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Hi! Welcome to my clarinet section! Here you will find various info that most clarinests should know. Also, I have some links at the bottom.
Tip of the week: Ok, well, I couldn't think of a good one this week so you get this tip. If you are having trouble playing a certain note, try a different fingering for it because there are many different fingerings for notes especially those in the altissimo register.

• All clarinets should be swabbed after every use.
  
• If your horn has silver plated keys, you should keep soft rubber(rubber bands, pencil erasers)away from it.
  
• You should not use pull-through swabs on your mouthpieces b/c mouthpieces have fine ridges inside that a swab could smooth out. Instead, wash them with water and dry them out, or use a mouthpiece brush(I use a mouthpiece mouse)
  
• Don't leave a wet swab in your case
  
• Buffet experts say that oiling a wooden horn is not important. There are many opinions on this subject, so just decide (with the help of your teacher)what is best for you.
  

• Reeds tend not to be consistent in strength when you buy them in boxes. That explains why to reeds of the same strength play so differently!
  
• Did you know that Rico 3's and Vandoren 3's are not truly the same strength?!?! It's true! If you examine a reed strength chart(as found in the WW&BW catalog) you will see that all brands of reeds have varying strength measurements. Vandoren 3's are equal to Rico 3 1/2 and so on, basically.
  
• It helps if you soak the reed before playing. Then you can take a piece of typing paper and polish the back of the reed to make it as smooth as glass. It helps tons! Don't forget to get all of the water off the reed before storing!
  

A setup is the items of your horn. For example, my two setups are:

1. Buffet E12, Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, Vandoren Optimum Ligature, and Vandoren 3 reeds.
   
2. Buffet B12, Vandoren B45 mouthpiece, Buffet ligature, and Vandoren 2 1/2 reeds.
   

Some people never realize how important a mouthpiece is to your horn. Some keep using the mouthpiece that comes with their insturment for quite a while. This is not really a good idea b/c these mouthpieces are usually very beginner mouthpieces and are not of good quality. There are many mouthpieces avaliable by different brands and certain mouthpieces are better than others. There are crystal mouthpieces which are really neat looking because they're clear. Also, mouthpieces are usually suited to a certain reed strength. For example, Vandoren B45 mouthpieces are suited to 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 size reeds. You can find more information on this at the Vandoren website.

I just found this stuff out myself and I think that it's neat that they have names for these things. Anyway, here's the clarinet registers:

• E below the staff to Bb (3rd line staff) - Chalumeau
  
• B (3rd line staff) to C (2nd line above staff) - Clarion
  
• C# (2nd line above staff) and above - Altissimo
  
• and another term(not quite a register) is G (2nd line staff) to Bb (3rd line staff) - throat tones
  




Links





• Bulletin Board where I frequent. Has tons of clarinet info!
  
• Sneezy.Org, the clarinet pages. The BEST clarinet pages on the net and the home of the Bulletin Board above!
  
• Woodwind and Brasswind. I bought my E12 from their catalog. Save hundreds from your local store prices!
  
• My HS band's official website, even though it's 2 marching seasons out of date.
This page was last updated on November 26-27, 1998


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