Yeah, hope your clari is ok. Sure it will be - they're actually pretty robust. Random tip - might not be applicable but i kept my plastic clarinet and whenever i have to play in less than desireable conditions (ie. outside) i use that instead of risking my nice wooden ones. I know the tone isn't as good but to be honest, if you're playing outside then you probably aren't in the presence of people who really care.

Anyway, wasn't too annoying not playing for a few weeks - I was at that 'have a break after an exam' stage.

Yes, I would have taken my plastic one if I'd realised they'd shove us outside!! I don't like to play because its not in the best state of repair at the moment...

My clarinet appears to be fine It behaved for the reheasal/concert yesterday anyhow, and I now have a slightly sore lip and another rehearsal tonight for the next concert! Life is too busy

I'm thinking of getting a wood clarinet shortly but are they a bit temperamental? Does it mean that you have to have a resin one as well just for the odd occasion when you might be playing outdoors?

No, not really, just look after it properly and be careful to 'play it in' when you first get it. I'm sure, as I did, that you'll love your first wooden clarinet when you get it.

It's nice to have a plastic clarinet for some outdoor concerts, particularly if the weather looks suspect. Wet weather is less of a problem for plastic clarinets than it is for wooden ones.

Hopefully it would be OK - I'm not likely to spend much time playing outdoors... I'll have to keep my fingers crossed for the next bandstand gig

wow! they finally got a clari smiley!

i know... awesome isn't it!

My new clarinet has got a much stronger tone than my old one - in fact it sometimes makes my head reverberate, as if there's a pneumatic drill vibrating inside. Does anyone else get this... is it normal???

Hi skylark

So you got a new clarinet then after all....

I know what you mean about the vibrating head stuff....I've had that too..

Wooden claris have a stronger and more mellow tone than plastic ones.

Michelle

I just played in a competition. Spent half an hour waiting in an increasingly warm corridor, then got into the hall to find the piano was... flat. My clarinet is sharp at the best of times, but today it was like... Pull out so far I go out of tune in anything but very narrow range (playing over full range!) or just be out of tune, but consistently. Which would be better? (I'm not even sure the piano was in tune with itself, let alone anyone else )

If the piano was generally out of tune, as you say, then you probably did all you could Rosemary.

Thanks I think it was just one annoyance too many - my reed decided to misbehave, having been perfectly fine this afternoon, and then I put my heel through my new skirt! Hopefully they'll get the piano tuned between now and the finals of the competition. That would be helpful. And I need to choose another piece... Hmmmm......

I need some help choosing repertoire I've got to have a piece up to 6 minutes long, and I'd like it to be quite slow/expressive, not too much fast finger work, something like the Poulenc 2nd mvt or Victorian Kitchen Garden prelude... Anyone?
Thanks!

Those two are good ideas, add to that perhaps the wonderful 2nd movement of the Mozart clarinet concerto, the Finzi Romance or Forlana from the Five Bagatelles, the Croon Song from the Hurlstone Four Characteristic Pieces or the 2nd movement of the Malcolm Arnold sonatina.

Thanks Barry For some reason I'm not overly keen on the middle movement of the Mozart, much prefer the outer ones. I've got the Finzi, so I'll take a look at that, but I've not got the other 2 and my parents have put a stop on my buying music
I was thinking of doing the Victorian Kitchen garden prelude and the last one, Summer, as well, but I'm not sure whether 2 pieces from a suite counts as one piece or two I played the Poulenc in the heats of the competition, and while I'm allowed to play the same piece again I think I'd like a change. Thanks!

I've just been experimenting to see if the way I position my fingers on the keys makes a difference.

What angle do other people have your fingers at... flattish, so that the key sits under the middle of your finger pad and your finger pad sits across the key? ... or more upright, a bit like the position you'd use on a piano, so that it's the tip of your finger pad that fits over the key, and it sinks more into the key hole?

I try to get as much of the pad of the finger onto the hole as I can. Helps to make a good seal I think. Finger tips run the risk of not sealing the hole well, and also of maybe not working the ring keys properly.

If it helps to explain - my fingers have a sort of slight peak to the pad, and I try to get that to land in the centre of the hole as much as I can. Ephasis on the try!

Definitely use the the pad of the finger to cover the hole not the tip. Using the tip of the fingers will add strain to your hands limiting both the speed you can play at and the comfort of your hands. It also encourages you to hold the instrument too close to the base of the thumb (should be on 1st joint near the nail. As you look down on your hands they should form a C (backwards for RH!) shape and be nice and relaxed.

Thanks for confirming... fortunately I'm doing it right it seems, I was just experimenting to see if "digging" my finger pads into the hole would make a difference to the sound. I thought it did at first but it must have been something else.

I had a really odd experience with my clarinet yesterday.

I started to play but I kept getting a high pitched noise, even on the low register. I tried different reeds, different positions, different embouchures, but although sometimes I got the correct note/pitch, I eventually had to give up because it would switch without warning to some high-pitched noise and it made it impossible to play. I took it all apart, wiped it and put it away in the usual way, and then a few hours later, I tried again. This time it was all back to normal Has anyone else had this experience and do you know what was causing it. It hadn't suffered a change in temperature so I can only think a tiny bit of fluff or something had got into it somewhere

loose spring? Bit of "spittle" in a hole?

That happens to me sometimes, if i take my finger off the register key then it sometimes stays in the upper register.

Although sometimes it randomly happens, unsure as to why though

x

I picked up a book called The Art of Clarinet Playing by Keith Stein in a secondhand bookshop a couple of weeks ago. It's quite interesting and detailed - about 80 pages. Has anyone else read it?

yes - but a long time ago so can't really remember much about what it said!

(hmmm not my most helpful reply ever!)

I've just finished reading it and I thought it was good. It went through every aspect of technique very thoroughly and I found it useful to study each aspect several times and really take in what it was saying