Well, I bought my first professional instrument. Primarily, I'm a clarinetist and I need a professional clarinet since I will study music in college (Music Education to be exact). The clarinet I bought is a used Selmer Series 9 professional Bb clarinet. When I tried it out at the place I bought it at, I was amazed by the tone and sound it gave. I fell in love with it; it fared much better than the Buffet R-13 clarinet I tried at the same place. It was an amazing deal of about $1100! Hopefully, I'll get a professional tenor sax. Used of course
Bought my first professional clarinet!
- Thread starter snakeman5001
- Start date
I had an uncle who was a professional musician, primarily a singer, but he also played Clarinet and Flute on the bandstand. In 1967 he bought a brand new Selmer Series 9 Clarinet to replace his old Clarinet (he never showed me his old one so I have no idea what make or model it was). He died in about 1980 and after his funeral my aunt gave the Series 9 to me since I had played Clarinet and also Sax in school. I still have it and it is my favorite Clarinet to use when I have to play Clarinet.
Don't forget the girls either Pete. I dated one of them in college.
I think that might be why I don't play Selmer saxes.
s5001, I picked up a nice Selmer A in Waterloo for a friend about 15 years ago. She is still playing and loving it. I actually liked it more than my Buffet, but I was invested in the Buffet and familiar with it. Picked up my Buffet A from a retired Prof who lived in CF. Heck of a nice guy too. I regret that I didn't get back for his funeral.
I think that might be why I don't play Selmer saxes.
s5001, I picked up a nice Selmer A in Waterloo for a friend about 15 years ago. She is still playing and loving it. I actually liked it more than my Buffet, but I was invested in the Buffet and familiar with it. Picked up my Buffet A from a retired Prof who lived in CF. Heck of a nice guy too. I regret that I didn't get back for his funeral.
Yah, I was too inclusive, but "That Guy" is more of a meme than "That Girl."
I've no real problem with the Selmers or Buffets. I've mentioned I've owned a Selmer Centered Tone. I've owned some (non-pro) Signets and I've played either a Series 9 or 10 (probably 9). I've played a couple Buffet R13s, too. They're all good horns and well made. I find the Selmers more "open" sounding and the R13 more rich. Choosing between respected pro horns? Hey, it's the player's preference.
FWIW, I can also argue about Mac vs. PC and find detail both platforms' strengths and weaknesses
.i got a question on here: what are some mouthpieces i should use/try on my selmer series 9 clarinet? i need a new mouthpiece because the way the selmer was built is different than my clarinet i have now (a Normandy LeBlanc clarinet)
I +1 Carl's comment, again. I do have some things to add and I missed one thing, too.
RE: Mouthpiece, I was not asked to change my mouthpiece in college ... but that could be because I used one of the same mouthpieces my instructor used. It is possible that your instructor will strongly recommend that you get a particular mouthpiece, so you might want to wait before buying anything.
The second half of my mouthpiece comment is, "If you're a pro, go with what you like the most." I can say that I'm extremely happy with my Selmer C85, but you may easily like something else (I go into more detail on this subject here). If it's possible for you to take your horn down to the local music shop to play-test a bunch of mouthpieces, that's probably the best option. The best we can say here is, "I've tried mouthpiece X and I liked it."
The thing I forgot to address is that being a college music major doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go out and get some "professional" horn. I didn't. The best I can say for a professional is that a pro horn is generally that manufacturer's highest quality instrument. That doesn't mean that one manufacturer's pro model is any better than another manufacturer's intermediate model, or vice-versa. It's another way of saying, "If you played a Bliss (Leblanc student model) for a bunch of years and thought it was neat-o, you'd probably really like the Legacy (Leblanc pro model)." Remember that the clarinet you play is supposed to make your life easier. If you tried a Buffet R13 and prefer your Bundy over that, that's fine with me.
RE: Mouthpiece, I was not asked to change my mouthpiece in college ... but that could be because I used one of the same mouthpieces my instructor used. It is possible that your instructor will strongly recommend that you get a particular mouthpiece, so you might want to wait before buying anything.
The second half of my mouthpiece comment is, "If you're a pro, go with what you like the most." I can say that I'm extremely happy with my Selmer C85, but you may easily like something else (I go into more detail on this subject here). If it's possible for you to take your horn down to the local music shop to play-test a bunch of mouthpieces, that's probably the best option. The best we can say here is, "I've tried mouthpiece X and I liked it."
The thing I forgot to address is that being a college music major doesn't necessarily mean that you have to go out and get some "professional" horn. I didn't. The best I can say for a professional is that a pro horn is generally that manufacturer's highest quality instrument. That doesn't mean that one manufacturer's pro model is any better than another manufacturer's intermediate model, or vice-versa. It's another way of saying, "If you played a Bliss (Leblanc student model) for a bunch of years and thought it was neat-o, you'd probably really like the Legacy (Leblanc pro model)." Remember that the clarinet you play is supposed to make your life easier. If you tried a Buffet R13 and prefer your Bundy over that, that's fine with me.
Yeah, that's probably what I'm gonna do. I'm actually also waiting to hear back from the college band director on mouthpieces. And when I auditioned for a music scholarship they told me I needed a professional clarinet if I was gonna study music in college (which I am).
That's one reason I hate some music departments. It's an intelligence-free comment. So, I need a professional horn? Well, the Monique is marketed as "professional." Disregard the fact that it's barely a clarinet. Of course, you could also show up with an 18th century pearwood clarinet.
I could also say, "Hey. I'm poor. All I have is my grandfather's horn that was passed down to me. Sorry!"
Just a little pet peeve of mine.
Well, here it is! My first professional clarinet! it's actually quite a nice looking horn. It felt weird though trying it out for the first time, but I'll probably get used to it in the coming days. It did come with a mouthpiece, a Selmer one I might add. But I'm going mouthpiece shopping tomorrow with my clarinet instructor. I heard Vandorean mouthpieces are a plus. But if she says the Selmer mouthpiece I got is fine, well then that's that. Otherwise the Selmer mouthpiece is a good back-up
Don't ask the band director. Ask the clarinet professor.
Undoubtedly what every professor means when they say this, myself included, is that you need an instrument of professional quality, not one "marketed" as professional. These are of course not the same thing.
It's reasonable for a college professor to expect a student to obtain the proper materials for the course. You wouldn't tell a teacher "I'm poor, so I'm going to use this alternate textbook." Unfortunately college costs money (in the US, anyway).
Wanna know something? That's where I got the clarinet! And at such a affordable price of $1123. It's less than what I would have to pay for new professional clarinets
The band director forwarded my email to the clarinet professor. And then I forwarded it to my clarinet instructor. So all is good
Well, I got my mouthpiece today! It's a Vandorean 5RV lyre 13. Has a very nice dark and rich tone. So excited to use this in college! Now I just gotta wait for my tenor sax to get finished. And on a sidenote, can you use Runyon mouthpiece pads on a sax?
I just thought you had to get special mouthpiece pads for saxes. That's all. I put one of them on my mouthpiece today and I wasn't sure about the saxes.
The only mouthpiece I have which uses a non standard mouthpiece patch is my Runyon soprano saxophone mouthpiece. It is peculiarly small in size and a standard sized patch hangs over the sides. All others - Eb clarinet down to bass - if it fits, it works just fine.
Well that's music to my ears. Don't need to buy a mouthpiece patch for my tenor sax once that comes in. Though I will buy some reeds for it though. La Voz reeds to be exact