[Raphyel]

Coming from sax for almost 20 years and trying to pickup clarinet, I have a new respect for clarinet players!!!! I keep missing the G tone hole if I am moving through G#. Man this is challenging, but I love the sound of this old Leblanc Symphonie II.

 

[sirspinbad]

yeah,,i bought a silver king just because KING never made a soprano in sterling silver!! but im considering packing that one in.....

 

[clarnut]

In the Klose Clarinet method there are some great mechanical exercises that are a couple of measures each. If you work a couple of them slowly each day they can help technique a great deal. I have students do them at mm=60 and then twice as fast once they have them clean. You can find specific ones that address the fingers that you have the most trouble with.

You can find them at http://imslp.org/wiki/Méthode_complète_de_clarinette_(Klosé,_Hyacinthe_Eléonore) I believe they start at p20.

 

[Raphyel]

Thats what I have been doing is going through the rough parts. My friend suggested that to me. I had a bad wrist injury as a child and my left hand is still a little jacked up, but I think I will be able to play clarinet better than saxophone if i really work as my fingers dont have to move so far for the left hand pinky work.

 

[DMZSX90R]

Yes, the sound of the old Leblanc's is a beautiful thing. I just bought a 1968 double LL in pristine condition and I absolutely love it!! The sound of the old Leblanc guys - Jimmy Hamilton and Buddy deFranco - something very special.

+1 for those mechanism studies in the Klose method!

 

[Raphyel]

Mine was far from pristine, but I brought it back and it looks and plays great. I dont have a lot of clarinet experience as far as playing. I have overhauled several, but just never really tried to be proficient at playing them.

 

[thadnoland]

Clarinet is lot of fun to play, especially when crossing the break becomes second nature.

 

[Graysax]

The ultimate compliment for a sax player playing a clarinet is when you are on a gig, and a seasoned pro doubler whose primary instrument IS clarinet turns to you and says - "your primary instrument is clarinet, right?" And when you answer "Sorry, no" they are shocked because you sound so good.

Took me 15 years of hard work to get there!!

 

[jbtsax]

This is one reason that many band teachers, myself included, chose to start aspiring saxophone players on the clarinet first. The clarinet is basic to all of the other woodwinds, and the discipline required in terms of hand position and embouchure makes them a better saxophone player when they switch after a year of playing clarinet.

The other reason, of course, is that if the band teacher didn't require a year of playing the clarinet first, and then limit the number of students who switched to saxophone, the concert band would have 24 saxophones and 6 clarinets instead of the other way around. In my experience too, the majority of the students who started wanting to play the saxophone, at year's end liked the clarinet enough they wanted to stay with that instrument.

 

[bandmommy]

I was one of those 'mousy' little girls... Brunette, glasses, kinda quiet, smart... when it was time to start band.
The poster child for beginning clarinetists.
But you know, I'm glad that I was. I love my clarinet more than my husband most days.

 

[patmiller]

Clarinet is a lovely instrument and fun to play. But when the going gets tough I always reach for the tenor - its voice in unambiguously MY voice whereas my clarinet voice and vocabulary seem to be less idiosyncratically mine. Perhaps I'm not making sense. I enjoy the clarinet but I live the tenor.

 

[trice]

Do as Clarnut says above. Klose mechanism exercises (aka finger-busters). Go for perfectly clean fingerings before speeding up.

 

[Raphyel]

That link you posted sent me to a blank page.

 

[tictactux]

That link you posted sent me to a blank page.

I guess the dog ate the trailing parenthesis. So now:
http://imslp.org/wiki/M%C3%A9thode_compl%C3%A8te_de_clarinette_%28Klos%C3%A9,_Hyacinthe_El%C3%A9onore%29 or
http://tinyurl.com/69lzje5

 

[differencetone]

Would love to learn it but I have bought too many other instruments. All are difficult at first but if you practice enough, there comes a point where it's fun to play. I can't say that I will be great at any of them but good enough for my purposes.