I was reading the thread about differences between wooden and plastic clarinets, and I know wooden clarinets are a lot better, but i was wondering if I should get one anytime soon or if I should wait until I'm about grade 5-ish?

And what clarinet would be good to get?

Hulk

Apparently it's best to leave it until Grade 5-6. I can see why...I'm Grade 3 too....yay!


Which Clarinet do you have now?

As stated on the previous thread about wooden clarinets, there are no hard and fast rules about when you need one. No one can stop you doing FRSM on a plastic clarinet, but wooden clarinets will help you produce a much better sound. Around Grade 5 is a good time: I got mine about a term before doing Grade 6.

As for which clarinet to buy, this is entirely up to you. Part of which depends on which instrument you play on, e.g. if you have a Buffet instrument, you may want to consider staying with Buffet instruments. Go to a bricks-and-mortar shop, and try loads, then purchase the one you like best.

The instrument itself is only one of the things which will influence your tone. Factor in the mouthpiece, reed, ligature, you...

I'm on a buffet B12 right now....go the plastic clarinets So, sticking with buffet would probably be a good idea (thanks Deborah)

Grade 3 in a week and four days......oh no

I got my wooden clarinet just before I did my grade 3, but that was only because the loan on my other clarinet was running out. I much prefer my wooden clarinet, but in some ways I wish I could have waited so that I could have a better one now (I am now taking grade 6).

Get one now! I did! When i was gr. 3 my clarinet teacher said that I should get one and I did and took grade 5. It's sooooo worth it.

They have a lovely tone and are way nicer to play than plastic ones.

(But then again you have to oil it, and bore oil does NOT go well with pale trousers - trust me, I know!)

missniffler
xx

i got a wooden clarinet after i did grade 5

I haven't got one
I wasn't going to get one while I was at school, but I'm leaving in two months and there's no way am getting one.

One thing that I would say about wooden clarinets is that I wouldn't advise protecting the bore yourself. If you use almond oil (which is said to be the best thing to use), you have to take all of the keys off so that the pads can't get damaged because the oil dissolves them. Get it treated once a year by a qualified repairer.

I have a wooden one, and they have a 'mellower' sound.

I don't really think there is a point where you should start playing one, but I was told by my clarinet teacher that around grade 5-ish (i'm doing grade 6/ 7 pieces) due to the 'mellower' sound...

But like another person has said, you need special oil for a wooden clarinet, so they don't split or crack, due to room temeperatures, etc...

peace and love amy-jane xx

hiya i hav a wooden clarinet and i havent even taken a grade yet am about 2 take 1 though grade 3 !!!

it sounds alot better and is soooo easier 2 play than my onl plastic 1 !!!

If you have the money, they are worth every penny.

well i've always played with a plastic clarinet, but when my band teacher let me borrow one of the school's wood clarinets(because my clarinet had a recent smelting accident...) i played so much better and back then I was only level 2

I bought my yamaha YCL450 after I'd passed grade 6, it made such a difference and I sounded a whole lot better when I did grade 7! but My friend has just passed her grade 8 clarinet exam with 145 playing a yamaha YCL26ii which is just a basic plastic student model.
Just goes to show really!

145/150 in Grade 8 sounds fantasic on any clarinet! I wonder where did she get 5 marks deducted ...

I think she got 3 deducted for her sight-reading and 2 deducted for her aural! Pretty amazing tho!

that means full marks on pieces *faints*

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Mar 27 2005, 10:35 PM)

that means full marks on pieces *faints*

What! And I was quite happy with 135.

At least I got full marks for one of the pieces. Stravinsky.

QUOTE (country_bumpkin @ Mar 27 2005, 06:36 PM)

My friend has just passed her grade 8 clarinet exam with 145 playing a yamaha YCL26ii which is just a basic plastic student model.

I got that one too...works pretty damn good, even if the mouthpiece is beginning to dissolve

lets not get this topic onto Stravnisky......hate the man....in a nice way! elmo and katet understand!!

what other pieces did you do Neil?

I was just trying to think of a clarinet piece Stravinsky wrote, and I can't think of one! What did you play by Stravinsky, Neil Clarinet? If he's written some clarinet pieces, I might start liking him a bit more!

I do like movements 5,7,10 and 8, in a strange way!

elmo- he wrote '3 pieces for solo clarinet' whatever they may be! the 3rd of them is on the grade 8 syllabus List C

That is right Nat. And I did the Brahms and Arnold.

not the Mozart!?

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Mar 28 2005, 12:38 PM)

not the Mozart!?

No. Lovely as it is, it is too familiar for exam purposes. I HAD to play it for my RSAMD audition, and failed miserably.

oh dear!

it is rather long as well isnt it, so anyone who played it would probably be on the floor dying if they played that 1st!! hehe

QUOTE (neil.clarinet @ Mar 28 2005, 11:36 AM)

And I did the Brahms and Arnold.

I'm playing the Arnold! It's great!

I wouldn't do the Mozart if I did grade 8!!! I've been playing it, and thought I'd try it all the way through the other day, since I'd only been practising it in bits. I got to the end and I was knackered, and I couldn't play anything else without feeling immense pain!!

Yes, I play double lipped which doesn't help!

QUOTE (elmo @ Mar 28 2005, 03:30 PM)

Yes, I play double lipped which doesn't help!

Rock on...

I would only say to gat a wooden clarinet at Grade 5ish. igot mine just before Gr5 and im dong GR7 noe . I LOVE IT .

I recommend a Yamaha - i think they are better than Buffets as i had to try about 6 Buffets and 5 Yamahas and the Yamahas are definately better

I have a yamaha 450

i got mine before i did my grade 5 as well i think... it's a yamaha and it's revolting... it sounded better at first but i wish i'd stuck with buffet.

i dont think that there is actually any particular brand that is better - it just depends what suits your embouchure and style of playing. they all sound different with different people playing them!

Right now i'm using a Buffet Festival, and I love it! The 2nd movement of Stravinsky's 3 pieces are so much easier with it. I'm thinking about getting a basset A clarinet,, any thoughts?

QUOTE

One thing that I would say about wooden clarinets is that I wouldn't advise protecting the bore yourself. If you use almond oil (which is said to be the best thing to use), you have to take all of the keys off so that the pads can't get damaged because the oil dissolves them. Get it treated once a year by a qualified repairer.

Hi,

Almond oil is one of the 'organic' bore oils now becoming popular. Others are peanut oil and olive oil. A latest fad is to buy vitamin E capsules, break them, and mix with the almond oil to avoid oxidation. The various reasons for all this are still controversial and I haven't seen a single scientific reason why organic oil is better than petroleum based. The whole idea is to protect the bore from sudden increases/decreases in water absorption due to changing temp and humidity!

Applying bore oil is very easy and the idea of 'taking all keys off' or using a 'qualified repairer' is quite funny. Sorry, but someone's been pulling your leg!

You simply add a few drops to a swab and pull it through until the interior bore looks shiny.

Best of luck,

Steve

back to the 'when should i get a wooden clarinet' question.

I have just done my grade 7 - passed with merit on a plastic buffet b12. They are fine - infact i think that trying to play with a better sound on a plastic clarinet can really make your sound better when you change to wooden. A freind of mine recently took her dipABRSM and changed to wooden a year before - her sound is very nice (i want to play like her!)

hopefully a new clarinet comming some time... maybe if i pass my GCSE music with A* lol.

QUOTE (hothedgehog @ Apr 4 2005, 07:45 PM)

hopefully a new clarinet comming some time... maybe if i pass my GCSE music with A* lol.

Yeah I tried that! Didn't work though Neither did getting AS music either!

Still no wooden clarinet though!

try a really sweet innocent look, and say muuuumie i neeeed it for uni!!

worked for me!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Apr 4 2005, 09:33 PM)

try a really sweet innocent look, and say muuuumie i neeeed it for uni!! worked for me!

If I tried anything like that my mum would just laugh at me and say no.

getting your head of music to ring up helps as well! it meant i got a new saax too hehe!!

Well in saying that, my head of music really likes me, so she might.

My brother met her daughter in town and apparently my head of music talks about me a lot in her house... sort of freaky!

The uni thing doesn't work for me either! Especially as I'm not planning on taking performance modules! I'm not really that fussed, coz I've got this far, so I might aswell keep trying on a plastic one!

I don't particularly want my head of music ringing our house!

I had a dream I did my G8 clarinet last night, and I told the examiner I hadn't practised coz someone had hidden my music. Then I forgot my music on the day and had to use a photocopy, and I read the examiners' notes and he said I had to "work on technical ability, tone, aural work, sightreading and expression!

Doesn't leave much!

HAHA! thats quite funny!!

what else is their left to work on lol?!

QUOTE

I don't particularly want my head of music ringing our house

neither do I lol, but when its for a good reason!

Which Yamaha ones are wooden? Is the 450 specifically wooden for example or do you get plastic 450 ones and wooden 450 ones? (I hope 450 is a Yamaha one! Lol!)

From what I can gather, 250 is a plastic one (I have that one) but 450, 650 are wooden. I've only come across people with these models (namely big fat A and someone with glasses from band!), so there could be more in between!

lol... im thinking maybe a pair of clarinets! (A and Bflat). My gran died last year and we are just selling her house. The money from it is going to be mine - so i will be playing for school fees, uni, new stuff from that... so i guess that my clarinets will be from there!

i would never get my head of music to phone up - he is a compleate nutter!!!!!! I might get my clarinet teacher to phone up or something - he is quite a good family friend so he might be able to make my mum actually take me shopping to a good music shop to try some instruments! lol.

I have always played on wooden clarinets.

QUOTE (hothedgehog @ Apr 6 2005, 11:37 AM)

I might get my clarinet teacher to phone up or something

Yeah, I'd get my clarinet teacher to ring up, coz he's one of my friend's dads!

I find its good to vari (sry cant spell) the types of clarinets if u can. Try borrowing clarinets from packers and see if they make any difference to your playing, maybe try recording, and dont forget to try different types of wooden - i had a buffet wooden and i sounded very (well i dont know how to explain it) but my new clarinet makes me sound a lot more musical!

QUOTE (elmo @ Apr 5 2005, 12:22 PM)

From what I can gather, 250 is a plastic one (I have that one) but 450, 650 are wooden. I've only come across people with these models (namely big fat A and someone with glasses from band!), so there could be more in between!

We have both the 450 and 650 in Rainbow music i think Iz, you sould come and try them, see if they are really what they are cracked up to be!

Might just do that! I think I played a 450 in the music shop at Brampton when I was buying my 250, but I was more preoccupied trying to tell the patronising man that I knew how to play a clarinet, I wanted to play it myself so I could test it, that I might not be buying it, and that we didn't have a huge budget!

QUOTE

but I was more preoccupied trying to tell the patronising man that I knew how to play a clarinet, I wanted to play it myself so I could test it, that I might not be buying it, and that we didn't have a huge budget!

Funny isn't it how attitudes vary. I follow the clarinet forum on woodwind.org which is probably 80% USA dominated, and there, you'd be thought slightly strange if you bought a clarinet without first trying as many as possible. Clarinets do vary. Some are heavier. The keywork feels different. The bore diameter varies. I find it amazing that anyone would expect you to buy an expensive item without comparing it with others. For clothes, that means trying them on. For clarinets?

"Well madam, I suggest the Buffet B12. The keys are shinier than the Yamaha!"

Steve