It’s crazy, isn’t it? Your performances (and often your mental state) are often entirely dependent upon a little piece of wood! If your reed doesn’t respond well, it can ruin your whole performance (and often your confidence right along with it!) The good news is that understanding a bit more about why reeds wear out… Continue reading A Quick Way to Improve Your Clarinet Performance: Improve Your Reeds!
Category: How to Play
Care Tips and Maintenance Guide for the Clarinet
The Clarinet consists of seven (7) parts: The Bell Section The Lower Joint The Upper Joint The Barrel The Mouthpiece The Ligature The Reed Special Note: Before assembling the clarinet, rub a small amount of cork grease into the lower joint tenon cork, the upper joint tenon cork, and the mouthpiece tenon cork. Be sure… Continue reading Care Tips and Maintenance Guide for the Clarinet
A Clarinetist’s Most Important Skill
It’s the one clarinet skill you can’t do without. It’s the clarinet skill on which every other skill is built. It’s a force that moves mountains, builds skyscrapers, and turns 98-pound weaklings into Arnold Schwarzeneggers. Table of Contents Enough mystery already. What is this skill? Objectives: the key to clarinetist success Setting goals We’re going… Continue reading A Clarinetist’s Most Important Skill
Coronavirus Hygiene Advice for Your Clarinet
Many diseases like measles, chickenpox, and staphylococcus infections are often spread by saliva. Since there is no casual way of knowing whether or not someone has the disease-causing germs/virus, we are all responsible to protect ourselves and take these proactive steps to reduce the spread of disease. Regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and recent developments… Continue reading Coronavirus Hygiene Advice for Your Clarinet
What Key Is The Bass Clarinet In?
The bass clarinet is usually pitched in the key of Bâ™ (B-flat). It is a transposing instrument, a written C will sound like Bâ™. Bass clarinets in different keys, most notably the C and A, do exist yet are fairly rare (as opposed to the more common Bâ™ clarinet, which appears quite regularly in classical… Continue reading What Key Is The Bass Clarinet In?
How to Make a Reed for a Clarinet
By CARL E. REINECKE, 1919 How to make your own reeds The making of satisfactory clarinet reeds is delicate work which can only be perfected through experience. First, cut off a piece of cane about the thickness of a half-dollar coin (see illustration No1). This piece of cane should be about the size of the… Continue reading How to Make a Reed for a Clarinet
How do clarinets make sound?
Table of Contents How does it all work together? This is a brief introduction to the unique factors in creating the clarinets’ signature sound—decoding the art of the musician and the scientific physics of sound, vibration and pitch. How do clarinets make sound? The clarinetist places their lips around the mouthpiece and reed creating an… Continue reading How do clarinets make sound?
Finding the Best Clarinet Reeds
I will attempt to let you in on the secret of clarinet reeds. I need to clarify the different factors that go into choosing the best clarinet reed for you. You will quickly find that there are as many different opinions as there are clarinetists in the world. Table of Contents Clarinetists depend on their… Continue reading Finding the Best Clarinet Reeds
What is the best clarinet mouthpiece?
A better clarinet mouthpiece will make a very noticeable difference. Clarinet mouthpieces are also a less expensive upgrade than the rest of the clarinet. This means that the quality of the instrument can be bottlenecked by the poor quality of certain components along the path, and the mouthpiece is where it all begins. This is… Continue reading What is the best clarinet mouthpiece?
What is the best beginner’s clarinet?
How do you find the very best clarinet for beginners? You (or someone you love) want to start playing and need a student clarinet. Figuring out the criteria for the best beginner clarinet you can afford is crucial. Which good beginner clarinet has the best intersection of quality and price? As with most things in… Continue reading What is the best beginner’s clarinet?
