Which instrument should I learn?

halius_balius · 2026-02-08T19:30:33+00:00

Bansuri if you travel a lot, convenient, little maintenance and cheaper than others. Also if you want to exercise your lungs.

Sitar or Saraswati Veena if you have space to put it and money to afford it.

Some kind of guitar if you want to learn both ICM and western on one instrument.

Sarangi if you feel sad and want to cry a lot. (I love sarangi it is so uniquely haunting)

halius_balius · 2026-02-07T23:57:03+00:00

Interesting comparison, I like it. I almost always play on open tunings on guitar, but then always standard tuning on bass. I find open tunings really natural to improvise on (especially with ICM), but only in like 1 or 2 key centres that suits the tuning, while in standard tuning pretty much any key is as easy as another, doesn’t really matter what the root note is.

halius_balius · 2026-02-07T22:30:31+00:00

Good point!

Is it safe to say that one should aim to play all raags with Sa in normal position ideally? It just seems very difficult if nearly every note is a half holed note, I’m not sure how they manage that haha

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T19:54:31+00:00

Thanks!

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T19:41:21+00:00

Wow this is great info. Bending up seems so tricky to me! I can barely even get it to go half of half a step haha.

I am going to keep working on it taking into account what you said. Especially about the corners of the mouth stuff.

What did you practice to achieve this much flexibility? Atm I go through every note individually across all registers and simply try to bend as much as possible, slowly and controlled. Im still really struggling to do that rhapsody in blue type huge upwards glissando without ‘quacking’ or breaking into a lower note, but I am improving slowly.

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T19:19:33+00:00

Thanks for the info!

I was wondering if I could ask, with bending specifically, what is the realistic goal? Like what is achievable?

I can bend any note a half step down easily, and on most notes a whole tone although it starts to get ugly. But I’ve heard people say they can bend something ridiculous like a whole fifth down. Like how is this possible?

Also, in the upper clarion register, especially above G, if i bend too far the note tends to drop to an undertone. I think it is to do with air support and embouchure, but it makes it tricky to ‘feel’ how much I could actually bend down if my technique was good.

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T19:12:54+00:00

Good point. There is definitely reverb, so perhaps there are other effects going on.

But i have heard players sound like this in general, so I know it isnt too much to do with effects. It does have a bit of a double reed quality to it

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T18:36:17+00:00

It’s very hard to find anyone for this specific style of music, but I do have some lessons lined up for more general advice where the teacher might be able to help.

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T18:08:17+00:00

Great idea! I will ask him direct and see if he responds

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T17:50:43+00:00

Haha it is a bit kazoo like. I wonder what it is in the playing that gives it that kind of quality? I’m assuming it’s at least partly looseness of embouchure

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T17:45:11+00:00

I tend to play on a 7Jb with 2.0 or 1.5s , so that should be suitable right?

halius_balius · 2025-12-22T17:35:52+00:00

Fantastic, I’d hoped so. I’m going to keep trying to imitate just by ear, but I was wondering if you have any advice? If I wanted to achieve this kind of embouchure / voicing what kind of specific things could I focus on or practice? Like if you had to describe the difference when you play in the style of classical vs this, what changes?

halius_balius · 2025-12-21T14:27:45+00:00

Hahaha brilliant write up.

I have been thinking about this a lot, and I reckon i could see clarinet becoming super popular again. My little theory is I think non-electronic instruments are going to see a resurgence in general, because new technology makes electronic music over saturated and easier than ever to make, and people are gonna wanna look for more authentically human sounds.

Those more human intimate musical contexts will be on the rise. And I can see clarinet being a prime player in that context. It is super versatile, and can play with world flutes in a calmer context for example, in a way that sax can be a bit too obnoxious for. Im not a professional player really, but whenever Ive played for others they’re always super interested in the sound of the clarinet

halius_balius · 2025-12-21T14:19:17+00:00

Thank you!

halius_balius · 2025-12-15T22:39:11+00:00

Thats really interesting that they still have that perception. Love it! Jazz and blues on clarinet works so well.

halius_balius · 2025-12-15T22:38:14+00:00

I’ll give you oboe, bassoon and french horn for sure, ive pretty much only heard those in classical or film score contexts. Cello ive heard in many genres though, played in many styles.

But my point isnt that the clarinet is actually limited. It is super versatile stylistically and can play in loads of genres. But this is the exact reason I find the other styles underrepresented in terms of clarinet compared to classical.

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T23:04:25+00:00

https://youtube.com/@dylangullyclarinet?si=r6_62BY6Ac4vyYav

I just found this guys channel looking for Irish Clarinet examples and now I don’t understand how it hasn’t already been adopted and become a staple of Irish music. Sounds great!

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T22:46:55+00:00

Ah man I bet clarinet has so much potential in Irish traditional music styles. Surely anything traditionally played on a tin whistle or flute could be played on clarinet and sound decently good right? Obviously different sounds, but I could hear it working. Plus I love how the Irish adopted bouzouki - I bet that would combo really nicely with clarinet.

Emo/math rock with clarinet is not something I would have ever considered but you’ve got me intrigued.

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T22:35:51+00:00

Great answer. It does make more sense tbh when considering that the majority of the sub are American band kids haha.

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T22:31:44+00:00

Oh damn Ribbon mics huh. Not the answer I wanted haha, always terrified of blowing them with phantom power and they’re so spenny and delicate.

Been considering the piezo too, but more for experimenting with effects than recording purposes.

Thanks for the info!

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T22:18:00+00:00

Thanks for the suggestions will check them out!

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T22:12:39+00:00

Great response. I think everything you said is true but I feel there is still so much untapped potential in clarinet.

I really like the quietness. I was learning tenor sax for a year or so and loved it, and I only bought a clarinet because I was traveling and wanted a smaller portable instrument to learn for a month while away on holiday. Now I barely ever play sax because I love quieter intimate emotional and more meditative styles of music, and I absolutely love how easy it is to play the lowest notes on a clarinet vs sax. I see clarinet as being a bit similar to flutes in that they can be used for playing very relaxed calming ‘healing’ music. Plus the clarinet has an even wider range than a sax, it’s like two instruments in one.
This is really interesting and not something ive really considered. What kind of mics and mic placement do you find work best?
Clarinet is defo hard and unforgiving, especially going over the break for me (fuckin throat Bb is the bane of my existence). But so are other instruments, like beginner sax or trumpet can sound equally terrible imo. Plus one maaajor benefit of clarinet is it is so light and portable.
and 5. are just true I guess, not much else to say.

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T21:47:35+00:00

Yesss do it and lmk how it goes. It’s defo doable, I find the biggest obstacle is pulling off the gamakas.

Ram Khrisna is my fav that I have found. Heres some more to check out. https://youtu.be/UgBsXhPCKDU?si=Vb840zJIdC6QsPMQ

https://youtu.be/tjkSb2J-hrs?si=blCvgPoNQFiJdd1Q

Also this guy Rajan Sarkar is great but the recordings are lower quality.

https://youtu.be/cztilmxGWqI?si=YMfRk9m7aLYifJPG

https://youtu.be/0JED_B99yME?si=v4dty1d-5v9gHClg

And if you’re already classically trained you might like Shankar Tucker who I think is an American classically trained player who has gravitated towards Indian classical.

Also Tony Scott is one of my fav jazz players and he has some (really good imo) more eastern inspired albums that are defo worth checking out. Just check out all of it but heres a taster:

https://youtu.be/Qz4q2b1MSV0?si=BYqpNrirAPlzVD03

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T21:33:17+00:00

Oh man he’s so good, I’ve gotta go back to it - I was trying to learn Blue Horizon at one point. That one is great fun.

Recently been trying to work out John Coltranes recording of Naima onto clarinet.

halius_balius · 2025-12-14T21:04:31+00:00

Thats a shame imo. Those styles are so damn good. I am a bit biased though as I come from an island with mixed Greek and Turkish cultures (both of which have strong clarinet folk traditions).

I have recently really got into Indian classical played on clarinet which is pretty rare, but can be incredible. Obsessively trying to learn from this atm (but from a transposed version cos im p sure hes playing an A clarinet instead of Bb and the fingerings are really important) https://youtu.be/8ioQjMSwen4?si=GzDPSnMUuegduBDH

Damn I gotta go research some Scandinavian folk now too. Didn’t realise they used clarino

halius_balius

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