Like an idiot I rushed of and bought the Clarinet Abracadabra Clarinet book not realising that I could have bought one with the accompanying CD. I haven’t a clue what half the tunes I’m playing are supposed to sound like.

Not yet that good a reading music.
I have searched the internet but can’t see just the CD for sale.

Any Ideas.

Have you tried ebay or Amazon marketplace? Hunt for both the book and the cd, if they're second-hand then it might still be cheap even if you have to rebuy the book.

[quote name='plonkee' date='Feb 10 2009, 01:10 PM' post='790410']
Have you tried ebay or Amazon marketplace? Hunt for both the book and the cd, if they're second-hand then it might still be cheap even if you have to rebuy the book.
[/quot

Yes plonkee

First place I looked, it maybe I have to go down that route.
Thanks

I think the problem may now be sorted out. One of the kind forum members on here may have solved my problem.
Thank You Berni

I did exactly the same thing.. I've got half way throught the book ok but now I've got a little stuck. I went out and bought a 'Play Today' level 2 book with CD which is fantastic. It makes all the difference having something to play along with

Call me a little old fashioned (though I'm not that old! ), but I really don't think that the CD should be used in tutor books to hear how something "goes" as this therefore misses out the skill of reading rhythm. I have no problem with playalong fun books as most of these tunes are well known and it is for pleasure, but surely the tutor book is there to teach you how to read notes and rhythm. Then once you've played the piece a few times and are more confident, you can play it with the backing track so practice is more enjoyable.

Your probably right! I did think it was cheating a little but without having a teacher or anyone else I know that can read music- its the only guidance I can get. After all a teacher would help you with rythmns in a lesson if you got stuck? But I do totally get your point. Maybe I should try and work it out for myself first then refer to the CD.

Being a new boy both to the clarinet (about a month) and the forum, this is not a criticism of your post, but just the angle I see it from.
Your constructive comments and advice would be most welcome.

For me it works to listen to the CD. I have lessons once a week for half an hour, and the rest of the time I practice alone.
By listening to the tune on the CD I can work my way through the piece, and have an audio understanding of how that note should sound.
I normally get the general idea from the CD and then stick to the music sheet.
Well anyway, right or wrong it works for me. It makes it more enjoyable and I can play along with the musician and pretend I’m good.

At this point let me say you are probably right about interpreting the music score , but after playing a piece that I have never heard before for 10 to 15 minutes a day and making no sense of it whatsoever I get bored.
Take the jazz piece I am trying to learn at the moment “After Supper” by Neil hefti. After two days of struggling and getting nowhere.
I listened to the CD, playing it back almost note By note and comparing it to the notes on the music sheet, it helped me tremendously. I still can’t play it very well but at least I now know what I am aiming for....and enjoying myself

I think when someone starts out it's quite useful to have the CD. My daughter always started with the sheet music, then played along with the CD especially if she was unsure in the beginning. It did actually enable her to make progress during holidays when she had no lessons. It hasn't damaged her sight reading at all as now she has the confidence to work through things of any level herself.

At the lower grades she found the exam CD's more useful than at the higher ones, but I expect that she's become less dependant with experience.

I don't like tutor books with CDs either, but do recommend several anthologies with CDs once poeple have got started. As a singer some of these CDs have got pronunciation guides, and unlike a clarinettist, recorder player or oboist (the life of the latter two I know a lot about) singers often need guidance to find the correct starting note.

However in lessons, the CD stays in the book, and the accompaniment is played on my piano, or I play along with the oboe student on my oboe, or the recorder student on my recorder.

If you keep learning by ear, and it is clear you an aural learner, you will find sight reading especially difficult. However if you learn to sight read from the word go by resisiting listening to the CD, you are adding another skill to your skill set without it being a mammoth task later.

Here Here! I especially like the bit where you say you can pretend your good. I sound fantastic with the CD turned up really loud! and at the end of the day its all about enjoying yourself. I've just taken up the clarinet as a bit of fun and a hobby... and its given me something to really look forward to doing every day. Before I had the CD to help me I too was getting bored with certain pieces because I couldn't work out the rythmns.Then you hear someone else playing and it all suddenly makes sense.After this I found I was better at working out the rythmns on my own.
Its all good practise however you go about it ......