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Clarineo?

Hi. I'm new. Obviously.
I'm a brass player, mainly trumpet, thinking of experimenting with a licorice stick. Normally I wouldn't want to, but I don't think I can hear Acker Bilk play 'Stranger on the shore' one more time without giving one of these things a go. I'm wondering whether I should plump for a Clarineo, having heard and seen some Youtube vids, or whether I should go for a cheap Bb 'real' clarinet, such as those sold by Gear4music (yes, I know - Chinese!). My trumpets and close relations are all pro horns, but I'd appreciate your thoughts on getting a cheap beginner job, bearing in mind, I'd be teaching myself, and just messing with it for the fun of it.
Thanks
 
My wife and play around with cheap instruments. We found a $50 cornet at pawn shop. It was fun to play. She bought a $15 violin on eBay that to make playable we had to buy violin strings that cost more than the instrument. Have fun.
 
My wife and play around with cheap instruments. We found a $50 cornet at pawn shop. It was fun to play. She bought a $15 violin on eBay that to make playable we had to buy violin strings that cost more than the instrument. Have fun.

OK...but which do you reckon, the Bb one or the Clarineo, which looks a bit like a toy, but comes with start up DVDs etc. I'm no stranger to playing in Bb. I can get one or the other for about the same price. I know nothing - I mean really nothing - about woodwind.
 
Last I heard, the Clarineo was only available as a C instrument.

The clarineo is recommended for young beginners. It has a smaller, closer-together "keyboard" and it doesn't have all the extra chromatic or trill keywork and the horn's lighter. If you're an average male and older than 9 or an average female that's older than 10, the Clarineo isn't really a good choice. Get a good-condition used Yamaha clarinet and a decent mouthpiece. Check out this forum area.
 
I would go with the Bb myself. Note, it took me over a year of noodling before I'd play it publicly. I had to develop my voicing for the instrument. YMMV.

What's 'noodling', may I ask?

I've got one! A hardly used one of these. Should have it in my hands some time next week.

Any suggestions for a first book to learn from? How about 'A Tune A Day'?

Happy New Year, everyone!
 
My recommendations:

Vito Resotone Take to your local tech for a "play condition". Add a Fobes Debut mouthpiece and you're all set. You will have a "real" clarinet that has some value when you are ready to sell it. You could easily get your money back---especially before school starts and parents are looking for good used band instruments for their students starting band.

For that Acker Bilk vibrato you might try standing barefoot in a tub of ice water as you play. :)
 
Noodling = practicing. I'm curious, where are you from?

Noodling, eh? I'll remember that one.

I'm from the UK.

Actually, I posted reply a few hours ago saying that I'd already bought one, but it had a link in it so it was put in queue for moderation.

I scored a hardly-used Rosetti Bb for a great price, but I haven't actually got in in my hands yet.

Thanks for the replies to everyone, though. Appreciated!

Happy New Year!
 
My recommendations:

Vito Resotone Take to your local tech for a "play condition". Add a Fobes Debut mouthpiece and you're all set. You will have a "real" clarinet that has some value when you are ready to sell it. You could easily get your money back---especially before school starts and parents are looking for good used band instruments for their students starting band.

I'm a bit limited to what I can get in the UK or Europe, but as I posted above, I've won a bid on a Rosetti (which I am aware is a Chinese one).

For that Acker Bilk vibrato you might try standing barefoot in a tub of ice water as you play. :)[/QUOTE]

It is a bit OTT, isn't it? Let's see if I can get a note out of the thing first! It's basically a recorder, isn't it? :)
 
someone in the music industry

The quote is attributed to an anonymous person in the music industry, most likely to one of Ted Lewis's competitors. Don't know precisely who, though...

It was made in response to Gandalfe's comment about voicing and the clarinet.
 
in the UK I think you can get Yamaha. Get a used student Yamaha clarinet.

Think of it in the brass world .. Yamaha makes quality instruments from student to professional.

Now think of the cheap chinese trumpets you probably have come across. A clarinet is a bit more complex and some of the really cheap chinese clarinets are far worse than the really cheap chinese trumpets.

If the clarinet does not work from the get go then it will be discouraging at the very least.

I know nothing about the clarineo.

Do you play Bach Strads or other brands? I prefer Bach or Selmer paris myself when I was playing cornet.
 
Hi guys! And Happy New Year!

Well, I got my clarinet today, have been noodling and I can get a note or two out of it, and even make it vibrato, and without the bucket of ice. Thanks to a bit of expert instruction off Youtube. The reed tastes funny though. My mouth feels like I've been smoking. Anyway, bottom line is, I like it! And I'm really glad I didn't get a Clarineo. All these levers and things are quite intimidating though, and there appear to be be 4 up the right-hand side that I'd need to have thumbs like E.T. to reach. It will be interesting to see how much overlap there is with what I have learned through playing brass.

SteveSklar writes:
"Think of it in the brass world .. Yamaha makes quality instruments from student to professional.

Now think of the cheap chinese trumpets you probably have come across. A clarinet is a bit more complex and some of the really cheap chinese clarinets are far worse than the really cheap chinese trumpets."

Oh I hear what you're saying here loud and clear! But in the UK the situation is slightly different from the US regarding Chinese instruments. Of course we have the junk that is circulating these days, but there are also some brands that produce instruments in China but with stringent quality controls so they provide a better quality of instrument at lower prices. Somne of these brands have gained a good reputation, for example John Packer, which has joined with Rath to produce a range of quality trombones. I think the Rosetti I have got is a similar kind of deal - imported but OK. We shall see.

Having said that, I balk at the idea of Chinese trumpets and cornets, even from these companies but I am a trumpet/cornet player first and foremost.

"Do you play Bach Strads or other brands? I prefer Bach or Selmer paris myself when I was playing cornet."

I have a range of brands as it happens. My flugel is a very nice Yamaha with a gold brass bell. I have several Courtois trumpets and cornets, and Schagerl jazz trumpet, but my favourite trumpet is a Benge. Lovely sound and a dream to play.

Wanabe writes:
"NOT a recorder! There is no reed in a recorder."

I was hoping someone would bite!

May I ask a question or two?
(1) Should the reed be damp, i.e. should I lick it, before I start to play?
(2) I need some cork grease. Would tuning slide grease or trombone slide grease work instead without any adverse consequences? It's very tight at the moment.
(3) Just thought of another one. How long does a well-cared-for reed usually last?

Thanks for all the replies on this thread.
 
Regarding Chinese-made instruments, while Chinese and Taiwanese (i.e. "R.O.C.") instruments have made great strides in the past few years, there are really two problems:

* What's the actual brand name of a Taiwanese or Chinese instrument that I can recommend?
* Is there a Chinese or Taiwanese instrument that I can say that has some degree of longevity?

(I'm going to abbreviate "Chinese or Taiwanese" as "C/T" from now on.)

The former point is actually a really good one. A lot of C/T horns are not made under a specific label and some folks sell the same C/T instrument under a variety of names. This was especially true three-ish years ago. It's very hard for me to say, "You should buy a Selman Series 10," when I can't tell you where the horn's actually coming from.

The former point is a somewhat good one, depending on your perspective. A lot of these C/T manufacturers haven't been around for very long, so I can't tell you how long a particular horn's going to last. With, for instance, a Selmer Bundy, I can tell you that even if it's dropped out of a 10 storey building, it'll still play decently well and decently in tune. You can also still find non-beat examples easily on eBay.

I've done a couple reviews of C/T horns and my overall impression of relatively well-known C/T brands is that they're listed about a level too high: I'd say that a C/T pro horn is generally equivalent to an intermediate model, a C/T intermediate horn is generally equivalent to a student model, and a C/T student horn ... isn't good enough. I've not tried P. Mauriat or Cannonball instruments.

In the past, I used to recommend that if there was a concern that the player would seriously beat on the horn, go get a Bundy. If he'll treat it somewhat decently, get a Yamaha. Unfortunately, the Bundy line -- from Selmer USA, at least -- hasn't been around for awhile and eBay Yamahas seem to be more cost-effective, so I've more-or-less stopped using that recommendation. I recommend the Yamaha because we know that they're decent horns, you can find a fairly inexpensive used one, parts are easily available, and the horn meets the requirement for idiot school music programs that "require" you to buy a Yamaha.
 
May I ask a question or two?
(1) Should the reed be damp, i.e. should I lick it, before I start to play?
(2) I need some cork grease. Would tuning slide grease or trombone slide grease work instead without any adverse consequences? It's very tight at the moment.
(3) Just thought of another one. How long does a well-cared-for reed usually last?
1. Yes. You'll notice that some reeds will also warp a bit, but after soaking for a bit, they're pretty straight. How much dampness you need is dependent upon who you ask. Of course, if you're using a synthetic ("plastic") reed, that's a bit of a different story.
2. I can't think of anything adverse. Just don't use so much that it's gunking up your horn or if makes one of the joints fall off. If the corks are extremely tight, you can use some sandpaper (fine grade, 000, and make sure you check the fit often) to sand down the corks. Make sure you clean up the horn when you're finished playing.
3. Depends a lot on the player and how you store the reeds. You can go for months. I generally have liked to have a few reeds and rotate them each time I take the horn out of the case. Note that you're going to be switching reed strengths as you progress, so I'd probably buy no more than 4 at a time. Beginners generally start off with strength 2.5 or "medium soft."

I would recommend, at least, some basic lessons from an actual clarinet player -- not from some guy whose main instrument is (say) the accordion, but can play a little clarinet.
 
Not having as much fun on the clarinet as I thought I'd have. I've also recently got a soprano sax that is easier to play, so I'm putting the clarinet on the back-burner for now. Maybe I've just got a dodgy clarinet, or maybe I'm just a dodgy player!
 
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