Like to hear my adventures with the clarinet?
Sure.
Actually they were with two clarinets. I’ll explain.
As a teenager, my favorite instrumentals were by Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra, especially when he had Ziggy Elman and Chuck Peterson on trumpet. But in later years I began to appreciate Benny Goodman’s small groups. I liked the sound of his clarinet.
I liked his trio, when he was joined by Teddy Wilson on piano and Gene Krupa on drums. But his quartet was good too, when Lionel Hampton joined the group on vibraphone.
I’ve heard of them.
Some music fans may like best a clarinet’s high notes in the upper register, but I like in particular Goodman’s low notes in such numbers as “Rose Room” and “Memories of You.” They sound so mellow and resonant.
So you bought a clarinet?
I liked the clarinet enough that I bought one and took some lessons from an area musician.
I bought my first from a friend of a friend. Seemed good enough to me.
But it wasn’t?
When my instructor and I began playing duets, he noticed that mine was out of tune. The tones from note to note weren’t aligned right.
So what did you do?
He arranged for me to buy a good, new one. One that sounded right to him.
And did you practice on your shiny new clarinet?
Some. To encourage me, I guess, he told me about the time he took lessons from a private instructor. Instead of his teacher asking about how much he had practiced since the last lesson, his teacher would grab his right hand and examine his thumb.
His thumb?
Yeah. It’s a dead giveaway about how much you’ve practiced. You see, while all the other fingers are making music, the right thumb is supporting the 2-pound clarinet for the entire time. You see, there’s a bracket underneath, and it rests on your right thumb.
After a while it shows. If you’ve practiced a lot, you’ll have developed a callus on that thumb . If you haven’t, there won’t be a callus.
Sneaky.
And I found he was right. My callus came and went depending on how much I practiced. Or didn’t.
However, my real problem from not practicing enough lay elsewhere. It was my embouchure.
What’s that?
It’s a French word for the way the mouth draws tight around the horn’s mouthpiece and reed. You have to develop strong muscles in the cheeks and lips to seal the connection so there’s no escaping air.
It takes some effort to contort the mouth that way, and if you haven’t been practicing regularly, the muscles weaken, air escapes, and the sound is terrible.
One writer likened the mouth-tightening procedure to pulling the cord on a drawstring bag.
Of course, if I had drawstrings in my cheeks I’d have been all right.
So, to all the would-be clarinet players out there, I wish you a well-callused thumb and a well-developed embouchure.