Learn to Play the Clarinet

Sitting and Playing the Clarinet

Right from the beginning the idea of sitting and standing correctly needs to be ingrained as a fundamental approach to playing any musical instrument.

Basically, no slouches allowed here. Try to sit in a chair that allows your legs to stick out horizontally and flat feet on the ground. Chairs come in many shapes and sizes and some are not suited to playing a musical instrument in. Avoid chairs with arms or sloping backs. Read the rest of this entry »

When a student comes for their first lesson, all they want to do is blow the thing and get a noise out of it, so whatever else happens they have to be given a chance to do this.

In the short half hour that comprises the first lesson I cover the following topics:
Assembly and disassembly of the instrument. Read the rest of this entry »

The clarinet is a wind instrument and as such requires a constant supply of air under pressure to create a smooth and flowing tone.

Taking a breath to play the clarinet is not like the breathing we associate with talking or normal respiration. The full breath I am talking about is like the one you take when you sneeze, cough or yawn; the kind of breath you would take before you dived into a swimming pool to do a length underwater. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot written and spoken about the clarinet embouchure since 1700AD and rightly so. The 50 or so muscles that make us smile, yawn, frown etc., need to be retrained to form a seal around the clarinet mouthpiece and stop the air escaping, which is the embouchure’s primary function. Its second function is to support the reed from underneath and provide stability and control to the tone. Read the rest of this entry »

Articulate with the tongue

Definitions of tongue on the Web:

• a mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity
• natural language: a human written or spoken language used by a community; opposed to e.g. a computer language
• any long thin projection that is transient; “tongues of flame licked at the walls”; “rifles exploded quick knives of fire into the dark”
• a manner of speaking; “he spoke with a thick tongue”; “she has a glib tongue”
• spit: a narrow strip of land that juts out into the sea
• the tongue of certain animals used as meat
• the flap of material under the laces of a shoe or boot
• articulate by tonguing, as when playing wind instruments
• clapper: metal striker that hangs inside a bell and makes a sound by hitting the side
  * lick or explore with the tongue

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There are two banana shaped keys on the clarinet, one on the upper joint and one on the lower joint. These two keys are very cleverly positioned to fit on either side of the clarinet away from the mainstream keywork. They are played with the third finger of the left hand and third finger of the right hand. Unlike the large tone holes on both joints, the banana keys are very thin and squashed between tone holes. Read the rest of this entry »

On the right hand side of the upper joint are four keys elevated above the instrument. The index finger of the right hand is responsible for operating these keys. See Figure 7.1 and Figure 7.2 for the correct positions. Read the rest of this entry »

The left hand

The correct placement of the left hand shown in Figure 4.1. Take note that the index finger is lightly resting against the two keys above it (the A and G# keys) The fingers should all be close to each other and sloping “up hill”. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone’s hands are different so use these diagrams as a guide for basic principles in holding the clarinet. Read the rest of this entry »

Talk the Talk

Learning the clarinet requires some additions to your vocabulary. Unlike the piano teachers that teach counting fingers using the thumb as one and index finger as two etc., I prefer counting from the index fingers of both hands only. Read the rest of this entry »