 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: adamerik
Date: 2009-10-07 13:15
Hi everybody.
I´m curious to know if anybody has some idea of how many people play the clarinet in the US- in Europe- in Latin America and in Asia??
I know this is a crazy question, but I´m doing a research for some upcoming educational material- especially for clarinetists- and who knows- maybe someone has a slight idea??
Any comments and suggestions are very welcome- thanks a lot- Adam.
adamsimonsen.com
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Author: Nessie1
Date: 2009-10-07 14:57
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "play" (lol)!
Vanessa.
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2009-10-07 15:08
I love these kinds of riddles. There are currently 6.7 billion people on this planet but only the top 10% can even afford a clarinet so our pool of possible players is 670,000,000. Now if I use my high school as an example there were 1250 students in the school, 100 were in band or string players and about 25 were clarinet players, or 2.0% of total student population. In the US ~ 11.7% of the population is in grades 7 through 12 and 2.0% of those are clarinet players, hence, at least .23% of the US population actively plays the clarinet. If you apply that to the world pool of possible players you get at least 2 million players (grades 7-12).
Now to that pool you must add the adults who continue to play after graduating from high school. Here is a good question. Out of 88 members of our band I'm the only one I know who currently is still playing but that is subject to a huge margin of error so let us assume that 2% of the kids who play in school continue to play as adults. Further, at least 75% of the population is over the age of 18, i.e., no longer in school. Hence, we have .0046% of the adult population plays the clarinet which world wide nets you another 23,000. Likely way less then the margin of error of this study.
So if I have to take a guess I'll say there are ~2,000,000 active clarinet players on planet earth. How many in the universe, only God knows.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-10-07 17:58
Judging from our conservatories and music schools I'd say far too many. At least those hoping to make a career of it. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-07 20:53
Aw, c'mon Ed & David...No one is saying that there are (or even should be) that many PRO clarinet players.
There are many many amateur (in the traditional, for the love of it sense) musicians who play all instruments. This is one of the audiences pros reach.
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Author: Dan Oberlin ★2017
Date: 2009-10-07 22:29
On a related note (so to speak), the largest employer of clarinet players must be, ironically enough, the U.S. Department of Defense.
D.O.
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Author: FDF
Date: 2009-10-07 23:02
But, if all the world played a clarinet, life would be a lot more melodic and harmonious.
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-10-07 23:35
"I suppose it depends on what you mean by "play" (lol)!"
Actually, you have a point. Do we count the kids that are taking a required class at school but have no interest and don't practice? What about the person that has a clarinet in the closet and only gives it a toot every three months?
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2009-10-07 23:52
David, I know what you meant...but I was commenting on your "too many" comment!
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Author: justme
Date: 2009-10-08 01:26
David:-,
Would you happen to have the URL of that article?
I would be interested to see the estimates of the number of players of different kinds of instruments in the U.S.
Thanks in advance.
Just Me
http://woodwindforum.ning.com/
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-10-08 02:20
DavidBlumberg wrote:
> Nope, it was in a newspaper article about 5 years ago, and I
> ripped it out, later threw it away.
>
Which is what any sane person should do with unattributed and unverified "statistics". The paper is worth more than the data in most cases.
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2009-10-08 03:53
I don't think you can ever have too many clarinet players in the world as long as they're just having fun and not trying to be professionals. ESP http://eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: ned
Date: 2009-10-08 05:53
Worldwide there'd be 3,099,456 qualified players and 124,655,709 students. If you don't believe me, YOU go and count them yourself.
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2009-10-08 06:10
"But, if all the world played a clarinet, life would be a lot more melodic and harmonious."
Perhaps, but we'd have a global reed shortage!
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2009-10-08 15:02
<I would be interested to see the estimates of the number of players of different kinds of instruments in the U.S.>
OK, let's try this little game again. First there are 307,000,000 people in the US and 11.7% are in grades 7 to 12. Based on my high school 10% of the students were involved with music and using my high school year book here is the break down of musicians.
12% strings
25% clarinets
12% trumpets
4% tubas
11% flutes
6% trombones
4% baritones
8% saxophones
5% french horns
6% percussion
3% bass clarinet
4% oboe
Note that these numbers came from a 1961 HS year book and a town of ~25,000 people. Could some current students supply some new numbers.
So if there is a pool of 3,600,000 student musicians apply the above percentages to estimate for each horn. Pianos are being ignored but I'm assuming that MOST piano players will play some other instrument during their school career.
The pool of post secondary players assuming that 2% of the school kids continue to play over their lifetime would be 460,000. Hence, one could guesstimate that there are 55,200 adult string players in the US. However, my feeling is that more of the school age string players continue to play as adults then do band members. I know for a fact that 17% of the string players from my class are still playing in symphony orchestras so the assumption that 2% of all students continue to play is low. I've not a clue how to refine the number.
This little analysis will likely illicit more derogatory comments about statistics, as an economist I'm used to that, but it's at least a start. I'll leave it to the current high school and college students to refine the analysis, I've got to go practice Schumann #2.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
Post Edited (2009-10-08 17:35)
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Author: bill28099
Date: 2009-10-08 17:51
David, in my area there are actually more string programs and student orchestras then existed in 1961. I don't know about the band program as I have no contact with the secondary schools.
I've done some more checking and given the size of the community band and the current population of the town it appears that around 3.5% of the student band musicians will play into adulthood so my 2% assumption is low.
I would sure be nice to get some data from current students or band directors.
A great teacher gives you answers to questions
you don't even know you should ask.
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Author: ned
Date: 2009-10-09 01:40
I thought that this largely frivolous question was with respect to worldwide statistics, not just the USA?
I have this large ball of string as well, you know............I reckon I'll go and measure it too.
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Author: justme
Date: 2009-10-09 01:43
Not too long ago I searched with various search engines trying to get the opinions on what instruments were the most popular, number of players,etc.
It seems that the prevailing opinions are as follows:
Generally:
1. guitar
2.piano.
String instruments in orchestras:
1. violin
2. cello
3. bass
4. viola ( although bass and viola seem to be close)
General woodwinds in both band and orchestras with oboes being mainly in orchestra and saxophones being in other venues mainly other than orchestra:
1.flutes
2.clarinets
3.saxophones
4.bassoons
5.oboes.
Of course there are variations.
What's strange is that even though both violin and piano are such difficult instruments, they are very popular with many players!
With piano I'm talking about a decent level of proficiency and not just "banging away."
Just Me
http://woodwindforum.ning.com/
"A critic is like a eunuch: he knows exactly how it ought to be done."
CLARINET, n.
An instrument of torture operated by a person with cotton in his ears. There are two instruments that are worse than a clarinet -- two clarinets
Post Edited (2009-10-09 08:36)
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Author: lrooff
Date: 2009-10-10 13:09
Another way to answer the question might be to research the number of clarinets sold each year worldwide, multiply by the estimated use-life according to manufacturers, and then find a way to make a good guess at how many of those instruments are actually played and not spending all their time on the floor of the closet.
Using the number of players in a local school band is too "iffy", as it assumes that the instrument has the same popularity in all schools or that all schools have similar music programs. What we would find is that, in many countries, the schools don't even have music programs or that the music programs don't include traditional western band music and instrumentation.
Of course, as someone else pointed out, it's really first necessary to define what is meant by "play the clarinet." 1) Are we looking at a specific degree of proficiency? 2) Does it mean people who are actively playing now, or just people who know how to play a clarinet whether they do so or not? I think that the best way to answer the question of how many people play the clarinet (or any other instrument) would be to conduct a random poll with a sample of sufficient size. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find that it's already been done by an instrument manufacturer, as it's in their own interests to know.
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