CLARINET

If you are thinking about buying a clarinet, remember wooden is better! Plastic clarinets are ok but real wood clarinets sound much better than their synthetic counterparts. Jupiter, Buffet, Yamaha, Selmer, and Bundy are great clarinet brands. If what you are looking at is NOT one of these brands, please consult a band director!

Keep your fingers fast, cover the holes, and never forget to make sure your reed placement and horn assembly are correct. Also, keep your instrument clean. Use a swab (they're cheap) and do NOT get your horn wet.

REEDS

All clarinet players need to have THREE working reeds at all times. One or two small chips are acceptable but any more plus cracks, molding, or any other damage will render the reed useless and must be destroyed. Reeds need to be dried out after each use by putting them in the reed case otherwise molding will occur. The average age of a reed is around three weeks or a month. Below are trusted reeds for the clarinet.  The reed strength need to be 3 but as students get more advanced they will use 3.5 and 4.

Look for these reed in music stores, AMAZON.com, wwbw.com, interstatemusic.com

• Vandoren-V21-Bb-Clarinet-Reeds (Advanced Players)
• Vandoren-Traditional-Bb-Clarinet-Reeds (Size 3)
• Mitchell-Lurie-Bb-Clarinet-Reed (Size 3.5)

Below are links from musicarts.com: (FREE shipping on some orders)

Clarinet Reeds

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEOS

Incredible Clarinet Solo by 13 year old

New Orleans jazz clarinet solo

Jazz Clarinet ensemble

Clarinet factory, how it's made!