'd like to see her be able to play it with her middle school band but I don't know if the instructor's too hot on that idea. Any suggestions, information or ideas anyone has would be welcome. Thanks.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-06-25 19:32
Lyn,
There's almost no band music for anything other than Bb clarinet, especially at middle school unfortunately. There won't be all that much Eb at high school level, either. There's no music for C clarinet in standard band repertoire that I know of (if there <b>is</b> a piece with a C clarinet, it would be anything <b>but</b> standard).
The only other thing I can think of is trying to find a used or new plateau style Bb clarinet. The plateau style clarinets have a key for every hole on the clarinet; therefore they're not as fussy about absolute finger position. They may have other problems, though, in intonation, and they're <b>very</b> hard to find.
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