Very cool video of how wood clarinets are made.

Found from Bret Pimentel’s site (you should check his site out)

Ok, I hijacked the title from Bret Primentel’s blog entry about it. (read his summary on Davd’s article. It’s good)

David Erato decided he wanted to get better on clarinet. So, he set up a regimen to do just that.
“The idea as a “doubler” is to make whatever instrument is in your hand not feel like a foreign object. One should really study the instrument as if it is the only instrument you play. Practice the same method books, etudes, solos, as a clarinetist in a symphony once did. Jump through the same hoops and walk the same path traditional clarinetists do. “

I did something similar about 8 years ago with Oboe……

This solo is based on a Blues (in “D”), a basic form very important for the musical development of any jazz musician and, moreover, is for intermediate players thus approachable by the majority of those interested.

Some considerations about this solo are listed below:

• Note how each chorus begins with a melodic line that lasts four bars and it’s repeated the next four bars. This is a typical approach to the blues. Some would play the same line for the whole extension of the chorus (generally twelve bars).
   
• The way he approaches the second chorus resembles a lot the style of the saxophonist Johnny Hodges.
   
• The “glissato” as a main clarinet feature (thanks to its acoustic characteristics) and a technique sometimes overused by a whole generation of clarinettists of the past or with styles influenced by Dixieland, New Orleans, 40s swing, etc. Lots of “contemporary” clarinet-players tend to avoid this overuse trying to have a wiser use of it.
   
• Besides a minimum use of ghost-notes, there is a very little use of certain kind of dissonances indeed (altered fifth or ninth, etc.) except for some chromatic passages at the end of the solo or for the 5^th and 6^th bar of the second chorus where we encounter a sharp-fourth caused by the repetition of a pattern which comes form the beginning of the chorus and is set in “D” major.
   
• Note the complete absence of the so-called Blues Scale. We encounter a minor third (blue note) at the end of the solo caused by a small pattern where there is the repetition of an ascending half-tone.

NB: The score is meant to be for “Bb” instruments

Audio File (MP3)

If you don’t know who Dan Higgins is, then now is time to get acquainted with him. You have probably heard him before….on movies, soundtracks, everywhere. He’s like the 1st on call guy in LA.

Does anyone use an albert system clarinet for jazz?  I’ve already talked with a couple of players who swear by them.  (And, moreover, I was impressed by the projection without a mic over a crowded dance floor.)  It’s pretty easy to find a cheap fixer-upper on ebay, so I’ve been thinking about taking the plunge.  Any thoughts?

From Yahoo News:
“Washington – Whether you loved or hated the classical music played at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, unless you were sitting within earshot of the celebrated quartet, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier.”

“They were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold,” said Florman in a telephone interview Thursday night.”

Yeah, I don’t blame them at all. It was a great John Williams arrangement though. Here is the actual performance.

From the LA Times
“Mitchell Lurie, a world-renowned clarinetist and clarinet teacher who taught for many years at USC and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, has died. He was 86.”

Another titian of the Clarinet passes on.

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.

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!