Jazz-Clarinet.com

I’ve been playing the clarinet on and off for seven years. I own a student Buffet B10 but I feel the tone quality and the feel of the keys have its limitations. I’m renting a wood selmer 10. The feel of it and the tone quality sounds much better than my plastic clarinet. Selmer has a richer tone and I feel comfortable with the keys. I’m thinking of getting a better wood clarinet. I’m deciding between a Buffet E13 or R13, considered Buffet makes the best clarinets. However, I still had some doubts since I did not have the best experience with my B10. I know it would be best to try them out, but I’d like to know if anyone can give me any suggestions of which brand or model I should go for. I also like to know which actually might sound better, the R13 or the Selmer 10. Or if there’s any great selmer model I could look for.

I basically play classical, but I also like to play some Jazz.

Tags: buffet, clarinet, leblanc, opinions, selmer

Hello, first sorry my english (i´m from Brazil). Then, I have a Crystal Mouthpiece, Vandoren A3. Among the Mouthpiece that I used ,was the most I liked. I would like know what do you talk about it?

Thankful, Thiago;

Tags: crystal, Mouthpieces, opinions, Recommendations

does anybody played on the gonzalez “for our friends” reeds? I’ve heard pretty good things about them, and only one comment about not-so-good responsiveness. Supposedly they have a high percentage of playable reeds per box and the cane is organically grown and at least 7 years aged. I just need to buy more reeds and I want to try something besides v12s and hand-me-down reeeds (I really need to start saving them, too).
Does anybody have their own opinions?

Tags: Gonzalez, opinions, Recommendations, Reeds, Reviews

I’m trying out a few mouthpieces - a Vandoren M13, M15, 5JB, and B45. Does anyone have any suggestions for reeds that might work well with these? I have an R13 and play mostly jazz/big band and some classical.

Tags: big band, Jazz, opinion, Recommendations, Reeds

Hi,

I’m a french clarinet player. As long as I know, in France clarinets are tuned at 442. What if I take a 440 barrel (like doctor’s one for exemple)?

Will I get correctly tuned all along the scale? What about a Vandoren 440 mouthpiece (serie #13) with my 442 clarinet?

And finally, what about both 440 barrel and mouthpiece on my clarinet?

Thanks in advance for answers

Tags: 440, 442, Barrels, opinions, Recommendations, tuning

The Doctor’s Products website is a great place to get clarinet stuff. Bore oil, etc, etc. The Klarinet list had a lengthy post from someone praising the Doctor’s new oil. Grenad-Oil®, from the product page, is

Use ‘Nature’s Way’ to oil your intrument with genuine Grenadilla Oil. Grenad-Oil® is absorbed quickly and completely into fine wood instruments and is the choice for the discerning musician that wants to add back exactly the same oil lost over time to their instruments.

Over the summer I bought a bunch of stuff from the good doctor, including his other bore oil, wood cleaner, and some other things. Oiling the bore of my clarinet was rather painless, but using the wood cleaner really scared me. It basically turned my clarinet a different color, light brownish I believe it was. In a panic, I put some of the bore oil on a rag and proceeded to oil the outside to get the clarinet back to a more “clarinet” color. Whew.

Anyhow, The Doctor’s stuff is worth checking out. So check it out!

Tags: Barrels, bore, care, clarinet, cleaning, maintenance, oil, wood

I don’t know if that will help but I have to tell about…

First I have to say that I am french, so please forgive the mistakes I could make in english.

I played clarinet for almost 30 years. I studied classical music. I have always been said to use an open mouthpiece (like Vandoren B40 or B45 or A2) with the stronger reeds I can blow with (3 1/2 in my case).

Recently, I had some mail exchange with famous mouthpieces maker Pomarico. He makes crystal mouthpieces. I asked him about the mouthpiece used by Giora Feidman, one of his renowned customers. He is no jazzman, even if he plays sometimes some, he plays essentially Klezmer music. But he has a very bright sound and uses lots of bends and other “jazzy stuff”. Giora himself answered me that he uses a very closed mouthpiece (the Vandoren equivalent is M15 I think) with 1 1/2 reeds !

What a shock! I always thought that to play jazz I had to use an very open mouthpiece and softer reeds. I couldn’t believe it so I decided to try that combination.

I took my old 5RVLyre (moderatly closed tip generaly used here in France for beginners) and a 1 1/2 reed I bought for my 5JB mpc. All I can say is “Whoa!” What an experience! I could do all I wanted at all heights, all bends, glissandis, klemerish sounds … EFFORTLESSLY!

Try it yourself and you’ll see … or more exactly, you’ll feel and hear.

The conclusion, for myself, is that:

Don’t listen to advices about mouthpieces and reeds you should use, given by people that don’t know you and your playing style. Try, without any a priori, different mpcs and reeds combinations until you find the one that fits you best. And even at that, it’s always a good thing to experiment, you could be surprised.

Tags: Jazz, Mouthpieces, opinion, Reeds, sound

This video was making the rounds on various music email lists.

While its a great performance, it is still isn’t as cool, in my book, as Beatboxing on the Flute.

Tags: clarinet, multiphonics, performance, technique, video, youtube

I finally got around to tweaking my huge collection of II-V-I patterns for clarinet. Enjoy.

•   II-V-I Patterns for Bb Clarinet (4.8 MB, 311 hits)
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•   II-V-I Patterns for Bb Clarinet Pages 1 to 100 (1.7 MB, 104 hits)
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•   II-V-I Patterns for Bb Clarinet Pages 101 to 200 (1.8 MB, 39 hits)
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•   II-V-I Patterns for Bb Clarinet Pages 201 to 286 (1.4 MB, 53 hits)
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Tags: ii-v, Jazz, patterns, Practicing, Sheet Music, technique

71 year old Tenor Luciano Pavarotti lost his battle with cancer today. Of all the opera singers, he was my favorite. In the three Tenors concerts, he out shined the other two. Yahoo News has a link as well.

Tags: cancer, Obits, Pavarotti