Thank you. I’m returning after 65 plus years. My last year of playing was on a base clarinet but I am back with a Bb clarinet. I am now into a year of daily practice of 45 minutes. I am at plateau. Your videos have helped me tremendously. I’m hoping to make as much progress in 2024 as I did last year. I recorded 30 minutes of Christmas music that I will play again next year to check progress. I hope to be included in you notifications of masterclasses so I can learn from others. Thanks again. Gerry Reid
A grand adventure after getting in trouble in 5th grade band 50+ years ago. Yes, I quit after the instructor had me play the homework assignment, then made me move to the front of the class, where all the other instructors made me sit to be humiliated. It was 30 some years later that I overheard a conversation and learned that I had been awarded "first chair". Ughhhh... I had NO clue😭. I've only played it in my dreams since then. Yesterday I bought a used one, dropped it off at a reputable repair shop and have watched 40-50 training videos and have been practicing proper breathing technique😁. Yes, an adventure into the past, to capture a gem to be enjoyed today and tomorrow! Thank you, Michelle, for being such a great help!
Maybe 50% of teachers are okay and some of those are really good. Of the other 50% 25% like children for the wrong reasons and the other 25% are sadomasochist
Thank you. I'm returning after about 40 years of not playing but I've thought about it often and the happiness i felt while playing. I know i have a lot to learn as I was playing by ear and I want to learn reading music as well. Your video is so much fun and very interesting. I know I will learn a lot from you and your site. Thank you again. I'm really looking forward to this.
I recently took up clarinet again after almost 40 years of NOT playing. I've found that many aspects of playing it are coming back to me now and I absolutely love it! The one thing I've found that works for my own personal success, is to NOT listen to others so much and just do what works for you! Back in high-school, I had THE most difficult clarinet to play - don't even remember the make, just remember it had a small blue star on the bell. NONE of the other clarinet players could play it, only me. This was a very informative video.
I have been "practicing" rather sloppily the last few days and decided I needed to use much more discipline. This video provides a very good framework for that! Tone habits, finger patterns, articulation, rhythm, and "tough spots first"...a very good practice plan! I'm a beginner, so all this is very important, early on, I am sure.
@@sabrina9333 well In my little city we are getting people fired for not getting vaccinated like the nursing homes & the hospitals are now having shortages of workers even though these same workers worked all the way through 2 years worth of the crisis it's just a political climate more than anything and now pushing the boosters one every 4 to 6 months I'd stick to practicing music😊 oh and by the way yesterday at midnight the religious exemption expired
@@sabrina9333 thank you well there's a big push to bail out these pharmaceutical companies maybe that doesn't sound right but the airline's got bailed out the automobile manufacturers got bailed out the banking industry got bailed out it's just kind of cyclical in the United States and at this point in time the pharmaceutical companies are in deep trouble financially so the coincidence that the government is funding all these boosters and so forth can't walk down the street without seeing free vaccinations on my neighborhood been that way over a year
this is what i would call clarinet wisdom. thank you very much! i really hope i would be able to play clarinet. there are so many beautiful songs that i would like to play.
A bunch of helpful, eloquently explained tips - thank you! I’m just beginning on the clarinet but look forward to applying these techniques in my practice!
This was so useful to me. Please keep at it. Your videos are awesome and I love all the great and excellent tips!!! I feel like I don't practice enough and this video has gotten me much more interested in playing the clarinet! One question: how do you know if you're clarinet needs new corks? Because I think mine are in need of replacing but I'm not sure. Anyway, thanks again Michelle for another great video!
Thank you Michelle! This was exactly what I was looking for today. Just read a piece about how our brains move from learning a new thing to knowing it, and of course the practical answer is "Practice!" Love your channel, it's been a great motivator.
Michelle, this is the most instructive video I have watched in my three years study. It is so good I am putting it in my desktop (if I can find how to!!) the better and faster to return to it. Brilliant - very well done! Thanks for all your videos, but I think this one is extra special.
Thank you for this video. While this review of good practice habits is outlined in your "How to Practice Well - A Template" ("Clarinet is Easy"), your amplification of its concepts is really helpful. I am presently working on "Lesson Eight" of your "Clarinet is Easy" course. Please keep up the good work!
Hi Michelle, Thx soooo Much for this video and for all your videos . You are a master and an inspiration. A natural born teacher. Easily explained and easily understood and thoroughly thought out. Very Much Appreciated. Tom Fracsa- NYC
Thank you for these awesome tips. I will be sure to share this video with the clarinet section leader in our band. I am new to clarinet and this helps a lot. I don’t have music yet, so I’ve basically been working on scales and fingerings and embouchure and air support. Although this is not my first woodwind instrument. I also play flute
I tend to do my long tone exercise at the end of a practice session, because my embouchure tends to basically die during those exercises. I play sax btw, but I suppose it’s really the same when it comes to embouchure.
Hi Michelle. I have enjoyed your videos and they have been a great help. I only started playing the clarinet in January of this year (after the recorder). I can play all of the notes reasonably well, such as the scales but I have a problem blowing some of the lower notes from scratch. I can get them OK if I lead up to them from other notes, but find it difficult to get the lower notes individually. I wonder if you have any suggestions to help me please? Many thanks. Trevor McDonald
Michelle, this is a great video with lots of good technique for practice. One of my issues is working on a difficult section of music and getting it down well when I am by myself but then I get with the band and it's just like I freeze up and cannot play with the group. I know that hard section is coming up and that it's difficult for me to play so I get anxious about playing it well and just can't play it with the group. Any suggestions? Judi
jharvey93 Something that I do is to try to simulate the performing with an ensemble environment. One way I like to do this is to find a recording online of the piece and play along with that. That way, you can get a feel for how the part fits in with the group and it keeps you pulled along to the real tempo. If there are no recordings or it is a solo piece, try recording yourself. It puts a little more pressure to play well, simulating the actual performance environment, and then you can listen to it and hear your playing from an outside perspective.
Hi Michelle, Great tips for clarinet practicing! I seem to struggle on getting a clean slur going from altissimo D to high C sharp to high C. Any tips?
Hi Everyone - The worksheet of scale patterns that I mention in this video can be found here: www.clarinetmentors.com/resources/ClarinetMentorsScalePatterns.pdf
Hello, I’m having trouble finding a beginner clarinet book. I need something that’s going to help me to learn the skills. I had one when I was in band decades ago but I cannot remember what the book was called. Would you recommend one for me? Thanks bye-bye
If on the middle register higher pitched notes start sounding than I should be getting is that also a sign of needing a stronger reed because I am definitely covering the holes?
I have been playing the clarinet for a while and can play reasonably well one day then the next I struggle to voice the notes. I can't see if my fingers are not covering the holes properly or whether I am catching other parts of the clarinet. It is very frustrating as I am not aware that I am placing my fingers any differently.
I think my low Ab key is broken would that affect the high C and B notes? For the past two days i haven't been able to get the notes to speak. usually getting those notes is easy for me.
If that pad on that key is no longer closing all the way, it would definitely keep those notes from speaking. To check this, you could wrap a sturdy rubber band around that key to force it closed, and see if the C and B work. Sounds like you need to get things fixed! I'm sure it will be easy once that key is working again.
Okay thanks. It turns out it WAS broken. But it was a simple fix all i had to do was fix a loose screw/pin on the key. But after all the worry and trying to get the notes to speak with a broken key, I sound even better than before on the notes with the register key. Thanks Mrs. Anderson c:
I Need Help Miss. I didn't always have this problem but everytime I Play, I am uncontrollably sharp. I pulled out of the Bell almost all the way along with the barrel . I loosened my embouchure as well , nothing seems to change.
Elizabeth Giron Well, be confident, you'll solve your problem - a very rare problem, nobody complains about being sharp - it would have been worse if you were flat, in fact it is easier to flatten clarinet tones than sharpening them (flattening the notes is a common technique in "ethnic" clarinet like greek, turkish, indian...).
What type of clarinet do you play on? What is the length of the barrel you use? There are lots of factors that might make a clarinet sound sharp such as, an older clarinet might be wearing out, too short of a barrel, mouthpiece, etc. Thats just equipment problems. Other factors could include biting on the reed, air might be slow.
Never played Clarinet. Don't even own one :) But the standard "Clasical" aproach to learning is "Slower than lasses in winter". Most students will die from boredom and give it up long before they can play. I started at 9 and by 17 I was playing professionally. I play bass, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. You must first throw away all sheet music until after you can play!!!! By then you won't need it :) Is your goal to play 2nd chair in the high school band, or is your goal to become Pete Fountain? I got news, you can't have both :) Johnny Gimbal (the fiddle player) once told me when I ask how you play backup said son can you humm it. Humm it I said. He answered "You can't play what you can't think!!!!" So how do you quickly drive the finger memory to the point where if you can think it you can play it? By rote memory until you don't need the rote memory anymore! The proper use of scales. But not all scales. You start with the 7 majors. You learn an A scale. Play it 100 times every practise until it is driven in. Then you add the second octave of the A scale and do the same. Then you combine the two and play both octaves together 100 times. Then you move to "B"and do the same. Then C, D, E, F and G. In a month you should be playing all 7 in 2 octaves close to perfectly. Then you add the penotonic for each of the 7. Perfecting that, you learn the blues scale for each of the 7 in 2 octaves. That is your daily warm up. 100 scales in two octaves for each key, 100 pentatonics in each key. And the most important, 100 blues scales in each key. Now anything you can think, you can play!!!! And in any key :) Or you can piddle with the classical method until your social security check arives LOL!
Thank you. I’m returning after 65 plus years. My last year of playing was on a base clarinet but I am back with a Bb clarinet. I am now into a year of daily practice of 45 minutes. I am at plateau. Your videos have helped me tremendously. I’m hoping to make as much progress in 2024 as I did last year. I recorded 30 minutes of Christmas music that I will play again next year to check progress. I hope to be included in you notifications of masterclasses so I can learn from others. Thanks again.
Gerry Reid
My name is Gerry Reid. I’m not sure my the note shows Sherry 6163
A grand adventure after getting in trouble in 5th grade band 50+ years ago. Yes, I quit after the instructor had me play the homework assignment, then made me move to the front of the class, where all the other instructors made me sit to be humiliated.
It was 30 some years later that I overheard a conversation and learned that I had been awarded "first chair". Ughhhh... I had NO clue😭. I've only played it in my dreams since then.
Yesterday I bought a used one, dropped it off at a reputable repair shop and have watched 40-50 training videos and have been practicing proper breathing technique😁.
Yes, an adventure into the past, to capture a gem to be enjoyed today and tomorrow!
Thank you, Michelle, for being such a great help!
Maybe 50% of teachers are okay and some of those are really good. Of the other 50% 25% like children for the wrong reasons and the other 25% are sadomasochist
Thank you. I'm returning after about 40 years of not playing but I've thought about it often and the happiness i felt while playing. I know i have a lot to learn as I was playing by ear and I want to learn reading music as well. Your video is so much fun and very interesting. I know I will learn a lot from you and your site. Thank you again. I'm really looking forward to this.
I recently took up clarinet again after almost 40 years of NOT playing. I've found that many aspects of playing it are coming back to me now and I absolutely love it! The one thing I've found that works for my own personal success, is to NOT listen to others so much and just do what works for you! Back in high-school, I had THE most difficult clarinet to play - don't even remember the make, just remember it had a small blue star on the bell. NONE of the other clarinet players could play it, only me. This was a very informative video.
I have been "practicing" rather sloppily the last few days and decided I needed to use much more discipline. This video provides a very good framework for that! Tone habits, finger patterns, articulation, rhythm, and "tough spots first"...a very good practice plan! I'm a beginner, so all this is very important, early on, I am sure.
Your encouragement is very inspiring
Thanks Brian!
After 30 years I picked up my clarinet since we have this extra time (05/26/2020) and your video has been very helpful. Thank you!!
Hi Sabrina are you having fun I hope you're making tons of progress cuz we're about to have another major lockdown
@@deadmanswife3625 do you really think so?
@@sabrina9333 well
In my little city we are getting people fired for not getting vaccinated like the nursing homes & the hospitals are now having shortages of workers even though these same workers worked all the way through 2 years worth of the crisis it's just a political climate more than anything and now pushing the boosters one every 4 to 6 months I'd stick to practicing music😊 oh and by the way yesterday at midnight the religious exemption expired
@@deadmanswife3625 If there are people that are non vaccinated & the numbers are going up, that's on them not political. Good luck and stay safe.
@@sabrina9333 thank you well there's a big push to bail out these pharmaceutical companies maybe that doesn't sound right but the airline's got bailed out the automobile manufacturers got bailed out the banking industry got bailed out it's just kind of cyclical in the United States and at this point in time the pharmaceutical companies are in deep trouble financially so the coincidence that the government is funding all these boosters and so forth can't walk down the street without seeing free vaccinations on my neighborhood been that way over a year
this is what i would call clarinet wisdom. thank you very much! i really hope i would be able to play clarinet. there are so many beautiful songs that i would like to play.
Great Video! Watching from Brazil!
as a music teacher and 25 years on the guitar..this is an excellent summary of how to practice on any instrument.Thanks. Deliberate Practice!
A bunch of helpful, eloquently explained tips - thank you! I’m just beginning on the clarinet but look forward to applying these techniques in my practice!
Never seen som one giving this much detailed information , not even the great performers nor the teachers. But owe u for the change I learnt from.
This was so useful to me.
Please keep at it.
Your videos are awesome and I love all the great and excellent tips!!!
I feel like I don't practice enough and this video has gotten me much more interested in playing the clarinet!
One question: how do you know if you're clarinet needs new corks? Because I think mine are in need of replacing but I'm not sure.
Anyway, thanks again Michelle for another great video!
Thanks, Michelle. Found this very helpful in my daily practicing.
Thank you Michelle! This was exactly what I was looking for today. Just read a piece about how our brains move from learning a new thing to knowing it, and of course the practical answer is "Practice!" Love your channel, it's been a great motivator.
Great warm up suggestions. Improvements the 1st day include instant feedback on what improves the quality of the sound. Thank you so much. J. David
Thanks Michelle, what a great overview of what we can do to improve. I already use many of your worksheets and find them invaluable. Frank
Thanks Frank! I'm glad you find these videos to be helpful.
Great video! Thank you. After being away from my clarinet for about 20 years, this was a very helpful refresher on how to practice.
Michelle, this is the most instructive video I have watched in my three years study. It is so good I am putting it in my desktop (if I can find how to!!) the better and faster to return to it. Brilliant - very well done! Thanks for all your videos, but I think this one is extra special.
Wow! Thanks Tony. You've made my day. I'm glad this is useful to you.
Thank you for this video. While this review of good practice habits is outlined in your "How to Practice Well - A Template" ("Clarinet is Easy"), your amplification of its concepts is really helpful. I am presently working on "Lesson Eight" of your "Clarinet is Easy" course. Please keep up the good work!
Thanks, motivating stuff!
Thank you, Thank you and Thank you again.
Hi Michelle, Thx soooo Much for this video and for all your videos . You are a master and an inspiration. A natural born teacher. Easily explained and easily understood and thoroughly thought out. Very Much Appreciated. Tom Fracsa- NYC
Thank you so much for the kind words Tom. I hope you are enjoying your clarinet.
thanks for sharing this its very good
Just finished a frustrating session so this video comes as a tonic and pointer to better more structured practice sessions in future - Thanks
I enjoyed your lesson and will like to learn more
This was great! I can’t wait until tomorrow for the Webinar!
Michelle, Thank you very much for teach us, you are nice person, and thanks for the advice.
Thank you for these awesome tips. I will be sure to share this video with the clarinet section leader in our band. I am new to clarinet and this helps a lot. I don’t have music yet, so I’ve basically been working on scales and fingerings and embouchure and air support. Although this is not my first woodwind instrument. I also play flute
Excellent ! Thank you very much!!!
Thanks , good stuff, braking it down , in parts really makes sense .
Thanks for this episode, sort of keeps me on my toes
you are a fantastic teacher!
I love that shirt, where did you get it?
I had it custom made. I love it. You can email me if you want a copy of the logo for your own use.
Ok, thanks.
You are a magnificent teacher. Thanks a lot, really enjoying your video's.
Thanks so much for the advice.
very helpful! I will put this into practice right away!
I hope this helps you!
Thanks Michelle for a most informative video.
I'm glad this was helpful to you!
Just what I needed. Thank you.
I tend to do my long tone exercise at the end of a practice session, because my embouchure tends to basically die during those exercises. I play sax btw, but I suppose it’s really the same when it comes to embouchure.
So helpful!! I like to play bar by bar slowly to see what shows up 🥴😆
Thanks again for the inspiration.
Great video. I would like to know, however, what a good book should I buy to be able to follow what you show in my practice'. Thanks Hector
Hi Michelle. I have enjoyed your videos and they have been a great help. I only started playing the clarinet in January of this year (after the recorder). I can play all of the notes reasonably well, such as the scales but I have a problem blowing some of the lower notes from scratch. I can get them OK if I lead up to them from other notes, but find it difficult to get the lower notes individually. I wonder if you have any suggestions to help me please? Many thanks. Trevor McDonald
Michelle, this is a great video with lots of good technique for practice. One of my issues is working on a difficult section of music and getting it down well when I am by myself but then I get with the band and it's just like I freeze up and cannot play with the group. I know that hard section is coming up and that it's difficult for me to play so I get anxious about playing it well and just can't play it with the group. Any suggestions? Judi
jharvey93 Something that I do is to try to simulate the performing with an ensemble environment. One way I like to do this is to find a recording online of the piece and play along with that. That way, you can get a feel for how the part fits in with the group and it keeps you pulled along to the real tempo. If there are no recordings or it is a solo piece, try recording yourself. It puts a little more pressure to play well, simulating the actual performance environment, and then you can listen to it and hear your playing from an outside perspective.
Thanks for the free download 18 pages of work I got my future practice cut out for me
Excellent...Thanks
Hi Michelle,
Great tips for clarinet practicing! I seem to struggle on getting a clean slur going from altissimo D to high C sharp to high C. Any tips?
Hi Everyone - The worksheet of scale patterns that I mention in this video can be found here: www.clarinetmentors.com/resources/ClarinetMentorsScalePatterns.pdf
Clarinet Mentors (Michelle Anderson)
Hello, I’m having trouble finding a beginner clarinet book. I need something that’s going to help me to learn the skills. I had one when I was in band decades ago but I cannot remember what the book was called. Would you recommend one for me? Thanks bye-bye
Don't know if you found one yet but here's an online one ☺️ archive.org/details/B-001-001-957/mode/2up
Junior I just checked it out. Thanks! This is a really good one!
If on the middle register higher pitched notes start sounding than I should be getting is that also a sign of needing a stronger reed because I am definitely covering the holes?
I have been playing the clarinet for a while and can play reasonably well one day then the next I struggle to voice the notes. I can't see if my fingers are not covering the holes properly or whether I am catching other parts of the clarinet. It is very frustrating as I am not aware that I am placing my fingers any differently.
u r the best, thank u
Saludos. Megusta mucho esa abrazadera de la boquilla. Que marca es la abrazadera?
I think my low Ab key is broken would that affect the high C and B notes? For the past two days i haven't been able to get the notes to speak. usually getting those notes is easy for me.
If that pad on that key is no longer closing all the way, it would definitely keep those notes from speaking. To check this, you could wrap a sturdy rubber band around that key to force it closed, and see if the C and B work. Sounds like you need to get things fixed! I'm sure it will be easy once that key is working again.
Okay thanks. It turns out it WAS broken. But it was a simple fix all i had to do was fix a loose screw/pin on the key. But after all the worry and trying to get the notes to speak with a broken key, I sound even better than before on the notes with the register key. Thanks Mrs. Anderson c:
hi can you do teaching videos for 7th grade students.
Lots of these videos may be helpful to you: ruclips.net/p/PLxQWCQXA2UjW-8IR2wh2C5vzBxWOdZ9aB
Where are the finger patterns
I Need Help Miss.
I didn't always have this problem but everytime I Play, I am uncontrollably sharp. I pulled out of the Bell almost all the way along with the barrel . I loosened my embouchure as well , nothing seems to change.
As the saying goes, "better sharp than out of tune"!
I attend High school band and they try to tune us Constantly, and unfortunately Being sharp as much as I am is really out of tune.
Elizabeth Giron
Well, be confident, you'll solve your problem - a very rare problem, nobody complains about being sharp - it would have been worse if you were flat, in fact it is easier to flatten clarinet tones than sharpening them (flattening the notes is a common technique in "ethnic" clarinet like greek, turkish, indian...).
What type of clarinet do you play on? What is the length of the barrel you use? There are lots of factors that might make a clarinet sound sharp such as, an older clarinet might be wearing out, too short of a barrel, mouthpiece, etc. Thats just equipment problems. Other factors could include biting on the reed, air might be slow.
I used 2 different Clarinets.
One clarinet is Called an ETUDE
and the other clarinet is a Yamaha established 1887 it says
Never played Clarinet. Don't even own one :) But the standard "Clasical" aproach to learning is "Slower than lasses in winter". Most students will die from boredom and give it up long before they can play. I started at 9 and by 17 I was playing professionally. I play bass, mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. You must first throw away all sheet music until after you can play!!!! By then you won't need it :) Is your goal to play 2nd chair in the high school band, or is your goal to become Pete Fountain? I got news, you can't have both :) Johnny Gimbal (the fiddle player) once told me when I ask how you play backup said son can you humm it. Humm it I said. He answered "You can't play what you can't think!!!!" So how do you quickly drive the finger memory to the point where if you can think it you can play it? By rote memory until you don't need the rote memory anymore! The proper use of scales. But not all scales. You start with the 7 majors. You learn an A scale. Play it 100 times every practise until it is driven in. Then you add the second octave of the A scale and do the same. Then you combine the two and play both octaves together 100 times. Then you move to "B"and do the same. Then C, D, E, F and G. In a month you should be playing all 7 in 2 octaves close to perfectly. Then you add the penotonic for each of the 7. Perfecting that, you learn the blues scale for each of the 7 in 2 octaves. That is your daily warm up. 100 scales in two octaves for each key, 100 pentatonics in each key. And the most important, 100 blues scales in each key. Now anything you can think, you can play!!!! And in any key :) Or you can piddle with the classical method until your social security check arives LOL!
This is my new favourite copy pasta
Slower than molasses in winter
@@muser7988 who the hell is Pete fountain
Love it, but struggle to hear with the sound...shame
If you want to see my band search L.A. Ainger Band.
I notice you make lip smacking noises while you talk . Is that a result of embouchure?