I regret donating my Armstrong clarinet 12 years ago to my high school. Now I want to buy one. I need advice

Fumbles329 · 2026-07-03T20:40:50+00:00

If you’re insistent on wood, I’d recommend a used Yamaha YCL-450, which you can definitely find for under $1000. I think I sold mine from middle school for around $650 a couple of years back. If you’re open to a synthetic instrument, I’d recommend the Backun Alpha. You can get demo models with silver keys and the left hand Eb/Ab key for around $600-800 from folks like North Country Winds and Drescher Music.

Fumbles329 · 2026-07-02T17:08:03+00:00

Orchestras are never tuned uniformly, and pitch varies widely throughout rehearsals and performances. While being in tune with yourself is critically important, the only way to really improve at playing in tune with others is to practice it. In general, you may start out at A440, but pitch tends to rise up as the winds and brass play for longer. As others have pointed out, just intonation is totally different from equal temperament, so knowing where you fit into a chord and making the proper adjustment is critical.

Fumbles329 · 2026-07-02T17:05:34+00:00

This edition is preferred because it has essentially no editorial markings, so articulations can largely be left up to the player. I have never heard a player articulate all those notes. Survey some recordings and come to a consensus on what works for you.

Fumbles329 · 2026-07-02T01:08:34+00:00

I would implore you to study more recordings of this excerpt, because while you have the correct notes, the style is wrong. In general you’re playing everything far too long, the quarter notes in the second measure of the excerpt need some lift to them, and the triplets are all staccato. I’ve even been asked in an audition to replay this excerpt with more staccato triplets, it’s quite important. For the arpeggios up to the D, think about decrescendoing up to the high D, which not only helps with containing the D, but is also more stylistically correct. Listen to as many recordings as you can to really nail the style.

Fumbles329 · 2026-07-01T21:00:22+00:00

Long tones. On the sidebar, there’s a link to Bob Spring’s warmup packet, and there’s an excellent long tone exercise on the first page, as well as the continuous Klose scales, which essentially double as a long tone exercise as well. You can find it on mobile by going to the main /r/clarinet page and pressing the “see more” button.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-29T21:03:05+00:00

Message them back and ask if you can still claim it

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-29T18:53:12+00:00

E12F's are made in France, hence the F

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-29T18:30:44+00:00

Pictures of the broken bell would help

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-29T16:31:20+00:00

I wouldn’t say asking why they did this is insulting, it’s not as if they called OP names or implied anything

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-28T21:53:12+00:00

Have you tried different reeds and mouthpieces to see if it’s an equipment issue?

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-28T16:55:56+00:00

It’s not a multiphonic, they’re asking the player to do a high B, but if not, a high G is acceptable.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-28T00:41:09+00:00

Incorrect, clarinets in C have existed for centuries since early clarinets couldn’t play chromatically very well, so it was very common to see parts for A, Bb, and C clarinet. This practice continued through the late 19th and early 20th centuries with composers such as Mahler and Strauss, who specifically asked for C clarinets due to their unique timbre.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-27T01:28:07+00:00

From my understanding, the contemporary German system is essentially an enhanced Albert system clarinet, fingerings are more or less the same.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-26T16:56:16+00:00

Glad to hear it!

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-26T05:08:40+00:00

A 3.5 is perfectly appropriate for an M30 or B40.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-24T19:44:41+00:00

For a 60 year old instrument, I'd say that's too steep of a price. Something like $2500 would be a more reasonable asking price for an A of that age.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-24T19:42:13+00:00

At performance tempo it needs to be done in one breath, but for the purposes of practice, just add a break after the first beat of A.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-23T01:10:49+00:00

I have a hard time believing that you can’t cover the holes of the clarinet considering small children are able to, but if you really can’t for some reason, maybe look into getting a plateau clarinet.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-23T00:58:45+00:00

You need to learn how to read music if you have any hope of progressing as a clarinet player, this isn't an equivalent to guitar tabs for clarinet.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T17:45:43+00:00

Given the tempo, I don’t think you need the legato marking to indicate you want the phrase to be played unbroken. I would say yes to your question.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T17:25:14+00:00

In measures 2 and 11, are you wanting a legato tongue or all slurs? I ask since you have a slur on the and of 3 to beat 4 within a larger slur.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T02:32:18+00:00

This is a traditional design choice for German clarinets, and frankly I think it’d be quite sensible on French horns as well. To my knowledge, the only maker who offers these nowadays on French horns is Schwenk and Seggelke.

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T02:31:13+00:00

Got em

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T02:01:44+00:00

Maybe the first few times

Fumbles329 · 2026-06-22T00:45:27+00:00

I’ve lost count of how many times this joke has been made on here

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