My clarinet playing is progressing (slowly!), but I don't have a teacher, am unlikely to have one for a while, and need to understand things like improving tone, the use of freaky keys (the banana and trill keys etc) and when to use alternative fingerings, conventions and short cuts etc.

Clarinet is my third instrument, so I really don't want basic tutors, neitehr am I looking for books of studies and exercises.

Any suggestions for good books/methods that deal thoroughly with this stuff? Roughly equivalent to Teal's Art of Saxophone Playing, or Wye practice Books for flute?

Thanks!
Nick

One book I quite like is Paul Harris and John Davies' 'Essential Clarinet Technique'. I haven't seen this in the shops for a while though...

I have the book that Barry suggested, I ordered it online though. I also have The Art of Clarinet Playing.

Thanks chaps - I think that Harris and Davies IS o/p, thought I have managed to order an archive copy. I got Stein cheaply from Abebooks, and also David Pino's book.

The answers should be in ONE of those...

nick

I've still got my old copy of Langey and apparently it's still in print. Another one that seemed popular when I was learning was Thurston, though I never had it.

T.

Frederick Thurston did a couple of 'passage studies' books, and while they're not really what you're looking for Nick, they're well worth looking out for.

I have just bought the 2 Thurston books as well as an Orchestral extracts book for sight reading practice. I got them from ebay for 6.00 including postage

What a bargain! Ebay can be great for stuff like that.

Thanks for all the advice.

nick

I got "The Working Clarinettist" by Peter Hadcock just this weekend (at Howarths). I'm very impressed with it. It's mostly composed of orchestral excerpts, but all of them are annotated with the author's advice on tackling the music, and there are good sections on technique, repair, equipment.

Would recommend it highly.

The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet is excellent, but it's doesn't contain music, just writing about the the clarinet, so it mightn't be what you're seeking.