The Creature plays the Clarinet

Hello!  Welcome to blog post number one!  My goal is to create a blog about all things music.  I know there are lots of music blogs out there, but I'd like to make one from my perspective, as a teacher, performer, and audience member.  Also, as this is my first attempt at something like this, I hope to get better at it as I go along.  Better at blogging, not music.  Well, I want to get better at music, too.  *sigh*  You know what I mean.  :)

Let's begin with the clarinet.  When I started band in school, I really wanted to play the saxophone.  But my family didn't have a saxophone.  We had an old clarinet.  So, given the choice between playing the clarinet or not playing in band at all, I chose the clarinet.  After about a year of playing the clarinet, my parents managed to find an old used saxophone.  By that time, I'd decided that I liked the clarinet, but still wanted to be a sax player.  So I played both.  And have continued to play both since.

The clarinet is a woodwind instrument that uses a single reed that vibrates and makes sound. 

It looks like a lot, but the keywork isn’t too complicated.  The player blows into the mouthpiece, over the reed, making it vibrate.  The vibration of the reed is where the sound is made.

The instrument has been around for hundreds of years and has the benefit of recognition from many important composers.  Mozart was a fan of the clarinet, and in his letters he wrote how he wanted more of them in his orchestras. He wrote a concerto for clarinet, which has become standard repertoire for clarinetists everywhere.  If you want to audition for an orchestra, plan to learn the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

Coming soon: the clarinet in Jazz.