My daughter has received a Clarinet for Christmas. She plays other instuments but we are having trouble getting a reasonable sound from the clarinet.
How tight should the reed ring be? If tight it lifts the reed at tip.
How close to the top of mouth piece should reed be? Flush or slightly below
How hard should it be to blow? She is not puffing her cheeks out, but it looks hard work and her face goes red.
We do not see her teacher for another week, and she is eager to make a start. I am not musical but try and help as much as I can.
Any other advice greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

The ligature should be just tight enough so that it holds the reed firmly in position - the reed-tip will then stand a little way apart from the tip of the mouthpiece. When you are putting the reed on, there should be a tiny bit of the mouthpiece-tip visible if you look at it straight on - this is far easier to demonstrate than to describe.
It isn't particularly difficult to get a basic sound out of the clarinet, but as with all instruments there is a 'knack' to it - once you know how to do it there is no problem. Your daughter could experiment with using a bit more or a bit less mouthpiece - I do have to say, though, that it might be better to wait till she has seen her teacher - frustating though it may seem at the moment!

What sort of reed has she got? Because if the strength is too hard then she won't be able to make much noise out of it! 1 1/2 is what me and my friends started on.

Thank you both, she has cracked it. She has ben playing a couple of easy Christmas tunes today.

yey! go her!