The last time I played clarinet was when I was in high school and I am now 70. During the pandemic, I watched the Jazz documentary on Amazon and got inspired to buy a clarinet. Placement of the reed was never explained to us in Jr. High when I first learned and I am so glad that you have shared this lesson with us.
Congratulations, Diane! I’ve picked up the clarinet during the pandemic as well and Michelle’s tips on reed placement are so helpful. I now have the confidence to experiment with placement to improve my tone! Best of luck with your clarinet practice.
Cool. Insightful. Maybe enough so that 'poo-pooing' my tenor-recorder after 2weeks of ownership needs further consideration! $cost of recorder reeds, parts wear and repair: $000.00, on my ABS instrument. Thx4 your effort, great channel too.
I just began to watch these videos. They are OUTSTANDING. Thanks. By the way you may not believed but I am a 75 year old trying to understand and learn the clarinet.
I totally agree with you about these videos being OUTSTANDING ...... I just want to say that I am 65 now learning about this instrument having first started when I was 50 ......didn't get to play in High School , always regretted that and by the luck of it all was able to start 15 years ago with a professional instructor in a start up community band for beginners and here we all are still learning thanks to fantastic presenters on RU-vid like Michelle ......
Thanks Michelle. This really helps - I cant wait to try the reed adjustment, as I get a lot of squawks on the high register. I also tend to collect a lot of moisture build up very soon and have to blow on the register key to clear the sound. Is there any way to avoid moisture build up, please ? Much appreciated.
Hi Michelle -- nice article - love the giant reed and mouthpiece!! One comment -- I've always taught students (and others!) to press the reed against the mouthpiece when adjusting, so as to eliminate parallax errors -- yet no one else seems to mention this! Cheers!
Thank you for all your advice. It has been invaluable! ...... (my lockdown endeavour to return to the clarinet after 40 plus years!). No muscle memory - virtually no memory at all - but gradually coming back to me and your guidance has helped enormously. So thank you thank you! ... Hopefully less squeaking and more skill to come over the next few hours of practice.
Hi Ms.Michelle, while me and and my friend were playing together, my friend ripped a sliver of her reed(on the left side). She than told me it sounds better like that. I tried and I noticed also. Has this ever happened to you?
As a child of the 60's my band teacher taught us the method "backwards" as you mention at 03:25 - look over the back of the mouthpiece unit you see just a "smidgen" (technical term for old guys) of the reed above the tip of the mouthpiece.
You are such a great teacher! I bought my clarinet a couple days ago and I'm trying to learn the basics by myself. You're helping me quite a lot with all your videos! Keep up with your wonderful work :)
Ronie Gerber Thanks for the kind works Ronie. If you are just getting going, you might appreciate an ebook that I have for beginners that also has access to a set of videos to get you started. You can download it at: www.clarinetmentors.com/resources/HowToPlayClarinetForBeginners.pdf
Wonderful series of clarinet lessons. What stands out for me is how you professionals appear to blow so easily. for me it’s hard work, must admit my teacher never really got down to blowing techniques.
Hi Michelle. Pity you weren't around more than half a century ago when I took a few clarinet lessons during my final years of high school. If I had known about all this then might have persevered. Really enjoying your videos and find them inspiring. Still have my clarinet which found its way back to me after a short period being used by by niece at school. Tempted to take up where I left off. The clarinet is a wooden Martin Freres in good undamaged condition that was sold as a student model up to the early 1960s. Probably needs a complete overhaul. Is it worth spending money on this or would the money be better spent on a new plastic clarinet?
You made a few mentions in this video about different mouthpieces. Do you think you could make a video about selecting a mouthpiece and how different ones affect your playing/sound? Thanks!!
Clarinet Mentors (Michelle Anderson) Please, talk about how to take care of the mouthpiece. I am a beginner and I heard some people saying that I should wash the mouthpiece in warm water with a little bit of detergent but I am not sure if I should do that or not. Thanks a lot!
You should not pull your regular clarinet swab through your mouthpiece since it can wear down the inside over time. Instead, you can wipe it dry from either end, and occasionally, it is fine to wash it in warm water. You can use a bit of soap if you wish. Make sure the water is not too hot.
Hello. I just discovered your videos. I can't thank you enough for making these.. This has been one of the single most helpful videos I've ever watched. Not just on clarinet I mean, but on any subject. This video has been a hugely helpful resource and I can't wait to explore your others! You are amazing. Best wishes from Tennessee.
Michelle, Thank you for this EXCEPTIONAL lesson on reed placement! Though I am a beginner, knowing that reed placement is important but that it isn’t “one size fits all” encourages me to experiment in a way that connects me to the instrument in a new and exciting way, and has improved the consistency of my tone. I think this is especially important for beginners who may be practicing on their own without an instructor like you to routinely evaluate their progress!
Hi Michelle, what do you think of those gadgets, I think it’s called a reed trimmer that lop off a very small sliver at the top of the reed? Are they a good idea or not a good thing? I am thinking about getting one.
+Aiko San I haven't tried the carbon fibre reeds for some time. The ones I did try were not great. However, the Legere synthetic reeds are used by many people and are worth checking out. They are quite good.
Thanks very much, again, Michelle. Always find your tutorials helpful, always pick something up. I'm an early intermediate, playing a 2.5 reed on a student Yamaha and do find symptoms of reed softening after 30sh mins. This helps me diagnose and treat.
This is very strange. In the 1960s, when a child, I was told to have the reed extend a sliver ABOVE the mouthpiece edge. Was it right to make the reed harder for a beginner? Wish someone had told me what you present here or at least given me this information on when I was in high school.
Hi. Your videos are really constructive, and always help me. Especially since I haven't been feeling so enthusiastic towards my clarinet ever since covid started, your videos remind me how fun clarinet is. I have a question though, whenever I play a new reed, like a Vandoren strength 3, it's really fuzzy and I have to not use them.
Very instructive video. My experience is that when I buy a box of reeds, at most I will find only 2-4 reeds that are golden honey looking. Others have brown spots and they don't sound good. I do a lot of shaving and cutting the tips after playing on a read for hours. I never get that pure sound like you. I will check more videos from you. You are an excellent teacher and I like that you get to the mechanics of many areas. Many thanks!
Thanks so much for uploading this Michelle - it was incredibly helpful. I have a number of reeds that are too soft or too hard for various reasons and your solution really works. Big difference! I'm looking forward to Part 2.
Thanks Michele, When you were talking about reed placement today, reminded me of all the times I have experimented with the same procedures, and shaving when it seemed that that was the appropriate thing to do.
For me I always practice throughout the day. Like one hour in morning one hour afternoon and another in evening. When she said she rotates reeds during different practice sessions of the day I was happy because I do that for the same reason lol. No one ever told me to do that. It was just my common sense so I’m happy my common sense turned out to be a good thing!
Dear michelle I am beginner playing clarinet and I have trouble choosing the reed and i have the g key clarinet and the Bb clarinet and i like the high note which size should i choose for reeds
+Josh Pearce Wow! I've never heard of that happening before. That is dramatic! I hope there may be other clarinets in your future (perhaps made out of reinforced steel).
Hi Michelle, you mentioned the issue of reeds getting somehow weaker after an hour and something. The question is how quickly a reed do "recover". In other words, if you play a 2h concert (or an orchestra rehearsal) with a 20 min break (and you don't play during the break) - will you typically change the reed or use the same one because it's ok after the break again? The latter is my experience.
Hi Martin, I usually let a reed "recover" overnight and don't use it until the next day. However, I do know many players who do use them again later the same day. Maybe I am just extra hard on reeds!
.Michelle, I want to thank you so much for all the helpful hints on how to improve on playing the clarinet. I hadn't played the clarinet in over 40 years. I decided I wanted to relearn how to play it. I'm finding that I'm running out of air when it comes to playing the clarinet and I have forgotten lots of the notes. Any suggestions on how to accelerate my progress? Thanking you in advance.
You will likely be amazed at how quickly you start to regain your former skills as you work through things. The best thing is to ensure that the "basics" are on track. I have lots of videos here on RU-vid that will help, and you can also download an ebook that I have (which is designed for total beginners, but the habits are all good ones) which has a bunch more videos for you: www.clarinetmentors.com/resources/HowToPlayClarinetForBeginners.pdf Good luck!
hi there michelle..i am enjoying your videos..very helpful ..thanks!!..i recently bought an antique gm bundy clarinet with all the original pieces..ive never played clarinet in my life though i play flute. my question is, should i buy a new mouthpiece??..i'm not sure of the importance of this.,,thanks again
+Jesse Stutsman Hi Jesse, the mouthpiece is usually the first piece of gear that I recommend people upgrade. It can make quite a difference to your ease of playing. The best thing, if you are able, is to test a few out. Some music stores let you sit down and try some. The "right" mouthpiece for you will usually feel good right away. Try low notes, high notes, and also articulating. If you don't have that luxury, Vandoren, Backun and D'Addario Reserve all make very good step-up mouthpieces. There are also many very fine professional ones out there. Good ones to consider for you would be the Backun Protege or Vandoren M13 Lyre as ones that work for most people if you are unable to play test them in advance.
Hi Michelle, thank you so much for all your incredible videos. I am a huge fan! I've only been playing clarinet for a couple of months, but already I see and hear an improvement in my playing due to your instructional videos. Do you only play classical music? It would be really amazing if you could do videos on jazz techniques like pitch bending or glissando on the clarinet?! Many thanks!!
hi michelle. i have been playing clarinet for a little over 12 years but ive been having what seems like such a beginner problem. i play a buffet R13 with a vandoren b45 mouthpice, but for some reason absolutely none of my vandoren reeds are working. they produce an airy and/or fuzzy sound no matter how much i warm them up and wet them. my only reed that works is an old 1.5 rico!! the vandoren reeds ive tried have been between 2 and 3 in strength and both the traditionals and V12 which is recommended for my mouthpice. any advice? or do you think ive got about 10 bad reeds? thanks
+Ben Turner Hi Ben. This sounds frustrating.... It sounds like the reeds may be stiff for you. If you are playing more jazzy styles of music, you may prefer a softer reed. For classical tone, it is usually good to blow a very fast air stream, and that usually works better with the stiffer reeds. You could either increase air speed, or, go with the lighter reed if like how it sounds. It is worth looking at the tip of the mouthpiece carefully. If it has a chip or bump on it, everything will sound fuzzy. Every now and then I've had a box of 10 duds, but usually a couple will be good ones.
Great tutorial Michelle, thank you. You brought to mind my teacher, many decades ago, who had a reed tip clipper (which allowed him to trim the tip of the reed by small amounts, increasing the 'strength". He also used reed rush (or dutch rush) - a natural product - to adjust the sides of a reed until they were balanced.
