The problem is that the moisture collects in those places because of the nature of the instrument. Putting a valve on it halfway down wouldn't stop moisture getting in the toneholes or dripping out of the end...


^ wise words from Rosemary. A more expensive clarinet isn't the solution.

Thanks Sarah! Glad someone could understand my ramblings!

Thanks folks but you don't understand me. I just want a new clarinet because it's fun. Plus the R13 is said to be a professional instrument and I've read so much about it. And I always thought it would be so nice to receive an R13 on my 13th birthday which will be end of this year. But alas, my parents are not so romantic. They just listen to my teacher and my teacher thinks an R13 is not for me. He thinks I'm spoilt and he's just one of those surly people who are not happy when you're having a good time.

When I read on this forum that the keys for all clarinets are the same, I told my dad I needed an A clarinet and I said I saw on the internet that you could get a set of A and Bb R13 clarinets. He told me to talk to my teacher and see what he says. I already knew the answer. Sure enough my teacher said that it would be an extravagance blah blah blah. It was unprecedented. None of his students would ever dream of this and what was the point, etc etc. If I'm not progressing well on my Yamaha 450, it's madness to get a set of A and Bb clarinets. My parents just listened to that killjoy teacher of mine.

Now, my plan is to get myself a new teacher. Preferably a teacher who would recommend that I get a basset horn as well after getting my R13 A and Bb clarinets. Hehe. But my parents seem to trust my current teacher so it looks like I will continue to be deprived for a long time.

So you will understand why your advice that a change of instrument wouldn't help did not please me even though it may be true!

Ouch! You shouldn't have a cut on your lip because of playing the clarinet. You really need to look at your embouchure. You use bottom lip pressure, amongst other things, to control the clarinet, and yes, your teeth will probably 'come up' in sympathy, but please don't use your teeth actively as part of your embouchure. Rosemary gave you one of the primary reasons : it hurts! It doesn't help with tone either.

Please talk to your teacher about it : biting is not the way to go BeamishBoy.

My last milk tooth dropped out recently and the replacement tooth that came out is still a bit short and so my teeth are uneven. That could have contributed to a small cut in my lower lip because the teeth are uneven. But I do apply too much pressure in the bite. Otherwise the clarinet will wobble when I play.

BeamishBoy, do yourself - and your parents - a favour, and listen to your current teacher, especially as regards your embouchure. You're 12 and you've just passed Grade V; you DO NOT NEED a matching pair of R13s, and you definitely DO NOT NEED a basset horn. For a start, the basset horn repertoire is tiny.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but your constant "I want, I want" is becoming wearisome. I want lots of things, but have to save up for them - perhaps you could try this too.

As several people have already pointed out, just upgrading your mouthpiece will make a huge difference to the sound you are able to produce.

And to go slightly off-topic for the moment, would you mind stopping putting the moving smilies at the bottom of every single post?

A bit of realism needs to be going on here! I am only considering getting an A because I am thinking about studying clarinet at university. Saving up for a thing is a great way to decide if you truly need it! You already have a decent clarinet - as long as it is kept in good order it won't hold you back.

BeamishBoy, your teacher is not a killjoy, he is being sensible. You don't need a new clarinet, you don't need an A clarinet, and you definitely don't need a basset horn. A teacher who would advise you to buy all 3 at your stage would be a total charlatan.

Get saving money, so that one day you can buy the clarinet of your dreams with or without your parents help.

Start practising.

Start working on your embouchure.

Then your teacher might start advising new clarinets and fun stuff like that!

Your teacher thinks you're spoilt.... ever thought that he might have a point?

So many of you keep suggesting that I should save money to buy myself whatever I want. But you don't understand. I am an only child and my parents have quite a lot to spare. As it is, they spend a lot of money on silly things like security to make sure I'm not kidnapped as if I am so desirable to kidnappers!! I'm not even allowed to take public transport. There is always an attendant to ensure my safety. Buying me a set of R13 A and Bb clarinets will not cost them an arm and a leg - they won't even remember the cost ten minutes after paying for the instruments. My teacher knows that. All he has to do is to give the green light and they are mine.

Of course I am realistic and I'm certainly not spoilt. If my parents haven't got the money, I don't mind making do with my current Yamaha 450. I won't mind going down deep hazardous mines and toiling hard in the dark caves. I really won't mind. But as matters stand, if they won't even let me take public transport, you can't say I'm spoilt if I don't work for a living. The willingness is there but the opportunity is not.

Anyway, I'm prepared to work hard on my Yamaha 450. I'll change the mouthpiece and I won't bother about the R13 in the meantime. I'll just work on my embouchure and my horrid scales. I will let my teacher decide when it's time for me to get a better instrument and I won't gripe. Maybe when I do my LRSM clarinet, I will deserve my R13 and perhaps the basset horn too. hehe.

Perhaps it's because your parents have loads of spare cash that you're deemed to be at risk of kidnap. If they wouldn't notice the cost of two R13s and a basset horn, would they miss the ransom money?

There won't be a ransom because I'm too agile to be kidnapped in the first place. I play rugby for school and can be quite fast. Am a formidable opponent on the field. hehe

But what if your potential kidnappers were more agile than you? Perhaps they might have played rugby at school.

Going slightly off-topic, did anyone else see the picture of Jonny Wilkinson posing by a grand piano in yesterday's Observer Sports Monthly?

It's ok, I'm not paranoid. It's not so easy to be kidnapped unless you're really very young or very gullible.

Beamish Boy, I don't know if this is the case with Deborah but some people find the moving smilies very difficult to look at, possibly for the same reason that organisers often give warnings of flashing lights at public events. This is what a couple of people said about them when they were introduced a few months ago and the mods subsequently moved the position of them in the "smilie box" so that they were hidden when people were writing a response.



As you can see, some people may not hang around in a thread where there are lots of moving smilies, so by using so many virtually every time you post, you might be restricting the number of people who talk to you. Just a thought anyway, obviously it's up to you

This is very strange. I thought by putting many smilies at the bottom, it will beautify my post and more people will want to read it. OK, i will do without smilies. But how about this font? Cool, yes? Hehe.

Cool? No.

It might look a bit dull to use the standard font, size and colour, but it makes thinks far easier to read, and gives a more mature impression.

But thank you for ditching the moving smilies.

You are welcome, Deborah. Hehe

He he I know how you feel... I went to a funeral when I was 18 and some long-lost relative came up to me and said "Are you about 14?" I was mortified!!!

Sorry to be childishly immature and put it straight - but are your parents very rich?

I don't get presents for music exams, and I don't want them. I want the pleasure I get from doing them. A holiday for passing your G5? Hmm.

I was thinking that too...

I've never seen their bank account and they don't discuss money with me but I think they have oodles of money. They have never really refused me anything. Because I like to travel, I get to go to so many countries. But when it comes to the clarinet, they listen completely to my teacher. And if my teacher says no R13, they won't buy it for me.

Some of the people in the forum wrongly implied that I was spoilt. I'm not spoilt at all. If my parents had no money, I wouldn't mind working in the most dangerous job. It's just that my parents think all the crooks want to kidnap me and so they curtail my freedom quite a bit. I am not allowed to travel by public transport in my own country. I'm usually in the company of adults which explains my maturity. hehe.

Anyway, I don't bother any more about the R13. I have moved on.

Okay, thanks for straightening that out - while I wasn't implying you were spoilt, I felt slightly overwhelmed by your attitude towards buying musical instruments. No offense meant.

No worries. I'm not easily offended. Even if people say I'm spoilt, I'm not offended. I just prove that I'm not from the evidence I have. I think it's because I'm always in the company of adults (being an only child) that has given me a maturity beyond my years. hehe.

Going back to the clarinet, I just practised all my scales tonight for more than an hour! I feel as holy as a monk who's done his prayers.

Rule No. 1 - Never leave a clarinet standing on its bell if it's not on a clarinet stand. My clarinet just toppled over.

And especially never do that with an oboe. It would be drastic.

I suppose it's worse for the oboe because the bell is smaller than that on the clarinet.

And your reeds cost more and will most certainly break. I have personally never broken a reed in all four years. Very proud of myself.

That's admirable. I have vowed NEVER to place my clarinet standing on the bell for as long as I'm alive.

Guess what? My clarinet has been repaired!!!! It was just slightly misaligned and my pads weren't properly covering the toneholes. Now, I sound even better than before. And you won't believe this but it cost me only the equivalent of ten pounds!!! And I brought it to the Yamaha service office.

I've been practising like mad!!! Making up for the lost time of about three days. It sounds so good, who needs an R13? Hehe

That's great. Often a service and some minor repairs will do wonders for what seems to be a poor instrument. I have had some quite cheap recorders tuned and revoiced over the years and it has made a huge difference. Good luck with your playing.

I can feel a quick google coming on.......

Yes, the improvement is huge and I was quite taken aback by the quality of my clarinet. Or maybe I've just improved considerably in my playing. Hehehehehe.

Guess what? I'm getting a new teacher!!!! My current teacher - the guy who felt I was not ready for an R13 - will be leaving for his home country because of some job opportunity. My Mum is now negotiating with my new teacher and guess what??? He's the Principal Clarinettist in the National Orchestra. Isn't that cool? I hope he can be persuaded to teach me!!!

A principal clarinettist in a national orchestra probably hasn't seen a Yamaha 450 in his life and might demand an immediate change of instrument. I just take things as they come. I'm totally indifferent to everything.

My parents are giving my current teacher a farewell dinner and they want me to play a piece for him. Goodness, I hope I don't sound embarrassing.

You're obsessed with trying to get that R13, aren't you? You refer to your current teacher as the one who didn't think you were ready for it, then with your new teacher you're preoccupied with hoping he demands a change of instrument. Stick with your current clarinet - until you can get good sounds out of that, you won't do a more expensive instrument justice. There are audio clips on the Internet of Galway playing various flutes of various costs, confirming that a bad workman blames their tools....

To be honest, he probably has seen a Yamaha 450. I'd be more inclined to think that he demands you get a new personality.

The truth is I'm quite contented with my clarinet. And I had a very good heart-to-heart talk with my teacher. He actually told me I was a good kid but that he felt sorry that I would never be in touch with the real world. He asked me what I really thought of him. I told him the truth - I said I knew he didn't like me because he thought my parents were too indulgent. Every time I came home from a holiday or I was given some fantastic present, he would say something rude about "rich kids" which I resented. I told him it was not fair because I didn't choose to be born in my family.

He said that was true but that was the way of the world and the sooner I realised that the better it'd be. Then I thought of the things some people have said in this Forum - that I had the cheek to lament about something inconsequential when there were people dying of hunger and how everyone would take the side of boys who worked to earn money and I realised he was being honest. I thought of what my Mum said about never talking in a forum about holidays and presents. And so it all gelled.

But I got to know my teacher better.

If I can assume another identity in this Forum, I'd pretend to be a slave boy working in the illegal mines in China. I bet all of you would say the nicest things and then I'll say "Haha! I am Beamish Boy in disguise!!!"

Oh man, give me his number so I can shake his hand!



No, I doubt any of us would, because having a different identity/username unfortunately does not change the way you are. You wouldn't be hard to spot: stupid font and colour, ridiculous number of smileys at the end of a post, unable to post unless maturity is mentioned 10 times, oh and R13 clarinets.

I somehow don't think slave boys have access to computers that easily...

I hope you enjoy getting to know your new teacher and that you choose something really good to play at the farewell dinner of your current teacher.
I'm sure if you pay attention to your teacher it won't be too many years before you are good enough to be able to make a wise choice about which clarinet to upgrade to. When you are good enough to try a few out and able to tell the difference you will be in a better position to choose the instrument to suit you.

I bet you will be at this stage before I am.

What piece should I play for my teacher at the farewell dinner? I certainly want to play my best for him even though he admitted he didn't like me because of my "privileged position". I really am incapable of holding a grudge the way the baddies in novels do. Anyway, he may after my playing, decide that it's wrong to hold prejudices of any sort.

The piece I am really good at is Finzi's Carol - that's a Grade 3 piece. I thought I should play Schumann's Fantastistucke which I played for my recent Grade 5 exam but my Mum thinks it's too sad. Besides, it'd be a great stress for me because it's not really all that easy. I'm apt to bungle.

I'm thinking of playing the Finzi followed by "He's a Jolly Good Fellow" which I think I can manage. I'll get my Mum to jazz it up a bit.

That sounds good Although it does depend on how much time you have to learn it!

Finzi followed by 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' sounds good to me.

Sbhoa - excellent post.

It's far better to give a good performance of an easier piece than to mess up a performance of something more difficult.

Oh, and don't get hung up about what grade a piece is. My recent lunchtime recital included all five of the Finzi Bagatelles, and people enjoyed them for the music and the performance, rather than thinking "What's Deborah doing playing works which are Grades VI, VI, III, V and VIII standard?".

Thanks everyone. I'll do Finzi's Carol and He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

I think I should say this to be fair to my teacher. He's not a bad chap. Strange that we started talking more after he's quitting. He's not that old for a teacher - only in his early twenties. He had come to my country to study at the Conservatory. He came from a poor family. But he was very talented and did well in music. He had to work very hard in very bad conditions to earn money to study music. There were times when he cried because he was afraid his hands would be ruined in the hard work he was doing and he would never be able to play the clarinet. But as things turned out, his hands were preserved and he did very well in the conservatory. He will be returning to his home country to join a major orchestra there.

He was always wary of me because he perceived me to be terribly wealthy. He was appalled at how badly I did in my Grade 5 exam and he flipped when my parents wanted to give me a holiday in Bali because I passed. But because I'll be going to Bali with two friends for my birthday, my parents took me on a short holiday to Koh Samui in Thailand instead. He said he was shocked because I only barely passed my exam and my results were no good. His Dad would have given him a sound beating if he had done that badly. At 12, he was working in a factory grinding soya beans which was hard work only to save money to study music.

He told me it was wrong of him but he just could not adjust to the different value system my family had.

Anyway, all that is water under the bridge. We now understand each other better and I will mean it when I play for he's a jolly good fellow.

I have to say I am slightly bemused by your original wanting for an 'A' Clarinet, its exactly the same as a Bb apart from slight difference in length and obviously ptich - its really not that exciting or amazingly useful. I've only ever used an 'A' clarinet for Gilbert and Sulivan Musicals and a few pieces. Its lovely to have a matched pair but not really a very worthwhile investment unless you're a professional as you won't get much use out of it.

Why do you have your heart set on an R13? Have you played one before? If you're wanting an upgrade clarinet its a really good idea to go try a few, you'll be amazed at just how different some clarinets are from eachother.

ooh and can I just be nosey, you say your new teacher is principal in the national orchestra, national orchestra of where exactly?

BeamishBoy may want to check with his parents before providing that information.

Yes, that is true. My Mum will stop all my access into the internet if I provide any information of my locality. You can't imagine how insanely paranoid she is about my safety. She seems to think everyone is just dying to kidnap me and judging from the reaction some of the adults here have to me, I think the kidnappers wouldn't want my company. Haha.

I'm actually a little worried about my new teacher. A principal clarinettist might have very exacting standards.

But if they are a good teacher they will know how to only ask as much of you as you are able to do and to know how demanding to be at any time.