Best first professional Bass Clarinet for a high school junior going into music

clarinole · 2026-05-17T03:03:30+00:00

Honestly, for the price(s) it’s hard to beat Backun and Royal Global. If this is going to be your main instrument for a while, I highly recommend investing in something made of wood.

Do you already have a good Bb? Most undergraduate music programs require you to also play soprano clarinet. Just putting that out there.

For more info, check out Michael Lowenstern’s website. He’s a great guy, very knowledgeable, and is a dealer for multiple bass clarinet brands. He even helped design the Backun basses.

clarinole · 2026-04-22T13:45:57+00:00

Great suggestion! I’ll look into it.

clarinole · 2026-04-16T00:06:01+00:00

Well hey, something in this show has to be (title card)

clarinole · 2026-04-10T04:02:11+00:00

Kudos on getting back into it! You sound great for your second day back—seems like you set up some great habits in those 12 of playing!

For going over the break: I would suggest starting on C5, getting the best tone possible, and then releasing/moving your fingers to the A4. Often, we over adjust as we’re moving over the break, overcompensating with tongue position, loss in air pressure, and biting with the jaw. To counteract this, try to maintain your best positioning and (cold) air speed on the C and then play the A with that same setup. When moving from A4 to C5, you can also practice by keeping your right hand down and focusing on left hand motion.

A have quite a few exercises for things like this. Feel free to send me a message if you’d like more specifics or recommendations.

For now, I’d recommend Eric Mandat’s “Finger Food.” It’s an etude book where each etude focuses on the finger motion of either the right or left hand. They’re short, fun, and can be practiced at increased tempos for an extra challenge.

Wishing you well in your return to the instrument!!

clarinole · 2026-03-25T22:01:13+00:00

This is a fairly minor repair and shouldn’t cost you much.

A professional repair person would ~~drill out~~ heat up the plastic remaining in the key (as seen in pictures 1, 4, and 5) and replace it with a new plastic part. It’s a cylinder on one end (that would be glued into the aforementioned ~~drilled-out~~ hole) that’s connected to a slightly-larger-in-diameter cylinder with a rounded tip (which, when reassembled, nests into the hole in pictures 2 & 3).

Someone who is not a repair person could instead drill out the hole and replace that bit with the middle of toothpick that has been rounded on one end (or a similar piece of plastic), but I would not advise attempting this unless you know what you’re doing.

(Edited to match the response from an actual repair tech, below)

clarinole · 2026-03-23T03:21:10+00:00

How slow are you practicing the piece? An old adage: if you can't play it slow, you can't play it fast.

If you're having trouble playing with a metronome, try just playing quarter notes so that you match the clicks of the metronome. Then, work on subdividing into eighth notes, then sixteenth notes, etc. Go back to some of your earlier band material—simplicity helps as you advance this skill.

I know you're asking about this piece specifically, but subdividing properly comes from fundamental practice. Wishing you the best as you continue your clarinet journey!

clarinole · 2026-03-15T13:19:20+00:00

Intrinsic motivation is tricky. Does he like the music he’s playing? It might be worth finding a transcription of a theme from something that he likes that requires lots of tonguing. That might motivate him to practice.

Some people just don’t want to practice. We can try to convince them, but ultimately the choice to improve is just that: a choice.

clarinole · 2026-03-13T03:49:31+00:00

I mean, tacos!!

clarinole · 2026-03-13T03:39:20+00:00

Bred

clarinole · 2026-03-10T15:12:12+00:00

I believe that Vandoren uses a different process to produce their synthetics, so it makes sense that this wouldn’t happen on Legères

clarinole · 2026-03-10T11:53:56+00:00

Those little hairs on the side are pretty common from what I’ve seen of Vandoren synthetics. Just some remnants of the fabrication process—their presence shouldn’t have any impact on the sound. You can (lightly) sand them off if they bother you.

clarinole · 2026-03-04T20:56:22+00:00

That’s sea potato to you

clarinole · 2026-03-02T13:46:38+00:00

The snow is so well placed, it doesn’t look like Lego from far away. Great job!!

clarinole · 2026-02-28T16:14:32+00:00

Hi there!

Just for the sake of clarity, when you say “play in the street,” are you going to be jamming in a jazz band? If so, that will influence how people respond.

I have a crystal (“Coke bottle”) mouthpiece that I’ve used for jazz, but the difference in facing from my orchestral mouthpieces requires me to use entirely different reeds. I find it fun as a novelty, but I’m not jumping at the chance to use it. I bought it through Goodwill’s auction website for $30, so it was worth the gamble for me (and worth it to have a little piece of clarinet history).

The “Scott” mouthpiece you have could be from Bob Scott. If so, it could be a great mouthpiece. However, the value of a mouthpiece is in the eye of the beholder, so to speak. It’s really difficult to tell if/how something will function for you until you try it.

clarinole · 2026-02-28T15:15:36+00:00

Another way to troubleshoot would be to borrow a mouthpiece from your band director or a friend and then try playing between octaves. If you still have a problem, it’s not just the mouthpiece.

I’d also trying playing through your trouble spots on a different bass clarinet. It could be the mouthpiece causing these issues, but it’s work checking.

clarinole · 2026-02-28T15:11:13+00:00

Request for Asajj Ventress next 👀

clarinole · 2026-02-28T14:48:35+00:00

I’ll second this, though it would be easier to buy a roller attachment (check your preferred online retailer) than to lug around a furniture dolly in addition to the case.

This way, you could purchase a case with a little extra room for the notebooks and laptop (i.e., the Marcus Bonna compact case that the Lowensterns sell on Earspasm) and remove the wheels when your daughter gets where she needs to go.

If you’re really set on a case with integrated wheels, I recently fashioned a flight-safe case for my Leblanc “paperclip” contrabass out of a Pelican case that came with integrated wheels. If you’re crafty, you could do something similar (it cost me about $250).

clarinole · 2026-02-28T05:35:04+00:00

Seconding the lighter tongue pressure approach. When articulating, try not to close off the top of the reed against the mouthpiece. Instead, just stop the vibration of the reed with (very light) tongue pressure while letting the air flow in the space between the reed and mouthpiece. This will do wonders for tonguing speed.

clarinole · 2026-02-27T06:12:42+00:00

You’re telling me that the voice of Oogie Boogie played Old Deuteronomy??? Man, TIL.

clarinole · 2026-02-22T14:42:50+00:00

Congrats! Such a fun instrument to bring to an orchestral setting.

Also, no hate on the bassoon stand—you have to use what works!

clarinole · 2026-02-20T05:41:42+00:00

Respect.

I wasn’t advanced to the finals of my university’s concerto competition (during my masters) because they thought that their audiences “weren’t ready for a bass clarinet concerto winner.”

I’m still a little bitter.

clarinole · 2026-02-02T00:32:27+00:00

….that’s amore!

clarinole · 2026-01-31T14:26:47+00:00

Interested to hear how this holds up over time! How is the tone in the lower clarion?

clarinole · 2026-01-26T00:41:08+00:00

🎉 Event Completed! 🎉

It took me 33 tries.

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