 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ClarinetColt
Date: 2019-10-11 19:54
Hi all. I just wanted to say hi. I have recently picked up my beloved Clarinet after a three year break. I am in my mid 40s and I had achieved grade 3 in 2015. Then I stopped playing in July 2016.
Part of me feels sad that I have lost so much time and have basically started a fresh as a new player, but I also appreciate that I am not the same person I was 3 years ago and am not putting any pressure on myself. I am actually having some fun learning again.
My only goal is that one day I may be good enough to join my local town band, even if it only to attend practice sessions.
Post Edited (2019-10-11 22:43)
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2019-10-11 21:44
Welcome back! Maybe it will come back faster than you think.
John Gibson, Founder of JB Linear Music, www.music4woodwinds.com
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Author: kdk
Date: 2019-10-12 01:44
ClarinetColt wrote:
> Part of me feels sad that I have lost so much time and have
> basically started a fresh as a new player, but I also
> appreciate that I am not the same person I was 3 years ago and
> am not putting any pressure on myself.
In what ways are you not the same person after 3 years in your mid-40s? You have some toning up to do with some of the musculature you need and your finger coordination may be a little rough until you've gotten some practice time under your belt, but you're not talking about a hiatus of 30 years.
Do have fun playing and letting the conditioning and coordination come back as you play, rather than playing to get back the conditioning and coordination. You may even be surprised that some bad habits you may have struggled with when you stopped can actually have disappeared, since you haven't been practicing them.
Karl
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-10-12 05:27
Well music should be fun at all times. And in community locations, bands and orchestra. Sometimes people forget they are playing for free in these groups and think they are the best and they are not, this can be difficult for others. Never let them get to you. Just have a blast playing music.
If you run into this type of situation just remember it's for fun and these people need a Chill Pill! Forget about them and really enjoy the other members in the group as well as the fine music.
I love your attitude and totally enjoy the great composers and the art of practice. Thanks for posting.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: albertarose
Date: 2019-10-12 07:33
Clarinet Colt - I returned to playing 2 years ago after a 35 year break! My degree was music ed a lifetime ago and I played professionally for a while.
I am having so much fun with it now. It took a few months to be able to cope with longer practice sessions and rehearsals but I got there. I joined some local groups and am enjoying every minute of it. And when I think back to how I sounded 1 1/2 years ago, I can tell there has been improvement. But more important - it feeds my soul!
Enjoy your time back with clarinet! Look forward - no regrets!
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Author: ClarinetColt
Date: 2019-10-12 11:10
Thank you all, for your lovely comments.
John - I am surprised I could make a decent sound even though my embouchre needs some practice and the notes I could not remember the fingering for only needed a couple of refresh YouTube videos and now need to practice. Lots :D
kdk - I stopped playing in 2016 when my mum was diagnosed with dementia and my youngest son was diagnosed with cancer within a few months of each other. I was both their carers and it took a toll on me. Mum is now in a care home and my son continues to have immunotherapy treatment when he relapsed in 2017.
Bob & Albertarose - I am indeed having fun and hope within 6-12 months to be back up to where I was 3 years ago. I thought 3 years was a huge break but I have been reading lots about people taking it back up decades later so I feel inspired by everyone's story.
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Author: Stacie S.
Date: 2019-10-23 01:04
I returned to the clarinet a few months ago after 25 years of not playing. I had sold my clarinet (due to financial reasons), so I am using a "loaner" from a neighbor whose kid played in school...got my own mouthpiece, though. Anyway, it did not take me long to get back to where I could read sheet music and play those high notes like I used to. Right now, I am working with a private instructor at a music school to get myself back to the level of expertise I was at before I stopped playing (I played from age 10 to about age 24...only 4 of those years in school, with the rest just on my own).
My goal is to win a spot with our local concert band (you have to try out, so I need to be good). One thing that did make me feel good is that my instructor said I was more at an intermediate level with good tone and definitely not beginner, which he was surprised about since it had been 25 years since I played.
Since I cannot keep the loaner clarinet forever, I am in the process of trying to choose an intermediate level clarinet for myself. It's not easy to choose one.
Good luck and don't give up. You will get back to your prior level in no time, especially since it's only been 3 years.
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Author: Juanzen
Date: 2019-10-23 04:42
remember that it is a higher priority how you sound to an audience than how you feel and sound up close, you have to choose reeds with this in mind as well, so I would just record myself from afar and check the sound in that case and pick the best reeds based on that and how easy it is to play the piece on it.
some rooms are like singing in the shower in a lot cases, you feel and sound great . The real playing does not live up to that feeling.
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Author: ClarinetColt
Date: 2019-10-23 22:01
Hi Stacie. Well done on starting back up. I have been practising myself now for two weeks and I quickly remembered all the fingering so now fine tuning my embouchure and lots of practice. I tried my grade 3 pieces and am definitely not back to that level yet but I am enjoying playing again.
I hope to get to a good enough level to be able to join my local town band and if I do I would like to reward myself with an upgrade I am learning toward the Yamaha ycl 450 and keep my eye out for any on the second hand market. Enjoy your new found love for music again.
Juanzen - recording myself is a great idea once I have practiced some more. Thank you for that.
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Author: HelenaS
Date: 2019-10-25 00:25
I began playing clarinet in my early 40s. I started on flute, which I still play, but I wanted to try clarinet. After a year of practicing alone, I felt ready to try to play with my community band since they needed clarinets. I can now keep up pretty well on 3rd clarinet parts. I would see if you can at least sit in at rehearsals with a community band because I found playing with others helped me improve faster.
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Author: oldreedguy
Date: 2019-10-25 00:51
You know...I sit here and tell stories...sometimes a few here and there do enjoy...
OK...
...while my newly acquired Buffet S1 (yes there is/was such a thing) is waiting for a $400 overhaul up near San Luis Obispo, California...I sit here listening to Roger Waters' 2017 concert on youtube...now, what does that have to do with clarinet?
Dig this...
In 1999...having not played clarinet since Navy boot camp (yes, I played in the 1981 Recruit Bank Great Lakes IL and qualified as a full time Navy clarinetist...I TURNED IT DOWN!)...for 18 years I didn't touch any horn at all...no, I got into Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead and and was a garage/bar band bass/keyboard rock jammer from 1988-93...then I got sober in 1994 and left music for good...no, not exactly...because of a bass gig I did in 1998-a fill in weekend thing, I met a music therapist...and the Veterans Administration picked up the tab for my undergraduate and some graduate work...but I needed an instrument when I matriculated at Willamette University in Salem OR...I flunked the bass guitar audition so badly they thought I didn't have any music skills at all...but the school needed the VA bread so they admitted me...I took a few months of lessons, the school discontinued the Music Therapy program, I auditioned at a conservatory at University of Pacific in Stockton (some guy named Dave Brubeck was involved there)...and passed!
Only 4 months of lessons after not playing for 18 years! So yes, you can do anything you put your mind to it, just practice and "feel" the music...that's what got me through the past 20 years or so...I put the clarinet down again in 2000 when I "discovered" my rather unusual high "tenor" male voice...but over the years I picked it up again here and there...a little sax...piano...12 string guitar...bass.voice...whatever...at 58 now, I can hit super high notes comparable to Robert Plant and guys...and even gals...like that...but playing clarinet as a kid...that's how it started...if you got it in you, just do it...if it makes you happy and others dig it...cool...anything is possible...
Great gig in the sky,...pink floyd...I can sing like the girls...full voice...but the clarinet is where is started...rock on, clarinet player redux,,,
Barney P....old rock star of rehab...
My R13 was pawned for a road trip I took a couple of months ago...dazed and confused, I found my room, sober...100 miles north of LA...we'll see what the 'ol licorice stick'
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Author: ClarinetColt
Date: 2019-10-26 00:36
Hi Helena, well done on starting playing and will definitely enquire about my local band as you say even sitting in on rehearsals will give me some inspiration and they may even let my try playing a bit.
OldReedGuy I loved your story, especially where you say 'just practice and feel the music.' I love that, thank you.
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2019-10-26 00:43
oldreedguy - Congrats on the S1! A very wonderful horn. A friend using one and sound so great. It's a very special horn.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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